Thinner Ending

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TheGooch8494

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Mar 26, 2013
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Missouri
I was interested to see what others thought about the ending of Thinner.
Billy eats the Gypsy pie after he finds out that his wife and daughter have both had some. So...the curse is not lifted from him, right? What do you think happened to Heidi and Linda? Assume that they all ended up dying horrible, eaten away lives under the same roof?
 
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blunthead

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Aug 2, 2006
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Atlanta GA
I was interested to see what others thought about the ending of Thinner.
Billy eats the Gypsy pie after he finds out that his wife and daughter have both had some. So...the curse is not lifted from him, right? What do you think happened to Heidi and Linda? Assume that they all ended up dying horrible, eaten away lives under the same roof?
According to Wikipedia's book report, to which I refer since I don't remember what I myself have read,
the pie has lifted the curse from Billy, but only temporarily unless someone else eats of it, at which time the curse will be that person's. So, the answer to your first question is no, then yes. As for Heidi and Linda, since they ate of the pie, they inherited the curse and so would be expected to eventually die slowly as Billy originally was and now will again.
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
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Behind you
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th
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
29,655
139,785
Behind you
According to Wikipedia's book report, to which I refer since I don't remember what I myself have read,
the pie has lifted the curse from Billy, but only temporarily unless someone else eats of it, at which time the curse will be that person's. So, the answer to your first question is no, then yes. As for Heidi and Linda, since they ate of the pie, they inherited the curse and so would be expected to eventually die slowly as Billy originally was and now will again.

:icon_eek:
 

Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
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4,588
I loved the ending to "Thinner." It's one of my favorite books: economical plotting supported by a rich concept.

What's good about the ending is that, unlike many King novels, the menace still remains; that can be fun. That type of ending is sometimes strange, because if the climax ends with a positive resolution but the denouement reintroduces the menace, then you sort of think, what's the point of the climax, why not just have the person lose at that point?
Here, because Billy did an arguably rotten thing with transferring the curse, I guess a comeuppance was needed.

I always wanted the ending to IT to be
that one of the eggs didn't get destroyed; we'd then get inside the mind of the It-embryo -
- i.e., those italicized paragraphs -- and read its thoughts on an eventual birth. That would also counteract the successful conclusion, but in IT's case, I think the creature is so substantive that its menace could never be contained forever; it's almost like the flu, I suppose.

Endings are one of the toughest things to write for established authors, I bet.
 
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QuasiRus

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May 6, 2014
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Russia, Moscow
Maybe it's not the main thing about the plot, but
among other things I felt fearfully sorry for Richie Ginelli, because he died in vain... It propably may sound weird for someone, but although he was a Mafia figure, he still was true and sincere to his friend... And generally the ending forced me to reflect once more on the role of chance in life (or of what we understand the chance to be)
 

Liselle

Well-Known Member
Jul 10, 2006
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England
Those endings are the ones I like, because life is not always happy. As someone else said he hadn't learned his lesson from the experience he went through so maybe inflicting it on the ones he loved may make him wake up and realise what an idiot he had been.
 
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