What is your take on epilogues?
Julie:
I think epilogues are a strange idea. I mean, if the last chapter of the book appropriately wraps up the plot and character arcs, then why does a book need an epilogue? It really is like another chapter anyway. I have seen some epilogues where the book is from the girl’s POV but the epilogue is a quick chapter from the boy’s POV. Those are cool and I can see how they serve a purpose. But please dear authors don’t end a book (especially if it is not part of a series) on an open-ended note and then include an epilogue to make us feel better. It doesn’t work.
Rose:
I don’t understand how epilogues exist in books that are a part of a series. I mean, I always thought that epilogues were conclusions at the end of a book that basically tied everything up and sometimes even provided a little commentary from the main character. I could see the LAST book in series having an epilogue, although seriously, if you couldn’t come to a complete conclusion after several installments, shame on you author. I really dislike super long epilogues. I dislike epilogues that are just a quick pitch by the author so sum everything up. I really didn’t like the epilogue from Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I think the epilogue was used properly, but I just didn’t like it. The Hunger Games Trilogy was a YA series and I did not really like how it went into letting the reader know what happened in the future for the main characters. It felt awkward. I think epilogues work well for stand-alone and mystery novels, but otherwise, why not just finish writing the book?
[…] it isn’t and so why bother calling it a prologue and not just Chapter 1? I feel prologues and epilogues have similar […]
I think I’m ambivalent on epilogues. I like my books to fully resolve – I’m actually not a big fan of open ended books – so as long as I feel complete or close-to complete resolution at the end, I’m pretty happy whether it’s in a epilogue or not. Thanks for sharing this at Booknificent Thursday! Looking forward to seeing you again this week!
Tina
While I do not mind Open ending books, I totally get some people’s desire for a complete resolution at the end of a book. Epilogues usually can provide that.
I totally agree about the Mockingjay epilogue. I was already kinda eh about the book, but the epilogue was just so awkward. I liked having closure, but it shouldn’t have been that….unsettling.
You’re definitely right that an epilogue should help give closure, not leave you feeling unsettled.
Glad I am not alone in how I felt about that strange epilogue.
Hmm, I hadn’t thought much about whether or not I liked an epilogue. I guess they don’t really bother me although I can see where you both are coming from about them. There are a few that didn’t do much for me but then I can think of at least one that I loved. 🙂
What’s the one that you can think of that you loved?
I really liked the epilogue in GUNS by JA Huss. 🙂
I like epilogues at the end of series too, if they’re well done. Sometimes though, there seems to be a big gap between the last chapter and the epilogue and the epilogue just makes things even more confusing.
I strongly dislike any epilogue that makes things even more confusing. YUCK. and NO.
Hmm… not something that I have strong feeling about one way or the other. I agree it doesn’t make sense to put an epilogue at the end of the book in the middle of a series though. Sometimes open endings are the best endings.
April! I couldn’t agree more! I am usually a big fan of open ended ending. 🙂
I think a lot of authors deliberately leave questions unanswered so that they can have an epilogue, and I’m sorry, but I think that’s just silly. Like Julie said, it’s really just giving the last chapter a different name. I agree that POV swaps can be interesting, but is that really an epilogue? B/c most of the time it’s just covering information that we already have from a different perspective . . .
Basically . . . I don’t see the point.
Agree!