In the book, the final school sequence is much more direct and graphic: the terrified narrator enters the school, the doors are chained behind her, and she runs through halls and corridors before ending up in the art room and then the janitor’s room. The ‘janitor’ hands the ‘narrator’ a wire coat hanger, which ‘she’ straightens and plunges into ‘her’ neck repeatedly, bleeding out in a cupboard. By contrast, Kaufman’s film ending is more surreal and ambiguous, using a dream ballet, an animated pig, and a musical number from Oklahoma! rather than depicting the suicide literally.

The end of Reid’s novel is absolute. The narrator’s claustrophobic journey through the school’s hallways ends with them dead in a closet, unable to face the world or themselves. Their death is made absolutely clear to us, as Reid describes the act in detail. Kaufman’s interpretation of this finale makes Reid’s look like kitchen-sink realism.

The book is completely different from the point where they get to the school, and I honestly prefer that ending a lot. In the book, the young woman discovers that she is a figment of Jake’s imagination; old Jake, who is confirmed to be the janitor in the book, appears and hands her a clothes hanger. She then stabs herself in the neck, which kills them both.

Though the protagonist is anxious to get home and avoid the worst of the snowstorm, the two begin kissing in the car until Jake suddenly stops, claiming a man in the school’s window is watching them. Jake goes into the school to confront the man. As she waits, the protagonist makes her decision to end things with Jake. She follows Jake into the high school to bring him back to the car. Inside the school, the protagonist believes herself chased by the man from the window. The main doors are chained and locked when she attempts to leave. As the protagonist runs through the high school, her identity begins to morph with that of young Jake and Jake himself.

The novel’s ending is more direct and oppressive: the narrator’s claustrophobic journey through the school culminates in a brutal suicide in a closet. The film instead turns the finale into a surreal collage of fantasy, with the school musical, animated imagery, and a more ambiguous emotional resolution.

After driving further, they stop to dispose of the ice cream in the parking lot of a highschool. The couple shares a moment outside of the car in the snow, and when Jake sees a man inside the building spying on them - the janitor - he goes in to confront him. This is the bridge to the fourth part of the film, the denouement, when Lucy goes in after him, and the plot following her breaks down completely, ending in a series of surrealist scenes centered around Jake and the janitor.

In the novel, the janitor was a gifted student who was doing academic research while working at a biochemistry lab until mental illness derailed his career, and after retreating to his parent’s farmhouse after some sort of breakdown, he works as a high school janitor for 30 years, slowly withdrawing into isolation and his mental illness before killing himself. The book also offers more evidence than does the film that the janitor is gaming out this hypothetical road trip to help him decide whether to kill himself. The novel doesn’t mention musical theater at all, but Kaufman takes the observation that anyone working at a high school for 30 years would inevitably see a lot of spring musicals and runs with it.

The climax moves to a deserted high school, where the narrator is separated from Jake and wanders the darkened corridors.[2] In the final scenes set in a dark high school, when the pieces fall into place, the novel comes together with a rush.[2] The ending has the sort of compressed, intense energy that will inspire rereading and debate about what exactly happened.[2]

In both book and film, the stops on the trip are the same: first Jake’s parents’ house, then a 24-hour drive-thru restaurant, and finally a remote high school that Jake feels suspiciously drawn to. In Reid’s novel, the main character breaks down as they wander the school halls and lock themselves in a closet, at which point Reid very graphically describes their suicide. Kaufman’s interpretation of this finale makes Reid’s look like kitchen-sink realism.

The plot of the book felt rushed. The high school scene felt especially rushed, since this was supposed to be where the story really picked up.[3] Once they reach the high school, everything happens very quickly and the tension is packed into a short space.[3] I wanted more time in that setting, but Reid keeps it brief and intense, almost claustrophobic in how fast it closes in.[3]

You may not want to read “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” but you will. With a pounding heart. And flying fingers — I read all 210 pages in a sitting.[4] Reid’s narration closes in on you in the final pages, trapping you in the school with the narrator’s thoughts as they spiral.[4] The last section is stripped down to the narrator’s internal monologue and the immediate surroundings, making it feel very confined and direct.[4]

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a 2020 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Iain Reid.[8] The film has a running time of 2h 14m, allowing Kaufman to expand the high school portion into an extended, surreal finale including a dance sequence, animated interlude, and staged musical number.[8] These additions make the film’s final high school section significantly longer and more elaborate than the novel’s comparatively brief climax.[8]

my thought is "im thinking of ending things" has a double purpose - a) it throws the reader off because for most of the book youre thinking it really is a girl struggling with how she feels about her boyfriend and how she should end it, b) once youve reached the end, i felt it was the janitor's way of justifying his suicide. he put the effort in, he tried, and even in his head he can't stop his girlfriend from breaking it off with him. At the end of the movie it shows the small car in which Jake and the woman arrived at the high school covered in snow and not the big car. It ... She is afraid, and cold, and goes into the school because she just wants to leave. The janitor has begun to hallucinate.

We will get glimpses of the janitor we saw at the opening sequences as he cleans a high school and watches students rehearse a musical. It will all culminate into a convergence at the high school where the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” – in particular a poignant usage of “Lonely Room” and an Agnes de Mille-like dream ballet will serve as the climax. Both the film and the movie share the same grand design… Reid said he “loved” the movie’s ending. "It’s ambiguous in a different way than the book, [which] is ambiguous to a certain degree."

Throughout the film, the main narrative is intercut with footage of an elderly janitor working at a high school, including scenes in which he sees students rehearsing Oklahoma! and watches a romantic comedy film. In the final scene, the solid blue fades into a shot of the school parking lot the next morning, where the couple's car is absent, while the janitor's truck is still parked and now covered in snow. Towards the end of the credits, scraping sounds emanate from the engine of an approaching snowplow.

Print length: 240 pages.[9] Much of the book is taken up by the car journey and visit to Jake’s parents; the final confrontation at the school occupies only a small portion of the total page count.[9] Readers have noted that the climactic high school scenes feel compressed into the closing chapters rather than spread over a large section of the novel.[9]

They always lead inexorably back to the school, because there's no one in the story but Jake, and Jake is trapped in the school in a prison of his own making, "thinking of ending things". The high school is the scene of the janitor’s suicide and the place where Jake’s memories and fantasies converge. Jake’s isolation and mental breakdown are symbolized by the empty, labyrinthine school corridors that dominate the ending.

In the book, the ending was horrific and filled with dread. In the movie, the ending was filled with imagination and creative energy. He still...

The two stories interconnect at the High School when the young couple meet the Janitor. This brings the story some sense of structure, but the high school sections differ considerably between the book and the film. Commenters note that in the novel the high school setting becomes a frantic, terrifying, and enclosed space leading directly to the suicide scene, whereas in the film the high school sequence extends into stylized dance and a staged awards ceremony. These reactions highlight that the book’s high school section feels more like a claustrophobic, direct sprint to the ending, while the movie’s high school portion is more elaborate and symbol-heavy.

The last third of Kaufman’s film takes place in and around the high school, with long, lingering scenes of the Young Woman searching the building, intercut with the janitor watching *Oklahoma!* and a lengthy interpretive dance.[5] By contrast, in the audiobook of Reid’s novel, once the characters reach the school the narrative accelerates; the three characters become one and the story rushes toward a swift, unsettling conclusion.[5] The book’s high school finale is more concentrated and interior, while the film’s is more expansive and symbolic.[5]

I'm Thinking of Ending Things is often using abstraction to communicate its meanings. So the movie is abstract. Its meanings frequently rests on multi-layered symbols – the pig, the dance, the musical number – and the high school finale is extended into a surreal sequence rather than a straightforward thriller climax. Where the book’s final school section is linear and suffocating, the film’s is sprawling and symbolic, moving through hallways, a ballet, an auditorium speech, and a stylized curtain call.

Readers of the novel describe the final high school section as a tense, confined chase through corridors leading quickly to the janitor’s room and the protagonist’s suicide with a coat hanger. By comparison, viewers of Kaufman’s film point out that the high school part of the movie encompasses the janitor’s daily routines, a dream ballet based on "Oklahoma!", and a lengthy awards-speech fantasy before the implied death. These fan reactions underscore that the book’s high school sequence feels shorter and more claustrophobic, whereas the film’s corresponding section is more sprawling, stylized, and indirect.

In Reid’s book, the school section is short and panicky, mostly the narrator running through halls, hiding, and finally locking themselves in a closet.[7] Kaufman turns that into a whole drawn-out sequence with a janitor storyline, a dance version of Jake and the girlfriend, and a big musical ending.[7] So the novel’s school part feels more like a claustrophobic sprint, whereas the movie’s high school stuff is slower and more elaborate.[7]

The novel concludes with a chilling, tightly focused sequence in an abandoned high school, where the narrator’s perspective narrows to their immediate fear and confusion.[1] Critical discussion of the book often notes that Reid’s ending is brief but intensely claustrophobic, confining the reader to the school’s interior and the narrator’s mind.[1] Later adaptation by Charlie Kaufman expands this setting into a longer, more surreal cinematic finale, adding material not present in the book.[1]

I read I'm Thinking of Ending Things in just two days—it's a short read at around 207 pages, but don't let the length fool you.[10] From the moment the couple arrives at the high school, the story barrels toward its conclusion in a tight, breathless stretch of chapters.[10] Compared with Charlie Kaufman’s film, which lingers in the school for a much longer, more abstract finale, the book’s school sequence feels shorter, more claustrophobic, and more straightforwardly told.[10]