7/9/09

I thought the ending of GWOM was very clever and mildly surprising. I was not at all expecting Metcalf to get frozen; I figured that he’d find some way out of his problems. The ending seemed like a middle ground between the endings of The Big Sleep and City of Glass. At the end of The Big Sleep everything was wrapped up very nicely, no questions remained but it was a little anticlimactic. The ending of City of Glass was frustrating because all of the questions were left unanswered, the end actually created more answers. I think the end of City of Glass was probably a reaction to neat, tidy endings like The Big Sleep’s. In truth, City of Glass’s ending was more realistic because often in real life questions are left unanswered and things are wrapped up all neat and tidy. However, that type of ending is usually highly unsatisfying. GWOM’s end could be seen as a reaction to the ends of both of the other two books. The case is finally wrapped up and most of the questions posed by the book are answered. But there is still the air of the story continuing beyond the pages of the book. The reader can’t predict the ultimate fate of Metcalf. What will the world be like the next time he is unfrozen? Will there be a place for him? Will he ever even be unfrozen again? GWOM end is like a happy medium between The Big Sleep and City of Glass. I like the possibilities left open for Metcalf. In the Big Sleep the reader can assume that Marlowe continues on in the same way infinitely. In City of Glass Quinn’s fate seems very cloudy and possibly dark. Metcalf’s fate is as unknown as Quinn’s but his future seems somehow more hopeful.
-Samantha Pepper