Endings that Satisfy

Were you one of those people who got into The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins? (If you haven't yet read them and are planning to, you may want skip the post. There's my spoiler alert.) I enjoyed the first two books well enough to actually pre-order the third. It came out, oh, about a month ago, and being the hard core reader that I am, I put my life on hold to read Mockingjay as soon as it arrived. Just like the other two books, it was very intense and hard to put down, with unforgettable characters I came to care very much about. All very good-- I love when the people in a book come to life and I just have to find out what happens to them.

But.

There was something missing when the book ended. At first I thought it was just me, feeling let down after a rollercoaster ride three books long. After all, everything got resolved, the main character didn't die, and there were no mysteries left unsolved. (Don't you just hate it when a book leaves you wondering why something happened?) I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but after discussing it with several other friends who are fans of the series, most of us felt the same way. Nobody was really sure what, exactly, they felt the book was missing-- but everyone was positive something was not quite satisfying about the ending.

One of my friends was able to finally articulate what bothered her about the end-- the resolution of the romance in the book seemed like an afterthought. Kind of like the author had gotten tired of the whole thing and just wanted to wrap it up quickly. After thinking about it for awhile, I had to agree. This wasn't the only lack I felt at the end, but it was a big part of it.

It made me wonder about my own stories. As a reader, I really despise finishing a good book only to be unsatisfied with the ending. I don't want my own readers to feel like that. Now, I know stories take on a life of their own, and not everyone is going to be pleased with the same outcomes, but if most of my readers feel let down, then obviously I haven't done my job right.

It seems like the best way to avoid this as a writer is to look at other books that have endings that worked really well as well as endings that leave something to be desired. So I am appealing to all of you-- can you share any books you've read where the ending let you down? Books where the ending seemed perfect?