I was on such a roll reading. I was enjoying my time at night, after Mira had gone to sleep, when I could settle down in my comfortable bed and melt into a good book. I was making progress on the third book in Dumas’ Marie Antoinette series. Granted this book was my least favorite as far as the storyline goes; I just didn’t find myself as eager to jump into it every night. I suppose that was the reason I allowed myself to get so distracted. Our roommate Bob sucked us into the 2nd season of Dexter that he had recorded. So Howard and I would watch a couple episodes a night which meant I literally gave up my reading time.
So I finally finished reading it last night. I was about 20 pages or so from the end of the book when a thought occurred to me. There is no way the book can end in 20 pages. It’s the same gut wrenching feeling you get when you see ‘To Be Continued’ pop up on your favorite tv show. So there I was with roughly 20 pages left and thinking to myself that maybe, possibly there can some sort of amazing ending that I wasn’t expecting that would neatly tie up all these loose ends. A deus ex machina that would quickly bring about a closing to the book. But no- with 20 pages left I realized that Marie Antoinette was still a long way off from losing her head- granted, I suppose the book doesn’t have to conclude with such a macabre ending. Heck, Sophia Coppola’s movie never went so far as the incarceration, trial, and executions of the monarchs; but Dumas’ novel had so many loose strings with characters not relating to the royal family that I knew something was wrong.
The ending did in fact catch me off guard. There was a death that I wasn’t expecting, but on the same hand I wasn’t overly sympathetic to that character’s demise. In any event though- the ending left more questions than answers; yet I had finished all the books in my collection. Could Dumas have left such a sloppy ending?
I did some research today and found that there is in fact a 4th and final installment to the series. A fourth book that I am sadly lacking in my collection- my antique collection that was published in the 1800s and is still in good condition. Luckily for me, Howard was sympathetic to my plight and didn’t make me feel guilty for spending more for the fourth book than I had for all the other three combined. I found it here and something tells me I will be frequenting this site often.
I should have the book in roughly a week’s time. In the meantime, I suppose I’ll focus on my writing.
