Books with satisfying yet unhappy/uncertain endings?

Sorry in advance for the walls of spoilers.

I just finished reading the Handmaid's Tale and though the ending wasn't particularly neat and tidy, leaving a lot of open questions, the last bit after Offred's story concluded gave it a satisfactory closure IMO. And when I was younger I read the Bartimaeus Trilogy (which apparently now has another book) by Johnathan Stroud and I actually really enjoyed how the main character of the trilogy died in the final battle. I don't see many of those kinds of endings. I also really, really loved the ending of the movie La La Land, even though I probably wouldn't read a book in the same vein because I tend to stick to fantasy/sci-fi, etc. Even though the end of the movie was sad, it was realistic. People don't always stay together, that's just life.

What are your favorite books with uncomfortable or uncertain but still satisfying endings? Preferably in the genres of Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Speculative/Dystopian? I've already read 1984 and loved it. I'm interested in reading Never Let Me Go which I'm assuming from the movie has an unhappy ending but I've started it a few times already only to put it down and never pick it back up.

Thanks in advance!

Posted Jul 16, 2017, 10:06 PM UTC

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