Is it because the main body of the book is based on the author's "big idea", and endings are just an afterthought? I guess nobody gets a brilliant idea about a conclusion and then decides to write a book leading up to it.
But it's starting to frustrate me of late. Whether it's high fiction, lowbrow, teen reading (have to plough through lots for teachers' college), it's getting to be a real problem. Perhaps I should just put books down when my marginal utility starts to decrease, and not bother with most endings?

I recently read a Ben Elton book, Dead Famous, and found myself really enjoying it. I read it in super-quick time and all, but the ending was such a let-down of humungous proportions that I found myself questioning just why this is happening to me so often.

Thoughts, people?
It's probably a problem in movies too, but relatively few movies leave me so deeply unsatisfied with their conclusions.

personally, i feel like most authors grow lazy and usually bored writing it so they go quick and try to finish it fast so they can start something else.

I'm sure it's something like that, but it's still such a letdown. Take your time people! When I get off my arse and write something, I'm making damn sure that the ending is not horribly rushed.

the same thing happened to me when I read The Alienist. I avoid any detective/murder stories because most of them are so formulaic and this one is no exception. It had the tired "we find the killer he ties us up and just when he's going to kill us someone comes in and shoots him" type of ending. It was a letdown because the book is so cool.

i think sometimes authors write themselves into a corner and can't get out, therefore relying on sort of 'hand of god' mechanisms to save themselves.

there's also change/change back models where an author who is writing something that could be considered oppositional has to change his or her ending in order to make a story acceptable when selling it back to an audience perceived as more conservative. witi ihimaera and tennessee williams are good examples of this. this also often happens when novels are turned into films... for example adaptations of once were warriors, the sun also rises and cat on a hot tin roof.

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