Ever cry at a passage in a novel or short story?

[Skald the Rhymer]

Well, tell us about it.

Brought to you by the campaign for pithy OPs.

[Hrududu]

I might have misted up during the passage in East of Eden where Tom brings Dessie back home. Along the way he has set up various things like notes in bushes and finally on the hill behind their house he had laid out a load of white washed stones spelling out "Welcome Home Dessie"

[jali]

I've cried many times.

The first ones than came to mind are: The Joy Luck Club, The Color Purple, Angela's Ashes, The Good Earth, Six of One and Southern Discomfort.

[phall0106]

I cried at the ending of My Sisters Keeper so badly that I couldn't see to read. Hallgirl2 had recommended the book to me, so I called her, sobbing. She thought something horrible had happened until I was able to gasp, through tears, that I'd finished the book.

[ivylass]

Oh God, yes. And one keeps knifing me in the gut no matter how many times I reread the series...Dragonfly in Amber, when

SPOILER:

Jamie sends Claire back through the stones

Of course, I cried happy tears in the next book, Voyager, when

SPOILER:

Claire walks into Jamie's printing shop.

Jamie...sigh.

[jjimm]

The passage in A Suitable Boy that talks about the legacy of Mrs Rupa Mehra.

And The Amber Spyglass where

SPOILER:

Lyra and Pantalaimon undergo intercision.

I sobbed like a baby. Big fat tears flopping down my cheeks. And at the end too.

[Sateryn76]

John Irving gets me everytime....

Garp. Dr. Larch (this was particularly bad for me, for some reason). Owen Meany.

And , I surprised myself at the end of The Green Mile. Stephen King's passage about the death of Paul Edgecomb's wife. I just laid in bed, next to my beloved hubby, and cried.

I guess I do love him!

[Bosstone]

The first book that ever made me break down crying was Where The Red Fern Grows when I was 10 or so. I'm not sure any novel I've read since has ever had the same emotional impact.

On reflection, the climax of The Grey King from the Dark is Rising series came close. Both of these involve dogs, oddly enough.

[Khadaji]

All the freaking time. Almost any passage where someone gives up something for someone they love.

O Henry's Gift of the Magi always does it.

I'm a big ol' sap.

[Silver Tyger]

Oh heck yeah.

The end of 'When the Legends Die', 'Flowers for Algernon' and the climax of 'The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon' all make me break down.

[NicePete]

I misted up when in The Hundred Days

SPOILER:

Barret Bonden is cut in half by a cannon ball.

[AuntiePam]

I'm re-reading Dracula now, and just last night, I teared up when Lucy Westenra was staked.

Van Helsing set me up for it -- he was so solicitous of everyone's feelings about the awful thing they had to do. And so respectful. If Stoker hadn't made Van Helsing so loving, not just of his friends but of humanity in general, I wouldn't have been able to see Lucy the Vampire as sympathetic, as a victim. What happened to her was terribly sad. I've never felt this close to any other vampire victim.

Has anyone yet made a movie of Dracula that stayed close to the book? I haven't seen all of them.

[Eureka]

Often. I used to re-read The Little Princess and weep, and The Girl of the Limberlost as well. I read a fair amount of Harlequin Super Romances, which generally have other emotional stuff going on, and sometimes those make me cry.

In general, I cry when crappy stuff is happening but I know things will work out in the end. Of course, I generally don't read stuff that doesn't have some form of assurance of a happy ending, so that may influence my conviction that stuff will work out.

[Antinor01]

Near the end of HP and the Deathly Hallows when Harry is walking through the woods.

I start to tear up when

SPOILER:

He whispers "I'm about to die" to the snitch and it opens to reveal the resurrection stone and his parents appear.

Numerous others as well, but that is a recent one.

[Zsofia]

Originally Posted by Bosstone

The first book that ever made me break down crying was Where The Red Fern Grows when I was 10 or so. I'm not sure any novel I've read since has ever had the same emotional impact.

On reflection, the climax of The Grey King from the Dark is Rising series came close. Both of these involve dogs, oddly enough.

Oh, god. Let's not talk about that.

[Dung Beetle]

I bawl, complete with big ugly noises, towards the end of Charlotte’s Web.

SPOILER:

No one was with her when she died.

[NicePete]

Originally Posted by Dung Beetle

I bawl, complete with big ugly noises, towards the end of Charlotte’s Web.

Oh heavens yes. When I read it to my daughters it was all I could do to keep from blubbering.

[BaneSidhe]

There's a couple in BLACK BEAUTY---one, when he colics due to being given cold water after running himself half to death when the Squire's wife is dying, and when he sees Ginger's dead body in the slaughter's cart. The image I have of this proud, beautiful mare badly used and finally at peace makes me bawl.

The other is in MAGIC'S PAWN when Van loses Stefan.

[Hazle Weatherfield]

I've never made it through "The Scarlet Ibis," without turning into a puddle.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I have read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series multiple times- as a child myself and to three children, over the years.

At the end of the last book, The Last Battle, even before we discover the truth about the children I start weeping and can barely read the final paragraphs. My kids were always confused because they didn't realize anything was amiss.

(Intentionally vague for anyone who hasn't read it yet...)

[si_blakely]

Originally Posted by IvoryTowerDenizen

At the end of the last book, The Last Battle, even before we discover the truth about the children I start weeping and can barely read the final paragraphs.

Me too.

I do get choked up. Some of the more notable ones...

The death of Flint in the Dragonlance saga, and the final scene with Tasslehoff and Fizban
Several paragraphs at the end of LOTR, the joyful bits as well as the sad bits.
I cried at the end of Les Miserables - the book and the show.
Men at Arms - the death of Cuddy the dwarf

And the end of Harry Potter, and a few bits in the middle, too.

Si

[koeeoaddi]

When it comes to fictional characters I have a heart of stone, but I completely lost it in the part of Lonesome Dove when

SPOILER:

Gus McCrae dies. That's right, make me love him and then kill him, McMurtry you bastard!

[Barrett Bonden]

Originally Posted by NicePete

I misted up when in The Hundred Days

SPOILER:

Barret Bonden is cut in half by a cannon ball.

Dammit I hate that part!

Dickens does me in.

Originally Posted by Sydney Carton

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.

[MadPansy64]

Since listing all the passages I've cried about (online and in print) would kill the hamsters, I'll just chime in with:

Oh, my, yes, quite frequently, actually.

I'm a weepy reader.

[Roderick Femm]

Well, it's a play rather than a novel or short story, but I never cry when I see it performed, only when it read it. The last scene of Cyrano de Bergerac when

SPOILER:

Roxanne realizes that she's only loved one man in her life, and she's lost him ... twice.

Or much earlier when

SPOILER:

Roxanne tells Cyrano that she has fallen in love with a man who is gallant, brave, and ... handsome. At great cost to his feelings he manages to dissemble his bitter disappointment. Then she asks him about a fantastic swordfight he had the previous night, and when he has finished telling the story she exclaims about his enormous courage. Under his breath he says "I have done better, since."

Roddy

[Euryphaessa]

I'm definitely a weeper. I bawled during Order of the Phoenix and the Deathly Hallows, I sobbed during The Host, I cry EVERY single time I read The Outsiders, and I'm know there's more that I've blocked out. I actually like it when books make me feel something that powerfully, same as I like books that make me laugh out loud.

[panamajack]

I've done it many times. One that really affected me was the death of a major character in The Tale of Genji.

SPOILER:

Not him, of course. Her.

I was so upset I put down the book and still have only gone a few chapters past that point.

"It is such a secret place, the land of tears."

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by jjimm

And The Amber Spyglass where

SPOILER:

Lyra and Pantalaimon undergo intercision.

I sobbed like a baby. Big fat tears flopping down my cheeks. And at the end too.

For me, it was when:

SPOILER:

Lyra and Will said goodbye for the last time, having to return to their separate worlds.

[Wednesday Evening]

One that comes to mind: The Golden Compass, when Lyra finds the boy who is holding a dead fish as a substitute for his intercised daemon. Gets me every time.

[OneCentStamp]

I'm a sucker. I could name dozens of such passages. The death scene from A Tale of Two Cities, with Sydney Carton's immortal last words, is the first one I can remember crying over. I was 12.

[Danalan]

Of course. That's one of the great reasons to read novels and short stories -- emotional highs. Here's the passage that brought tears to my eyes most recently:

"I asked her why she missed so much school. At first she made
a joke about it. Then she started crying and couldn't stop." The tears
were streaming down Mikee's face now, and she didn't even try to wipe them
away. "So she told me about the leukemia, and she told me she was going
to... to... to..."

[Marlitharn]

For some reason, all the books they gave me to read at school were major tear-jerkers. Where the Red Fern Grows, The Pearl, The Red Pony, Bridge to Terebithia, Of Mice and Men; I spent a lot of study hall time in tears in junior high and high school. Charlotte's Web makes me bawl like a baby everytime. I tear up when I read Night Watch, too, at the part where

SPOILER:

Vimes decides he won't sell good men to the night for the sake of his own future, even if it means he loses everything; history may find a way to happen anyway, but it was going to have to come up with something good, because it was up against HIM now, and he had to do the job that was in front of him or he wouldn't be Sam Vimes. I am madly in love with Sam Vimes.

[Clothahump]

When I was a kid, I read Old Yeller. Cried like a river when they had to shoot him.

[stargazer]

Oh lordy yes. Let's see. Some of the Anne of Green Gables books do it to me, as well as many of John Irving's books, but those are mostly happy tears. Oh, and On the Night You Were Born. I can hardly get to the 3rd page without choking up. Same with Love You Forever. The Ya-Ya Sisterhood books make me blubber. I tear up for Scarlett at the end of Gone With the Wind, every time. There are lots more -- if, in book, song, tv show, movie, or play, there is a scene where one character is mourning another character or relationship, it will usually get me, even if it isn't terribly well-written.

[Mister Rik]

The ending to Tad Williams' Otherland. That's all I'm going to say because I do not wish to be flayed alive for spoiling the end of a 3000-page epic.

[Pyper]

Another vote for Where the Red Fern Grows as the book that made me cry the hardest. I'm getting teary right now!

As an adult, I don't remember really crying over a book, but I have gotten misty and maybe shed a tear or two. A few that I remember:

The Lovely Bones, when her father destroys the ships-in-a-bottle that they made together.

The Cold Equations. The whole story is sad, basically, starting from when the girl realizes what her fate is.

Into the Wild. I actually got teary-eyed in front of a student when we were reading this during a tutoring session. The description of Chris' last moments and his last diary entry. The student was completely unmoved by the whole book.

[zoogirl]

I'm not sure if I've actually cried over it, but I sure feel like it - The Snow Goose.

The whole thing is just beautifully written. The end is sad and kind of... and...oh hell, I can't even describe it.

[jharvey963]

I remember not being able to see in several places in The Time Traveler's Wife.

J.

[Rilchiam]

Originally Posted by Eureka

I used to re-read The Little Princess and weep

For me, it was only the first time, but boy, that first time I read about Sara's father dying, I was lying in my bed sobbing and sobbing.

I also cried at the end of Hans Brinker the first time I read it, not so much because it was sad, but because of the epilogue. Everyone's future was summed up, and it made me realize just how much the Brinkers had been through. Now, though, I cry at the scene where

SPOILER:

Gretel is outside the house while the surgery is being performed. It's brutally cold, but she's at the point of feeling warm and thinking she'll lie down and sleep for a bit. The one girl, Hilda, sees her and insists on walking Gretel up and down until her circulation comes back. Then she (Hilda) won't look through the shutters into someone else's house, but waits for Gretel to report back to her that it seems to be all right. Gretel goes into the house without a backward glance, and Hilda goes back to school to stare at the blackboard through blurry eyes. Much as I'm doing right now.

And more recently, I read the Warren Zevon biography. I'm not sure if it was a really good idea or a really bad one to open with a description of his final hours.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by jali

The Good Earth .

What got me in that one was when Olan is dying and hallucinating her past, including her parents selling her, and relives being beaten at the great house for stealing a cake. She's such an enigmatic and seemingly cold character that this adds avenues of aspects.

Capote moved me to tears in Christmas Memory.

Generally speaking I cry at stories in which people who have nothing but shit, yet learn to be happy with just the shit, get the shit taken away from them.

[clayton_e]

Yeah, I'm another one who had a couple tears while reading "Of Mice and Men".

[rocking chair]

has anyone not gotten misty reading little women?

[DrFidelius]

Last time I got all misty over fiction was while reading John Ringo's A Hymn before Battle when Mike

SPOILER:

improvises an anti-matter satchel charge to take out the Posleen Battle Dec but doesn't have time to make a timer so he has to set it off by hand.

Heroic sacrifice gets me every time.

[Buford was no angel]

Two passages have done it for me. The closing passage to The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara and the following scene in Silas House's The Coal Tattoo:

SPOILER:

The passage where El is baptised in the creek and receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the first time. Although I try to be a Christian, I'm not an Evangelical by any means. Despite that, the writing was so beautiful that I was sobbing almost uncontrollably.

[don't ask]

I cried when I read The Bridges of Madison County. As a lover of literature it was either that or vomiting.

[JoeSki]

No. But I've come real close. Real fucking close while reading The Time Traveler's Wife when

SPOILER:

The little girl in the museum runs up to Henry and tells him she's his daughter after He and Claire had been trying to conceive for years and after he had recieved a vasectomy.

[Shirley Ujest]

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

SPOILER:

In the graveyard scene when Harry and Voldemort are duelling and their wands connect. Harry's parents come out of Voldemort's wand and talk to him.

I bawled.

[robardin]

Originally Posted by panamajack

"It is such a secret place, the land of tears."

Isn't that from The Little Prince by Antoine St. Exupery? I cried when I read that book as a child. And of course Charlotte's Web. Probably The Good Earth too when I read it in school.

To go off the beaten path, I'll also admit (sheepishly) to crying when I read the ending of The Elfstones of Shannara. In my own defense, I was 12 years old and had stayed up until 2am to finish it by reading it with a flashlight after my bedtime, so I was in a pretty strung-out state.

I can't think of any book passages that have moved me to tears as an adult, though I have been deeply moved a few times, and have teared up over movie scenes. I guess I read much more non-fiction now than I did while growing up. I loved Night Watch also, and felt it was one of the best Discworld novels in quite some time, but didn't get teary over it.

The only one that comes to mind was when I (re-)read King Lear after becoming a father (of two daughters) -- in particular, Lear mourning the death of Cordelia. Oh yes, I trembled and cried. "Break, heart; I prithee, break!"

[Black Sunshine]

When . . . you know . . . what happened to Gandalf.

Also, when I finished Clive Barker's Imajica. Not that the ending is particularly sad - just that it was so massive.

[LawMonkey]

Oh sure.

Watership Down: I've read it many times, and every time I get all choked up when Hazel dies at the end. Same for when the Captain of the Sandleford warren (whose name eludes me, grr) tells about the destruction of the warren. I'm getting chills from thinking about both scenes. It's possible that there may be a few more tearjerkers in there, but those are the big two.

Redwall: First time I read it I got choked up when it seemed as if Matthias died by falling off the Abbey. (I immediately skipped forward to make sure he was actually OK.)

Obviously I'm a sucker for tragic events involving small fuzzy critters.