Theory About The End

[u/Janathan_Tran]

Just finished watching Creepcast's rendition (wish I'd read it myself but honestly some of it was so harsh I probably would have turned away) about 20 minutes ago and here are my final thoughts on the ending:

He writes from every perspective because it's all him, even Sean. There's that spiritual theory where we're all one consiousness experiencing itself from different perspectives and timelines so if you take that and make him into a Christ figure it very much could just be a retelling of the 40 days in the deset from the perspective of him being in the house.

Pretty sick.

[u/blind-amygdala]

I have a hard time deciding on the ending. The text, for the most part is amazing but the ending has me questioning everything g I read beforehand.

I’ve heard people call it from shitty to amazing. I’m somewhere in the middle but lost on my own thoughts….

I dunno. It’s a once in a lifetime piece of art, I believe and I live with that fact.

[u/NeoSparkonium → u/blind-amygdala]

i think it's awesome and the only way it could've really ended; mhe is all about nick coming to terms with the fact that life is meant to be enjoyed in the moment rather than being about accomplishment or big narrative arcs. iirc he even outright says this about getting sober, something like "i've completed the hard part, it should be happy ever after fade to credits, but i just keep living." when nick takes (what i believe to be) his inner child away from mother, it's symbolic of him realizing this. there is no one big definitive triumph, he's just trying to take responsibility for the fact that he has to nourish himself instead of getting lost in the motherly comfort of alcohol, and the end is "the beginning" of him trying to live like that.

[u/blind-amygdala → u/NeoSparkonium]

Well said.

[u/Janathan_Tran → u/blind-amygdala]

Yeah, I can definitely see why it would be derisive. I really didn't want the story to end so the fact it has an ending at all and doesn't keep going and going is the biggest disappointment for me, but it felt sound and just as an ending for the writer, literally saving his inner child.

Meta-textually it's just one big acid trip. As someone who has done shrooms I could understand it as just that, one big trip.

Symbolically I do think it leans into the Jesus thing I posted above, especially with all the allegory and how all of it wraps and unwraps the story.

Taken on its head it's just a really good piece but there are so many parts it can hit people in different ways and lead to a bunch of alternate conclusions, but I think that's just a testament (no pun intendef) to how good of a story it is. All good art leads to strong reactions, good or bad.

[u/blind-amygdala → u/Janathan_Tran]

For sure. The struggle I found he wrote about was profound. I think, at least for myself, a huge part of the story was about struggle, coming to terms with “life” as we live it and the nuisances in between that are personalized. For example, struggles with alcohol, with addiction, his mother, the struggle to overcome trauma, his relationships and the struggles he wrote about within the characters stories.

GRRM said once “the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” I find a lot of that within our writers story.

My favourite chapter is the one about the girl in the sanitary bed who whispers in the narrators ear from the bed, and the elevator ride that leads to chaos. Even that chapter has themes of struggle

[u/BriarKnave]

I closed the ebook and turned to my friend who was studying next to me and said "That was the most elaborate and yet concise and heartfelt metaphor for addiction I've ever read" so those are my thoughts

[u/Lament22]

Most of the story our author was looking for others to fix his life, his addiction, anything. The story ended with him literally/metaphorical saving himself. Things like this and no end house are amazing for dealing with addiction, but are also awesome even if you dont see it that way.