There is an undeniable appeal to stories that end well. Fiction has been described as life minus the boring parts, but it often is missing the unfair moments as well. Likeable protagonists end their trials on an upnote, any hint of trouble faded from the reader’s mind. The thwarted couple are reunited, the anguished soul is at peace, the hero is at rest.
But what of the characters whose stories end badly? It’s easy to forget in the age of the romcom that many of the greatest romantic stories end tragically. Rose and Jack are permanently parted, Robert and Francesca’s encounter lasts only a few days, and Scarlett is left alone at her front door.
Jennifer Wright puts her own spin on this topic in It Ended Badly. She handpicks thirteen gruesome stories of love gone wrong. She takes quantum leaps through history – everyone from Anne Bolelyn to Oscar Wilde – and examines the dark side of romance.
The stories are more or less chronological, starting with ancient Rome, moving into the middle ages and ending up in the mid twentieth century. The early chapters are all straight out of Game of Thrones. Nero killed his pregnant wife and then hired a lookalike teenage boy to dress up as her, Eleanor of Aquitaine conspired with her ex-husband to overthrow Henry the second (father of eight of her children), and we all know how things ended for Ms. Boleyn.
Later stories are less bloody but no less sad. Oscar Wilde went to hard labor prison for being gay (then a punishable crime) and never fully recovered. Norman Mailer stabbed his wife and then, bizarrely, gained the sympathy of the literati. And Eddie Fisher pulled a gun on Elizabeth Taylor when he learned she was unfaithful.
In some ways, this book is a chronicle of domestic violence. As such, I am not sure that the author’s tone is merited. She affects a jokey, “Amiright, girlfriend?” persona that sometimes clashes with the serious subject matter. She ends on an optimistic note (look how far we’ve come!) but even that underscores the peculiar premise of this project. These are very sad stories and the author can’t seem to settle on a point that connects them all. As individual chapters, the book is engaging but the overall theme needs some work. I’m not sure it’s fair to compare arranged dynastic marriages to modern ones and I’m not sure there is any less domestic violence in today’s world. And should any of us be feeling comparatively superior because our situations are brighter?
Books Smitten 