What is it about a Happily Ever After ending that makes us feel good inside?
Is it ingrained in us as little girls sitting around watching Disney movies in our Princess dresses singing Some Day My Prince Will Come? The characters may change, but the little girl fairy tale re-enactment has been happening forever. My daughter loved Cinderella so much that she demanded to be the only one who could wear that blue ball gown. Her friends (including her younger brother) were only allowed to be Belle or some lesser princess in her mind. Today, I can’t get through my Facebook newsfeed without a picture or video of someone’s little girl belting out Let It Go from Frozen in an Elsa dress.
Have Our Happily Ever After Roots Shaped Our Expectations of a Good Ending?
Of course, I can respect a book that’s willing to go in a shocking direction or end in a not so predictably packaged way, but not at the expense of my characters. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – When I pick up a book, I become invested in its characters. That means don’t mess with them! I need to know they’ll be okay when I’m not around to root for them.
I want the star crossed lovers to finally decide they can’t live without each other. Add in a kiss – perfect! Do I care if it’s realistic? Absolutely not! Don had no business proposing to Rosie. Sure, they spent a great deal of time together looking for her father and there was something oddly compatible about their personalities, but marriage? They never even dated. One trip to NYC does not establish a strong base for a lasting relationship. Guess what? I don’t care. Just like I don’t care that there would have been at least one other person at the ball with the same shoe size as Cinderella or that a Mermaid and a human prince would never find true love.
It’s Called Fiction
Let’s be real. We live in a world where Don doesn’t usually get the girl. I love Don’s character, and he was a blast to read but outside of the world of fiction, Don is misunderstood and dismissed. I like picking up a book and experiencing a world where Don not only gets the girl, but he gets his Happily Ever After living in NYC working at a great job, hanging out with new friends, and watching baseball. It’s called escapism. If we wanted to experience the realities of this world, we could just watch the news.
Were there times in the last chapters of this book where I felt like things were being wrapped up a little too nicely? Sure. I hoped and expected that Rosie and Don would end up together, but I didn’t expect Don to propose. I was desperate for Claudia to come to her senses, but I felt that situation was way too complex to just say all was well now that Gene understood the error of his ways. That’s a great deal of baggage for one person to drop even for a psychologist.
Then there was the relationship with Rosie and Phil. Suddenly, they’re going to Disneyland. How’s that for a Fairy Tale? There was a great deal of pain and much healing that needed to occur in that relationship. Based on my experience with trips to Disney, I’m not sure that’s the ideal environment for deep healing. In the world of Fiction, however, we get to skip over all the hard parts and get to the good stuff – mended relationships, marriages, and the joys of life – even for a guy like Don.
And the Father Is…
Phil? Was it just me or did we glaze over that a bit too much? I had to read it a couple of times to understand that after months of genetic testing, it was Phil all along. I found myself wanting just a little bit more there. What did you think? Did you like the ending? Do you agree that, deep down, we all want to read about a Happily Ever After? Most importantly, what’s your favorite Disney story that helped drive this desire? Come on… We all have one.
It’s been a great book! I mentioned last week that I would be doing some different types of Book Club posts as we move into summer so stay tuned. I love a good summer read by the pool, so I’ll be finding my list of summer reads to share with you. There are a ton of movies coming out in the Fall based on books, so we’ll explore some of those as they get closer, which brings me to my last question of this Book Club Post. Inquiring minds want to know.
What Movie based on a book are you most looking forward to this year?
I really liked this book (as I said before). I finished it in the first week and have read a few additional books since then so I have to refresh my memory about The Rosie Project. However, I finished the book feeling “good”. I loved that Don was able to realize that he needed to compromise on his strict schedule and expectations if he really wanted a wife and that he enjoyed being with Rosie even if she failed everything on his test. I love that Rosie was able to love Don even with all of his quirks. Actually, I think his “oddness” was what she liked the most about him. I feel bad for Phil. Rosie’s mom assumed Rosie wasn’t his based on a mistake she made years ago and false information about eye color traits. And because of that, both Phil and Rosie’s relationship suffered. They lost the chance to have a real father/daughter relationship because of an assumption; a misunderstanding. But at the same time, I feel many strained relationships are based on misunderstandings! I like that this book did end with a “happily ever after”. No relationship is perfect. However, when barriers are broken in order to be with another person, I think it makes the relationship a strong one.
The Disney Happily Ever After story that might resemble Don and Rosie is actually the newest one – Frozen. Don helps Rosie find someone else like Kristoff helps Anna find her sister and then later Hans. It’s also similar in which Anna and Elsa are able to get past a misunderstanding to repair their relationship. In addition, in Frozen the not-so-desirable guy (stinky Kristoff) ends up getting the girl instead of the Prince! Sometimes it’s the person you think you would be least compatible with that ends up being your “true love” (if you can get past the stereotypes).
For books turning into movies, of course I want to see the last in the series for both Mocking Jay and The Hobbit. I think I would like to read The Maze and The Giver and The Fault in our Stars. I still need to see Divergent and Winter’s Tale (although I couldn’t make it through Winter’s Tale book so I hope the movie isn’t as bad; might wait to rent that one).
Thanks again for hosting another great book!
I finally finished this book! Loved it! Christie.. even though I haven’t been commenting, nor keeping pace with the book reading, I’m so glad you’re doing the book club. I didn’t think I would join in at the beginning because I haven’t made time in the past few years for reading. Now I’ve read 2 books this year already. That’s more than I’ve read (for pleasure) since before both of my kids were born. Crazy to think about that! I can’t wait for the next one!
Thanks so much Megan! Glad you are getting some reading time in!