What the heck happened at the end of The Paper Palace? After reading so many chapters about whether Elle will choose Jonas or stay with Peter, the story doesn’t really resolve until the last couple pages, or the last few minutes in book-time. It seemed like Elle wasn’t sure who she wanted either, which was fascinating in the beginning, but then started to drag. By the end of the book, Elle’s indecision worked against the idea that she and Jonas were fated to be together

After chapters of worrying about the fallout of choosing Jonas, of continuing an affair, of rejecting Jonas, of Peter finding out that she’s slept with the Jonas, the book just… ends. The story ends with Elle slipping off her wedding ring and swimming out to Jonas. A nice callback to how tightly she clung to Jonas’ ring, but not really a definitive answer or an active choice. So, Elle either chose to be with Jonas or to keep cheating on Peter with Jonas. The final scene is a nice callback to her mother’s advice that you never regret a baby or a swim, but I felt like I’d been reading an introspective novel, sifting through Elle’s thoughts and contemplations, before an ending that felt like a TikTok “but LOL what can you do?” video.

You never regret a swim, right? But you may sometimes regret looking for a meaningful ending to a book.

Or maybe it was just me? As the book went on, I found Elle’s almost supernatural bond with Jonas a little creepy. In real life, very often, the more destined that a person thinks a relationship is, the more red flags they’ll ignore. And there were loads of red flags, Jonas is awful to his wife, not just in the affair, but in treating her as less than a person. Elle has jerked Jonas around for ages, and she lies to Peter easily and well.  Elle’s choices were between the handsome, kind, thoughtful, father of her children and a guy with an intense mystical connection who is being an unrelenting jerk to his wife.