# Books that have made you bawl **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829 "2004-02-24T04:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/101 "2004-02-27T02:02:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars Oh, yes. That’s a good one. I don’t cry over books very often anymore, but when I was younger I did all the time. I remember reading _The Outsiders_ in 8th grade, hiding it behind my history textbook in class, and getting so upset that I had to leave the room for a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/102 "2004-02-27T13:52:54Z")
> [@c\_carol](#): > > I remember reading _The Outsiders_ in 8th grade, hiding it behind my history textbook in class, and getting so upset that I had to leave the room for a few minutes. A friend of mine lent me her copy last year. It sat in my bag for a while and I found it when I was meant to be studying. An hour later the same friend found me sitting in the uni library in tears, too upset to be embarrased. I told her why I was crying, and she got a little sniffly too. I remember crawling under my bed with my duvet wrapped around me and bawling at the end of _Catcher in the Rye_. It doesn’t have the same effect on me now, but, aged fifteen, it knocked me right over. I can’t remember how many times I’ve read _Lord of the Rings_, but I cry at the ending every single time.It affects me more now that I’m older than it did when I first read it, in fact I found myself tearing up trying to explain to a friend exactly why I found it so sad. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/103 "2004-02-27T14:48:44Z")
There are entirely too many for me to list here, since I cry over just about anything sad or touching. There are a couple of Eminem songs that make me cry, for crying out loud. **Charlotte’s Web** is the first I can remember crying over. My mom read it to me and I wouldn’t let her finish. **The Little Matchstick Girl** I think it’s called. I hate that story. **The Velveteen Rabbit** can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned yet. Okay, then on to more mature things. **The Catcher in the Rye** Sob-fest. **On the Road** Perhaps I’m the only person ever to have bawled uncontrollably at the end of this one. **Frankenstein** Weird, I know. Imagine me sobbing to my boyfriend (now husband) … “He just wanted to have friends!” ---
**Author:** ![statheist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@statheist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statheist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/104 "2004-02-27T16:42:23Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > … **Frankenstein** Weird, I know. Imagine me sobbing to my boyfriend (now husband) … “He just wanted to have friends!” Not weird at all, methinks. **Frankenstein** was an incredibly sad book. I don’t remember if I cried so I didn’t list this one, but it definitely crossed my mind. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/105 "2004-02-28T17:04:12Z")
I have comments as well as my own votes, plus a lengthy dissertation on LotR which I will post separately, so that those who are sick & tired of LotR discussions may skip it. > [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > **Flowers for Algernon**. Read this one maybe at age 16. Another one that has left a very strong impression. The question of what just makes you _you_ still gets me thinking at night. > [@Iacob\_Matthew](#): > > Of course, anyone who’s not affected by reading the short **Flowers for Algernon** shouldn’t bother to pretend that they’re a human being. Asimov, when he handed Keyes the Hugo, whispered “I must find out how you did it” and Keyes replied “When you find out, tell me…I want to do it again.” Daniel Keyes now teaches (literature? writing?) at a university in Florida. (Quotes from memory, I don’t have my reference materials at hand.) > [@racinchikki](#): > > The title is **There Will Come Soft Rains**. The image of the 5 silouettes on the wall is one of the strongest memories I have of my childhood reading. > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > One that got to me was Heinlein’s **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress** – the idea that Mike is really still there, just so shell-shocked he’s (metaphorically) hiding in a corner, rocking back and forth and back and forth… \ Do not pass go, run directly to your library or bookstore and get [**The Cat Who Walks Through Walls**](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441094996/qid=1077986710/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-9970578-8474353?v=glance&s=books). On to my own tear-jerkers (SF geek alert): **The Man Who Walked Home** by Tiptree. I’m a sucker for anyone making a super-human effort. **Lord of Light** by Zelazny. _“The Lokopalas are never defeated.”_ **The Shattered Chain** by Bradley. I’m also a sucker for anyone who takes full responsibility for their own actions. (Note: The DAW edition has one of the worst cover art paintings I’ve ever seen.) ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/106 "2004-02-28T22:33:00Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > _Owen Meany_ and Connie Willis’s _The Doomsday Book_. Both of these make me blubber like a little kid. Especially _The Doomsday Book_. I’ve read it several times but every time it hits me the same way–just when you don’t think anything could possibly get worse for her, it gets worse. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon makes me tear up too. The first time I read the entire series I was pregnant and with the combination of Jamie and Claire’s goodbyes and the hormones, I was a sobbing, quivering mess. I cried almost all the way through the entire series, even when Black Jack Randall dies! And although I am loathe to admit it–_The Bridges of Madison County_ made me cry too. I don’t even have the excuse of pregancy hormones to hide behind on that choice. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/107 "2004-02-29T03:54:31Z")
I bawl at a lot of books. Doesn’t take much. > [@Idlewild](#): > > Various parts of George. R.R. Martin’s _Song of Ice and Fire_ until I got the clue not to get too attached to anyone. Yargh. Yes, I remember jumping up and yelling to my husband: What the fuck? He killed all of them! Every damn one! This was before I found out the mother was still alive, though barely. I just finished Dean Koontz’s _Odd Thomas_ a few minutes ago, and I was bawling when I got to the section where Odd’s friends confronted him about Stormy’s death. I just lost it. It felt like a punch in the gut. Another recent series that had me bawling several times was Robin Hobb’s series. Both the scenes where Nighteyes died and where the Fool left once he realized that Fitz loved him but would never be with him the way the Fool needed. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/108 "2004-02-29T04:48:57Z")
_A Farewell to Arms_ and _A Separate Peace_. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/109 "2004-02-29T05:39:58Z")
_The Jade Peony_, by Wayson Choy. I read it cover-to-cover one night in 1997. It’s divided into three sections, from the point-of-view of three siblings growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It’s quite sneaky in that the first section, about the youngest sister, is light-hearted and quite humourous. The middle section is more poignant-- a little sad, but beautiful. But the last section-- the last section is heartbreakingly tragic. I didn’t just cry. I _sobbed_. I guess some of it may have been sleep-deprivation leaving me emotionally vulnerable, but no other book has _ever_ effected me so powerfully. I’ve bought _four_ copies of _The Jade Peony_, and I still don’t have one sitting on my shelf. It’s one of those “You have _got_ to read this!” kind of publications. I push it on everyone that I can. I think I got a bit weepy during parts of Vikram Seth’s _An Equal Music_, too, although that hardly compares. ---
**Author:** ![Takeo\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@Takeo\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Takeo_Jr)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/110 "2004-04-11T23:16:07Z")
Seems this thread fizzled out but I HAD to compile a list, if for nothing else than my own benefit- reading the lists of others was cathartic! The Island of the Blue Dolphins- When she has a reverie of her first dog while happily watching her new one. Very poignant. The Sirens of Titan- Waterworks. Unk’s letter to himself has me wringing my hands in despair, the fate of Chrono, Beatrice, Rumfoord, and poor poor Salo! And the end…don’t get me started! Landscape: Memory (Matthew Stadler)- Seems no one has ever heard of this, it’s incredibly poignant, bittersweetly recalling the San Francisco World Fair with a child’s reaction to WWI. Powerful and elusive. Cried buckets. Sounds lame, but in GenX where Coupland describes the bomb, its bague “sexiness”, it really kills me. Dredges up all the feelings of the dread of something both incomprehensible and inevitable, which was so common during the Cold War. I was a teenager and it had a HUGE impact on who I am today. We don’t talk about this enough. errrrr…there are MANY more, I’m a big bawler. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/111 "2004-04-11T23:33:24Z")
My first howler was ‘The Happy Prince’ by Oscar Wilde. I haven’t stopped snivelling since. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/112 "2004-04-12T00:01:44Z")
_Under the Skin_ , by Michel Faber. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be sick. What a book. ---
**Author:** ![Riqay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Riqay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riqay)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/113 "2004-04-12T00:07:55Z")
I’ll second _The Power of One_. Also, _To Kill a Mockingbird_, _Romeo and Juliet_, and _Les Miserables_ (especially the passages where I can read the story while hearing the music playing in my mind). ---
**Author:** ![Thingol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Thingol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thingol)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/114 "2004-04-12T00:58:41Z")
First, seconds: **Night** , **Of Mice and Men** , **Watership Down** , **Lord of the Flies**. Regarding **Lord of the Flies** :I didn’t cry when Piggy dies, but when Ralph weeps for “the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” I absolutely break down – that’s the whole book right there. **No Kill, No Thrill** : True story of the Ng/Lake murders. Extremely difficult to get through. **The Little Prince** : I can’t believe I haven’t seen this one on this thread. I keep extra copies of an American translation in paperback at my house. If it ever comes up and I discover that someone has not read this book, I give them a copy. The part about the fox and the roses, especially. And that ending (for those who’ve read it and care to be reminded):[SPOILER] Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can ever be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has – yes or no? – eaten a rose. Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: Is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes… And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance![/SPOILER] ---
**Author:** ![dubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dubs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/115 "2004-04-12T01:45:22Z")
When my eldest was around 10 and we were still in that wonderful time when he \*wanted \* me to read to him, I used to read a couple Christmas stories every year. One year, we had Truman Capote’s, **A Christmas Memory** , and by the time I got to the end, I simply couldn’t finish reading it, I was so choked up. And Ryan, tender little soul that he was and still is, said, “Aww, poor Mommy.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/116 "2004-04-20T04:23:22Z")
_The Nanny Diaries_. No, I’m serious. I started out thinking it was going to be light reading, just something to scoff at as having no bearing on my own experience as a mother’s help. Instead, I got drawn in almost without realizing it. I know there are a lot of people who actively dislike this book, but the common thread seems to be “Why does she take all that crap from her employers? Why doesn’t she stand up for herself?” _Because she’s twenty-one_, that’s why. And (and this is one of the reasons I could relate), she’s beginning to realize that there really is no job on earth where you get to have everything just right for **your** needs. Subconsciously, she realized that quitting would only help herself, while staying for the sake of the kid was the Right Thing to do. I could see so much of myself in her, it was amazing. I saw all her mistakes, knew why she was making them, and, contrary to the nay-sayers, saw her learning from them. Towards the end, I was getting a swelling sense of dread, and when Mrs. X dismissed her in one sentence and hustled her out of the house **without even letting her say goodbye to Grayer** I started sobbing and could not stop. I was still awash when I finished the book and made room for it on the shelf; I had to watch a South Park episode to calm myself down. (Nothing snaps me out of a sobfest like watching Cartman being mean.) …snif… ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/117 "2004-04-20T06:44:36Z")
Mines was the entire Three Book trilogy of Linda Lay Shuler called: \*\* She who Remembers\*\* \*\* Voice of the Eagle\*\* and \*\* Let the Drums Speak\*\* The ending of Voice on thr Eagle was the one that really got me There was also anothe trilogy from Sue Harrison called \*\* Mother Earth , Father Sky \*\* \*\* My Sister the Moon \*\* and \*\* Brother Wind \*\* The ending to “My Sister the Moon” was to me the saddest of the three. ☹ These two women “to me” have to be two of the greatest writers of our time ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/118 "2004-04-20T08:23:11Z")
_Catcher In The Rye_ only made me cry in frustration, because I hated that damn book but I had to write a paper on it in 11th grade. But here are a few books that squeezed a few actual tears out of me: _The Great Hunt_ (Wheel Of Time Vol. 2) When Lord Ingtar admitted to Rand that he became a Darkfriend to try to save his country, but sacrificed himself in the end to let Rand escape. Also, from one of the other books when Nynaeve underwent the three trials, and had to leave a life in which she was happily married to Lan. _Finn MacCool_, Morgan Llewellyn. The entire story is very tragic from beginning to end, but also very full of life. Some other books didn’t make me cry, exactly, but I did suffer a fit of morose introspection and dark philosophizing afterwards: _Fahrenheit 451, All Quiet On The Western Front, A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, Of Mice And Men, Grapes Of Wrath, Frankenstein_ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/119 "2004-04-20T10:03:13Z")
_Bury my heart at Wounded Knee_ had me going for a while. \*[Birdsong](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679776818/qid=1082455267/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-5983442-4360625?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) also was very moving indeed. The reaction to the hardened onlookers to The Somme really got to me. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829/120 "2004-04-20T10:09:59Z")
I thought of another one in this category off late, and behold the thread resurfaces. The Great Profundo by Bernard MacLaverty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-have-made-you-bawl/230829.md?page=7)