Life Isn't Wrapped in a Pretty Pink Bow

"[L]ife, unlike a lot of novels, follows a plot that sometimes seems random and inexplicable."

I don't like happily-ever-after endings. (Apparently, the rest of the world does.) I like novels that are true to life --— not science fiction or fantasy, blech --— and happy endings are, well, not really true to life. But, you argue, sometimes people do live happily ever after, and I would agree that there are many people leading happy lives.

But the happily-ever-after book ending goes something like: "Though they had both been miserable and unhappy and had just escaped from a huge fire that destroyed their past lives and homes, they looked into each other's eyes and realized they were meant for each other. He took her hand, they kissed, and the sun set on a happy world."

And life doesn't work like that. They still have to pick up the pieces of their life, try to collect on their house insurance and rebuild, fight over what color the living room carpet should be, plan a
wedding, raise their kids, and, I would argue, happy moments don't always happen right before sunset.

Life may be happy, but it doesn't wrap itself up in neat little packages with pretty pink bows. Life is complicated, and serious novels should reflect that. Closure is a nice literary device so that you can close a book with a happy sigh, but real life doesn't really have closure. If you spend 299 pages looking for your long-lost mother, you may not find her on page 300. Welcome to life.