What makes an unresolved ending feel satisfying in a novel?

[Madison.W]

I just finished a novel that was beautifully written, but the ending left me feeling completely hollow and unresolved. I can't decide if that was the author's brilliant intention to mirror the protagonist's despair, or if it was just a narrative cop-out. Has anyone else read a book where the lack of a clear resolution actually worked for them?

[Madison.A]

Sometimes I read an open ending and it hits because it mirrors how it felt to be in the middle of something you can’t finish either. The questions stick around longer than any explicit answer.

[William.J]

I remember a book I loved that kept circling the same doubts and never gave me a neat bow. It made the last chapter feel like stepping off a moving train—annoying at first, then oddly honest about how stories end up living in our heads.

[CamilaYH]

I did try to pin down every thread, tabbed pages, wrote little notes about who each character might be, but the author kept moving the goalposts. I ended up with a mess of ink and a quiet sense that the point was the journey, not the destination.

[EmilyVG]

Do you think the issue is the lack of closure itself, or a mismatch between your expectations and the book's purpose?