STOP HERE!
That's kind of an odd way to begin a blog post, but you might recall that last week Kym mentioned a "new and more coordinated question-posing strategy". We had a Zoom pre-discussion discussion about The Ministry of Time last week and while we were puzzling about what questions to ask, it dawned on us that the questions under consideration flowed logically from one to another and might make a bit more sense if we asked them in order. This is less complicated than I'm making it sound so if you haven't visited Kym's blog already, head there first to answer her question. Next, go to Carole's blog, and then back here for the final question.
FIRST: Kym's blog
SECOND: Carole's blog
THIRD: My blog for the last question
Nothing awful will happen if you answer the questions out of order; we just wanted to inject as much logic into our questions about a book that seems to defy logic.
====
So if you're reading this, I'm going to assume you've visited Kym and Carole and are back here for the final question about our current Read With Us book, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.
I found this book intriguing and interesting reading but for me, the ending felt rushed, confused, and confusing, with things happening all over. I've reread some of the ending and looked up many different interpretations of what exactly was going on, but my question to you is this: How do you interpret the ending of the novel, and what does the future hold for the characters? How did you feel about the ending and would you have preferred that the book end differently?
I have some thoughts about this question myself, but this space is for you to share your ideas. There are no wrong opinions and I look forward to reading your thoughts.
The in-person Zoom discussion will be at 7:00 pm Eastern this evening. If you haven't RSVP'd already you can send me an email (the email address is in the upper right) and I will make sure you get an invitation with the Zoom link. I hope to see you there! Books are often better if they are discussed, and I think that is definitely the case for The Ministry of Time!
I've read the book twice now. The ending really perplexed me the first time around, and I'm not sure I would have been able to answer this question at all without the re-read. But now that I have read it twice, I think it all makes more sense, and I think the author did a better job setting things up for The Big Finish than I realized on my first read. (Although it still felt pretty rushed there at the end.)
ReplyDeleteI'm still thinking about how I feel about that ending and how I might have preferred things to end, but I think I'm satisfied with what the author wrote. Maybe I'll have a better answer by our discussion tonight . . .
Like others, I'll be interested in hearing why things made more sense to you after your re-reading, especially details about how the author set things up for the (rushed) ending!
DeleteI have only read the book once, and I didn't like most of the ending. To me, it felt a bit like the author didn't quite know how to wrap things up and had to bring in a sort of deus ex machina device to do it. Perhaps I'd feel different on a reread, as Kym did. But it didn't fit with the tone and pace of the rest of the book, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think the book started out strong, but like you, I didn't like the ending. (But I don't have any better ideas for a better ending; she almost wrote herself into a corner.) I'm also convinced that the author was getting tired of writing and wanted to wrap things up, possibly without knowing exactly how to do that. Deus ex machina is the perfect way to describe what she did.
DeleteIt has been a LONG time since I read this book, but I did reread the ending after I finished it because it really felt like I missed something because it felt so rushed and abrupt. And thank you Sarah for teaching me what deus ex machina is!! Yes... it absolutely felt like that! It felt like the author took all the many twists, turns, side plots, and threads (however short) and jammed them all together in the end. I am not likely to reread this book, so I am very much eager to discuss it with you all!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your assessment of the rushed and abrupt ending. I reread a bit of the ending but didn't feel any differently. Like I wrote above, it felt like she wrote herself into a corner and had to throw it all in a big jumble to finish.
DeleteI'm another one who only read the book once and did not even re-read parts or the ending. As I mentioned on Kym's and Carol's blogs, the ending was way too rushed in my opinion. Almost like the author was tired of the whole story and just wanted to wrap it up and end it as quickly as possible. I'm interested to hear why Kym thinks the ending makes more sense now and how the author "set things up" for the ending. We should have a lively discussion tonight!!
ReplyDeleteI feel exactly the same way, and will also be interested in hearing some details from Kym about how and why the ending made more sense after her reread. I only reread parts of the ending and it felt even more rushed and jumbled to me!
DeleteI read it twice and I understood the ending (and the lead up to it) better the 2nd time, I still found it rushed and kind of crazy. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book. I'm sorry to miss the discussion tonight! I would love to hear what everyone has to say about the ending!
ReplyDeleteI only reread part of the ending but sadly, it didn't make things any clearer for me. I think the book started out really strong, but I agree that the ending didn't fit. I will miss your thoughtful comments tonight! I'm writing the wrap-up next week and will try to take good notes about what people have to say about the ending.
DeleteI have learned to live with what feels like an incomplete ending. I think it frustrates a lot of folks to not have everything answered and wrapped up in a neat package, what Kym so accurately refers to as the Big Finish. Me, too! However, I believe endings that are not all wrapped up more accurately reflect reality. Since there were two timelines in this book, I don't think she could have really done that anyway. The present timeline was never going to understand what was going on in the future since the nature of time doesn't allow that view. It's been a while since I read this book, and I do plan to re-read it, but my recollection is that she left us with hope for both timelines. Hope that the future timeline could be altered for the better, and hope that Gore and his bridge would once again find one another. So, for me, it was a pretty good ending. There's always hope!
ReplyDeleteYou offer a good perspective here! I'm okay with endings that are ambiguous and leave much up to the reader, but I was not fond of how rushed and jumbled the ending felt. But like you said, with the two timelines, there was never going to be a nice, linear finish. Maybe what I had the problem with was understanding the two timelines. I also felt that there was a feeling of hope for the future. Maybe if I had reread more of it, I would have a better understanding of the book as a whole, but I attributed much of the rushed ending to how she wrote the book (in installments for an online group of polar expedition fans). I can imagine her getting tired of writing a new installment every night and just wanting to wrap it up. But I can see some of the hope!
DeleteThis is Linda: I only read the book once and I found the ending rushed and confusing. I didn’t love the story enough to want to read it again and so look forward to hearing from those who read it twice and were better able to see the plot twists and turns. I will say that the Brigadier character felt off from the beginning but I didn’t bother to figure out why.
ReplyDeleteI feel much the same way and couldn't face rereading more than parts of the ending. It felt rushed and jumbled to me, and like I've said quite a few times, I look forward to Kym sharing some of the reasons how/why it made more sense after her rereading.
DeleteI'm going to go against the grain and said that I thought the ending was actually very well done. Was it rushed and chaotic? Absolutely. But I think that was intentional and done to reflect the build up of everything the ex pats and bridges had been to leading up to that point. Things had to come to a head and the ending reflected that well. And I do think there was room for hope and that the narrator and Gore will be reunited.
ReplyDeleteA thing can be several things at once, so after our discussion, I can see that the ending was both rushed and the chaos served a purpose. I can see that the ending was hopeful and you may have convinced me to reread it ... someday!
DeleteI thought the ending was a mess. It felt rushed and not well thought out. Like the author had all these characters and loose ends to wrap up. I wasn’t vested enough to want to reread the book or the ending.
ReplyDeleteInitially, I thought it was too jumbled and confusing, and I still think there were too many threads left to dangle, but I feel a little bit better about it after our discussion.
DeleteI only read it once and it was rushed to me but I was happy to finish it to find out what happened.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to find out the resolution in a book, so I'm glad you found out what happened.
Delete