Jon was right.

So I tackled the last 120 pages of this book with trepidation and hope after hearing Jon's conclusion that the book was dreadfully boring. My hope was in that I would have a different view of 'boring' and get more out of the ending than our own personal, omniscient book critic. But soon my hopes were dashed. I had read on, becoming pleasantly enthralled with each turn of the page. Plots of deceit, the little people getting the upper hand, happy endings, and many smiles ensued (I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to reading literature similar to that of Jane Austin). But then, in the height of my amusement, this wonderful ending came grinding to a painful, dull-witted, time-consuming halt, with the final dialogue of those hot-aired Cackles. This, my friends, was a HUGE disappointment. Throughout the entire book I would cringe when I noticed the next chapter would be focusing on the Cackles. Their meddlings in politics and obsession with power made me sick. I am definitely a romanticist by nature, and certainly not a classicist. I know that Ruiz de Burton enjoyed making a show of their hipocritcal actions and the wonderfully clever parody with their namesakes, but what a terrible way to end a perfectly good book. It was similar to a very decent movie about love and plots and good and bad which ends with the movie-goer walking out of the theater, wondering what it was that they just saw. Please, if any of you reading this can explain the symbolism in the final pages 293-298 of the story, I ask you to fill me in as I am afraid that I may have drifted off.

Okay, enough venting. Sorry, I had to get that out. As I mentioned earlier, it made me absolutely giddy to read about the characters most poorly treated in the story receiving the upper-hand. Obviously Lola finally got her happy ending (although whatever happened to Don Felipe Almenara, whose only claim to fame in the novel was his saying he was Lola's husband, was never quite tied up....I had no doubt that this would be the ultimate crush to Julian and Lola's love and was disappointed when Don Felipe never appeared again). But others, such as Issac Sprig and Mina the french maid, found that they could climb to the height of their happiness while stepping on a few hipocritical toes along the way! What a lovely balance of good vs. evil! Julian realized the evil hidden within this 'great government' which he had served with his very life. Mrs. Norval is almost put away in an insane asylum by the materialistic, cold daughter whom she actually crafted with the looseness of her purse strings. Whatever happened to the poor doctor who started this run-around story is also left to the reader's imagination. And unappreciated Lavvy...did she ever start a life with Mr. White? I only wish that Ruiz de Burton had filled us in on what eventually happened to THESE characters rather than focusing on the political plans of the nauseating Cackles. Again, if anyone can explain the importance of this last conversation (perhaps pertaining to the Cackles' [or real people whom they were meant to imitate] involvement in American history [something about which I am terribly ignorant of]), please feel free.