About the novel's ending

What surprised you about the novel's ending?

Conjecture, is the first thing that comes to mind. The ending is open for interpretation, I think...Maybe the mermaid did get released from her curse...I loved the sort of morbid angst that Sailor Twain goes through...The writer who survived seems to be the mermaid to me!

Still wondering a bit about the ending. One idea is that since Lafayette was throwing bottles overboard long before meeting Camomille, was she smiling at the message as one he was sending to the mermaid, trying to gain release or get his brother back? Some people think she was blushing because she was reading a love letter from Lafayette to Camomille...not sure about that but it would make a nice fairy-tale type ending I guess.

I thought perhaps it was Camomille finally hearing the rest of Lafayette's story? They had been writing back and forth, so she knew SOME, but he wouldn't fully open up to her. Maybe it was the missing piece she needed to know what had been going on with him?

I didn't love the ending. I'm normally okay with ambiguity, but this was a little too much for me, especially being new to the genre. It seemed very abrupt, and I was unclear about the boilerman's role in it - did he have a role in causing it? Or was his purpose just to show that the boiler was going to explode (referencing his comments about something isn't right here, etc). He appeared a few different times in the book, with references to his deafness, but then it appeared he took cotton out of his ears..?

I was surprised because it seemed to me that all the main players on the ship died at the end and that the people who'd succumbed to the siren song remained trapped, which seemed rather brutal. But I'm not sure that's a correct interpretation. I'm curious, Asha, why you think the mermaid was released from her curse? I ask, because I thought she wasn't, and I'm wondering what I missed - I think it is probably a lot. :) It helped to go back to the beginning when Twain and CG talked in the bar. I didn't get the messages in the bottle at all. At first, I thought perhaps it was a letter to CG that CG was reading, but wasn't he writing those before they met?

I agree with BethD34. The ambiguity of the ending did not appeal to me. Also, the boiler man was mentioned so many times that I was sure he was key to the mysteries. I did not feel that the mermaid was released from the curse, either.

I read this book twice and still have trouble with the ending. I just can't get it through my thoughts what actually happened--but for the fact the rain stopped and it was a peaceful evening.

While I really enjoy "open" endings in novels...i.e. Gone Girl, Beat the Reaper, This Is Where I Leave You, etc, I found this type of ending in a graphic novel to be frustrating and confusing. I honestly have no clue what happened at the end of this book regardless how many times I re-read it. I didn't "get" it.

The ending was left for each reader to draw their own conclusion about several things. I enjoyed the novel overall, the artwork compliments the storyline, era, and mystical mermaids. BUT the ending...ah the ending left me reminiscent to Gone Girl and a desire to read once again hoping for a different ending. I never know if that rates as a great read because I am challenged mentality to reconcile with the ending or just frustrated.

I was puzzled by the ending too. Which part of Twain was talking to Camomile?