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Our book club had to pick between two endings for our group read
We were debating whether to read the original ending of Great Expectations or the revised one for our monthly meetup. I pushed for the original because it felt more true to the story, but 7 out of 10 members chose the happier revised ending. How do you handle debates about author vs publisher endings in your club?
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the_karen5mo ago
Did you have any members who had read the book before and felt strongly one way or the other? I find it's always the people who already know the story who get the most worked up about which ending is better.
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the_karen5mo ago
Oh, this one hits close to home! My group had the exact same fight over Great Expectations last year. I was so outnumbered when I argued the original ending is the only one that makes sense for Pip's whole journey of realizing he wasted years chasing something hollow. We ended up reading both endings as a compromise, but honestly the revised version felt so forced and sweet I could barely enjoy the discussion. Have you ever tried splitting the difference like that, or do you just go with the majority vote every time?
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the_adam4mo ago
That's an interesting take but I actually see the revised ending differently. To me it still has that hollow feeling since Pip and Estella don't get some fairy tale reunion, just a quiet moment where they might finally figure things out together. The original ending felt too punishing to me, like Dickens was saying people can never change from the mistakes they made when they were young. Would you have preferred the ending where Pip gets the girl but loses all the growth he went through?
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