The ending of Cell

**Tonybaloney36** · October 19th, 2011

I like the way Stephen left the constant reader to use his/her own imagination on this ocassion. Like somebody else said on this thread, I usually prefer a neat ending, but I was totally comfortable with this. I was totally convinced that the reboot

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that is how the book ended for me and that is the beauty of it. It is, after all, just a story, and stories really are what you take from them aren't they?

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Pretty darn cool I think!

**Elemeno P** · October 27th, 2011

I just finished this myself. I loved the ending. Although, as I was looking at the time on my audiobook starting to dwindle as I was guessing that Clay was going to put the phone to his ear. I'm was gladly disappointed.

If there was ever a novel that was aching for a sequal.....could you imagine the Man in Black sitting behind a desk with an iphone on his ear.

**Alaska Munchkin** · November 15th, 2011

I hated this book! To be fair' maybe I should read it again.

**darej** · January 12th, 2012

Yeah the abrupt ending caught me by surprise, I thought there were still a few more pages to read. The fact that Stephen King told us how it did end, doesnt really change anything. Even the quote could be interpreted. But yes a happy ending would be nice.

**Ronin87** · January 16th, 2012

After reading that book i kinda wondered a bit too. but figurd the reboot was successful to a degree. Good book, was confused in some parts at the end when describing the giant tent building they were in. specifically about window heigths and the foundation level of the building itself...(when the kid fell out of it).. but i wouldn't be surprised if this problem only occured to me. lol.

**cinders** · March 1st, 2012

I have read SK since I was 13 (first book was the stand). I am now 44. I have loved and hated his endings over the years. Lately, I do agree with a previous poster that his stories are about the JOURNEY not a neat, tidy wrapped up ending. I am ok with a bad ending, but mostly, we don't even get that. If you really think about it, after Clay holds the cell to Johnny's ear, a WHOLE additional book/story could keep going from there... and then what globally happens too. We hate quick and cheap wrap ups, but we also crave them.

For me, the issue I had with not "wrapping up" an end, was this: In the beginning of the story, the narrator (or clay- I don't remember who it was at that point- if it was clay, I think it portends a happy ending) talks about the incident being called by Normies, the "pulse". It then says that, later, scientists did not agree with that term for what had happened (implying that some sane humanity did survive to figure out what the heck had happened, and perhaps, prevailed to some extent since they had time to research source of "madness, IMO). Clay did keep using the term "pulse", and Jordan was the computer kid who provided analogies about rebooting, worms, etc. This was to some degree, based on the theory that a pulse of some sort was sent out by rouge personas for possible terrorist attacks. We are then led, during the story, to somewhat believe Jordan's theories about the programming of the phonies, and second, third gen phonies.

Would love to hear all thoughts,

CC

**TheShadowConspiracy** · March 23rd, 2012

I thought he was placing the phone to his son's ear.. and.. that's it....

He hoped it would "reboot" his son's brain, but there were no guarantees.

It's a story that I could read another 1,000 pages about... it left me pondering for days what happened to everyone... then... the consequences of killing all those people that, in hindsight, could have been saved. Or, if by chance he had started helping others?

**rikwildknight** · June 13th, 2012

I was thinking, seeing as Cell is written from Clays point of view, maybe when he put the phone to Johnny's ear something went tragically wrong and Clay pulsed himself, hence the story ending so abruptly

Fantastic story, loved it.

**duf70** · June 17th, 2012

Well, it's been a while since I read this book but I remember that the ending felt like it left me hanging, with a lot of hope and a taste of something sweet that was gone after a single bite. It feels a little bit like the ending on The Mist. The ending definitely wouldn't do for a movie, would have to be changed just like Frank Darabont did.

**tenngolfer** · June 18th, 2012

I thought the ending was good. It allowed everyone to use their own imagination for that next step, and depending if your an optimist or pessimist, you had had the freedom to make the ending just the way you want it to end.