# Books that made you cry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737 "2012-10-15T01:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/41 "2012-10-16T14:25:48Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > The Road, by Cormac McCarthy Me too. I read it shortly after my son was born, so how could I not weep at this father-son story? I can’t think of any other books that have literally moved me to tears, but some in this thread (_The Last Battle_, _Charlotte’s Web_) have come close. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/42 "2012-10-16T14:27:38Z")
Marley and Me. Probably doesn’t help that I have two aging Labs. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/43 "2012-10-16T14:41:46Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I must be cold-hearted, because I’ve read a _lot_ of books, but the only one that ever made me cry was Misery by Stephen King. I won’t spoil it, but it was _that_ part, the shocking and painful one. I must be worse - readl loads and never once cried over anything in a book. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/44 "2012-10-16T15:23:58Z")
I started reading when I was four–in the sense of not spelling out words but reading. I’ve cried at lots of books. Watership Down of course. (I read it at nine, thinking it would be about boats or something. “Bunnies??? No…no Hazel-Rah!”) Though Traveller by Richard Adams makes me cry harder. I’m suprised no one has mentioned the Harry Potter books. I’m not proud of the fact that I’m an adult human with no kids and I fricking love those. Every single one made me cry. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird. And Huckleberry Finn. I need a hug right now ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/45 "2012-10-16T15:54:16Z")
> [@toast\_pakora](#): > > I was reading The Little Match Girl out loud to my 6 year old nephew during a rather desperate time in our lives and I could barely choke out the final sentences. I was not familiar with the story before that; it’s heartbreaking. This is a fairy tale for kids? This. I found it heartbreaking when I was 7, 8 yo and read it for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/46 "2012-10-16T18:12:31Z")
Okay. I’ll admit it. I shed at least two shocked tears at Dumbledore’s death scene in _HP and the Half-Blood Prince_. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/47 "2012-10-16T18:22:29Z")
_Cold Sassy Tree_, not overall a sad book, but: what Grandpa does for Miss Mattie Lou’s funeral, and the listing of the dead babies in the family bible. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/48 "2012-10-16T18:25:12Z")
I’m the world’s worst reading crybaby, I think. [ul] [li]Old Yeller (and it’s sequel, too - the mule scene!)[/li][li]Where the Red Fern Grows[/li][li]Black Beauty[/li][li]Misty of Chincoteague (sp?) when the Phantom leaves! :’([/li][li]Emily of New Moon[/li][li]ALL of Amy Tan’s books (but the Kitchen God’s Wife was the worst culprit)[/li][li]Cold Sassy Tree[/li][li]Memoirs of a Geisha (but I cried at the end because I was so happy!!)[/li][li]Dances with Wolves (and the sequel, too)[/li][li]Romeo and Juilet[/li][li]The Last Battle[/li][/ul] That is nowhere NEAR a complete list, either… Good grief, I’ve been known to cry over John Grisham novels! (A Time to Kill) and I even got a little teary reading the last Twilight book. (hangs head in shame) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/49 "2012-10-16T19:01:31Z")
Also, The Last Battle - tears of sorrow & awe & joy at the Doom of Narnia, the Great Judgment by Aslan, the Entrance into Eternal Narnia, the Salvation of Emeth, the Self-Damnation of the Dwarves, and tears of frustration & hope at The Question of Susan. Much the same mixture of emotions at the end of CSL’s That Hideous Strength- especially at The Descent of the Eldils and the Curse of Babel at N.I.C.E.- “For those who reject the Word of God, from them shall the Word of Man be taken away!” Taylor Caldwell’s Dear and Glorious Physician- especially when Lucanus prays with heartfelt compassion & deep bitterness for a leper to recieve some scrap of mercy from what he thinks to be an uncaring “Unknown God”. And after he sends the leper & his wife off with what money he could give them, they rest to find that the leper is healed. Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged- The Riot at Rearden’s Mill when ‘Non-Absolute’ becomes a ‘Full Absolute’, the Cry of Eddie Willers’ ‘Don’t Let It End!’, the despair & suicide of Cheryl Taggart & Dagny’s deep sorrow for her. ---
**Author:** ![UncleMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e0b2c6/32.png) [@UncleMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleMoose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/50 "2012-10-16T20:02:05Z")
I think part of it was the parallels between my life at the time and the father in the story - same age, same job, my son had the same name and was the same age as the son in the book. We were even thinking of moving down south at the time. I should have seen the ending coming, but didn’t. I’ll get emotional reading, but that’s the only one where I outright sobbed at the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/51 "2012-10-16T20:54:41Z")
As a kid, I cried at the original tear-jerker: _Wild Animals I Have Known_ by E.T. Seton. Pretty well all of the short stories in that book have the animal heros die tragically at the end. Particularly the story of Lobo. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/52 "2012-10-16T21:01:09Z")
Surprise entry for you: the (mostly) comic novel **Redshirts** , by John Scalzi. I listened to the audio version, read by Wil Wheaton, and you can actually hear his voice choke up a little. I wasn’t surprised to read this in the NYT review: > [@](#): > > The third [coda], a meditation on love, loss and redemption, resonated especially with the actor Wil Wheaton, the former Wesley Crusher of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” who narrated the audiobook. During that segment, he recalled: “I said to the director, ‘I just have to stop.’ I sat in the booth and I cried to myself as long as I needed to.” > > Mr. Scalzi said he was not surprised: “I cried writing it.” ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/53 "2012-10-16T21:48:54Z")
> [@JuliaSqueezer](#): > > Saw the thread title and came in to post “Art of Racing in the Rain” but I see Catnoe beat me to it. I’m pretty stoic when it comes to tearing up, especially when reading something, but that book had me in a puddle of tears. > > Knew it was coming, cried anyway. I have this book on my Kindle and I can’t bring myself to read it because I know without being exposed to any spoilers that this book will tear my heart to shreds. > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Bridge to Terebithia in 5th grade Oh yes, I remember bawling when I read that book when I was a child. As an adult, a lot of books make me cry, but full on sobbing? The Deathly Hallows when Hedwig dies - seriously?! WHY!!! And the end of Mockingjay made me cry for the rest of the day. Granted I was a bit weakened with the flu, but that ending made my heart heavy. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/54 "2012-10-16T22:49:30Z")
Rumer Godden’s _In This House of Brede_. If you’ve read it, you know exactly what scene I mean. And I get weepy at one of the Callahan’s Bar stories by Spider Robinson. It’s either _The Guy with the Eyes_ or _Fivesight_. It’s arguably, in context, the saddest sentence I’ve ever read. “I saved thirty bucks, easy.” (Context is everything.) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/55 "2012-10-16T23:01:00Z")
If I’m crying, I can’t read, so books usually don’t make me cry, and never when they’re trying to. But, _The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks_? I don’t know whether it was in spite of the fact that it was nonfiction, or because it was, but it really got me going. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/56 "2012-10-17T00:59:11Z")
> [@Mauvaise](#): > > As an adult, a lot of books make me cry, but full on sobbing? The Deathly Hallows when Hedwig dies - seriously?! WHY!!! Me, too. I was okay with Dumbledore’s death (well, not _okay_, but didn’t sob), but this…yeah, it made me cry. Also when I read of how Snape handled Dumbledore’s death. THAT made me cry. ---
**Author:** ![catnoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@catnoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catnoe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/57 "2012-10-17T01:32:54Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Couldn’t have said it better. > > I’ll add The Velveteen Rabbit - I was 6, gimme a break 😉 I was coming back to add The Velveteen Rabbit. I was not a kid, I was about 23. A roommate had what I think was his childhood copy and said read this. I bawled like a baby. Then went out and bought copies for various friends and relatives who would truely appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/58 "2012-10-17T05:24:43Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > Surprise entry for you: the (mostly) comic novel **Redshirts** , by John Scalzi. > > I listened to the audio version, read by Wil Wheaton, and you can actually hear his voice choke up a little. I wasn’t surprised to read this in the NYT review: Scalzi has made me cry more than once, in more than one book. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/59 "2012-10-17T05:31:42Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Bridge to Terebithia in 5th grade Ditto! My wife, had not read it, so I recommended it. She’s still mad at me for not warning her about the end. I can’t believe no one has mentioned this one… I can never, ever, get through _Love You Forever_ by Robert Munsch without losing it completely. My kids think I’m an old sap. The _Steadfast Tin Soldier_ by Hans Christian Andersen is also a sentimental book to me. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/60 "2012-10-17T12:10:59Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > I can’t believe no one has mentioned this one… I can never, ever, get through _Love You Forever_ by Robert Munsch without losing it completely. My kids think I’m an old sap. The mom creeping in at night to cuddle her grown son? Breaking into his house? I understand it is supposed to be a sentimental take on unconditional love, but … :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737.md?page=4)