# 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:** 4
**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, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/61 "2012-10-17T13:39:46Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > 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: It’s a fictional story for children, a book written for little boys about the bond between a mother and son. OMG, maybe you have a point! I just realized that the parents in Alligator Baby could be trafficking in exotic pets stolen from the zoo! Call the FBI! > [@Malthus](#): > > 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. The Nature Faker!? Wow, I understand it is supposed to be a sentimental take on animal personality and intelligence , but … :eek: ---
**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, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/62 "2012-10-17T13:54:38Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > It’s a fictional story for children, a book written for little boys about the bond between a mother and son. > OMG, maybe you have a point! I just realized that the parents in Alligator Baby could be trafficking in exotic pets stolen from the zoo! Call the FBI! I know, I know. But some kiddie fantasies are a trifle more … disturbing than others. 😃 A book that is fully intended to be a sentimental fantasy, I get that; but the fantasy in this case seems a trifle on the stalkerish side. I mean, mommy is literally creeping on her hands and knees at one point to sneak into her grown child’s bedroom! > [@](#): > > The Nature Faker!? > Wow, I understand it is supposed to be a sentimental take on animal personality and intelligence , but … :eek: It’s a good read, but pretty damn grim - on purpose. His intent was to arouse sympathy for wild animals. ---
**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, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/63 "2012-10-17T14:45:23Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I know, I know. But some kiddie fantasies are a trifle more … disturbing than others. 😃 Agreed, just pointing out that dissecting them or transposing them to the real world is a slippery slope. No Worries 😃 ETA: FTR I don’t have a problem with Seton and love his stories. ---
**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, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/64 "2012-10-17T15:48:57Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Agreed, just pointing out that dissecting them or transposing them to the real world is a slippery slope. > > No Worries 😃 > > ETA: FTR I don’t have a problem with Seton and love his stories. Some kiddie lit can be odd, even on sympathetic viewing. For example - call me crazy, but I’m not above finding _Struwwelpeter_ slightly “off” even though it’s kiddy lit. Kiddy lit - from Hell. 😃 Or early 19th cent. Germany. One or the other. > **[Project Gutenberg eBook of Struwwelpeter, Merry Stories and Funny Pictures,...](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12116/12116-h/12116-h.htm)** My favorites are “Cruel Fred” and “Little Suck-a-Thumb”, though I have a fondness for “Augustus who would not eat his soup”. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/65 "2012-10-17T16:30:46Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > 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: I too teared up when I first read _I Love You Forever_ while browsing it in a bookstore when my oldest child was 2 years old. It did seem surreal to see the mom cuddling her grown adult son to sleep, but I could even then imagine that in my mind, that’s what it’d be like as a parent - that in some part of my heart, indelibly for the rest of my life, my children will always be those little darlings I rocked to sleep in my arms. They grew up and forgot, but I never will. But what really got to me was when he put his mother “to bed” and then went home to do the same for his own child. The generational baton of love, so to speak. Anyway, yeah, that book and _Charlotte’s Web_ made me stop, reread the salient passages and just start weeping. I think I also did so for Sydney Carton’s farewell in _A Tale Of Two Cities_, but not on subsequent re-reads. An as-yet uncited example that comes to mind would be Shakespeare’s _King Lear_. I knew the plot had to be leading up to Cornelia’s death, but O the words of the Bard when he comes onstage bearing his daughter’s dead body. I cried when I read this at 16, and I tear up even on re-reading this (while writing) now that I have two daughters myself. > [@](#): > > Howl, howl, howl, howl! Oh, you are men of stones. > Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so > That heaven’s vault should crack. She’s gone forever. > … > > A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all! I might have saved her. Now she’s gone for ever.— > Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little. Ha? > What is ’t thou say’st?—Her voice was ever soft, > Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.— > I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee. > … > And my poor fool is hanged.—No, no, no life? > Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, > And thou no breath at all? Oh, thou’lt come no more, > Never, never, never, never, never.— > Pray you, undo this button. Thank you, sir. > Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips. > Look there, look there. O, O, O, O. > \*(dies) > \* ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/66 "2012-10-17T16:42:03Z")
There are several that didn’t make me cry while reading, but got me later when I started thinking about them. _Catch-22_ was one, so was Pat Barker’s _Regeneration_, and _One Soldier’s War_ by Arkady Babchenko which I recommend to everyone ever. It seems to be something war books are especially good at. I’m not sure if I ever cried while in the act of reading before. Maybe _Slaughterhouse-five_? I’m not even sure whether it was the events in that book at all… It’s probably because I do that exact same damn thing Billy habitually does where he randomly breaks down crying in private and never makes any sound, just tears. I’ve never been caught crying, so that one time when he did it in public, it hit me like a tonne o’ bricks. > [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > The end of _The Gargoyle_, by Andrew Davidson. I was getting pissed off at the book until the last couple pages. Shouldn’t have read the end of that book at work, I had to explain to my co-workers why I was crying… I was waiting for someone to mention this one! ---
**Author:** ![all1966](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@all1966](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/all1966)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/67 "2012-10-17T19:15:38Z")
A Dog’s Purpose - listened to the audiobook - when I got to the part I knew was going to cause serious waterworks, I told the hubby, “I’m going to go finish listening to this book. There will be many tears. You may want to avoid the bedroom for a while.” It was a terribly beautiful, bittersweet ending. The Crowning Glory of Cala Lilly Ponder by Rebecca Wells - SOBBED through the deaths of the main characters husband and her mom. Devastatingly well written. Pretty much, at some point in all of them, James Herriot’s books - All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, etc. And yes, the demise of Hedgwig and Dumbledore dissolved me to tears as well. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/68 "2012-10-17T19:35:09Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > I must be worse - readl loads and never once cried over anything in a book. :dubious: I’ve never cried over a book either. And I’ve only laughed out loud once that I can recall: The Tin Drum. ---
**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 17, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/69 "2012-10-17T19:39:57Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Scalzi has made me cry more than once, in more than one book. I’m reading **Fuzzy Nation** right now, and I can totally see its potential to be devastating at some point, even as Holloway cracks me up every other page. I typically avoid animal stories due to the tearjerker possibility, but somehow I find myself reading about the most adorable cat/meerkat/people(?) family imaginable, along with a completely charming mutt. ---
**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, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/70 "2012-10-17T20:54:26Z")
Carl does not like BOOM. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/71 "2012-10-17T21:34:40Z")
Two books. Specifically, the very last scenes of two books: _To Kill A Mockingbird_. The very last page or two, when Scout is standing on Boo Radley’s porch, seeing her childhood through his eyes. and T.H. White’s \*The Once And Future King \*as Arthur charges the young Malory to tell the story of Camelot - “Keep the candle burning”; dreams of seeing Merlin again; reviews his life and works; and finally meets death with peace and dignity. Come to think of it, the reconciliation of Gawaine and Lancelot, and Gawaine’s subsequent death. always produces a few tears. Manly tears. My tearducts are Harper Lee’s and T.H. White’s bitches, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/72 "2012-10-17T21:40:57Z")
Oh God yes, The Once and Future King. Both the bits you mentioned. And don’t forget the bit where Arthur and Gawaine have been watching Lancelot save Guenever from the stake, and they think everything’s OK and they’ll be able to patch things up, they’re all joyful - and then Mordred comes in to tell them that Gaheris and Gareth are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/73 "2012-10-17T22:12:50Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Oh God yes, The Once and Future King. Both the bits you mentioned. And don’t forget the bit where > > Arthur and Gawaine have been watching Lancelot save Guenever from the stake, and they think everything’s OK and they’ll be able to patch things up, they’re all joyful - and then Mordred comes in to tell them that Gaheris and Gareth are dead. Didn’t make me cry, but yes, you’re right. Gareth was one of my favorite characters, and Gaheris was harmless and inoffensive. Oh, and how about the bit where Sir What’s-his-name, King Pellinore’s son comes in after the Grail quest, determined to seek vengeance on the Orkneys for the death of his father, only to be calmed down and leave to invite them to dinner? Or the end of the first book, when Arthur pulls out the Sword, surrounded by all the animals who loved and taught him? Hell, it’s a wonder the pages didn’t dissolve with all the tears I shed over that book. Damn you, T.H. White, damn you for your beautiful imagination! ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/74 "2012-10-17T22:30:15Z")
He was one of my favourite characters, too. The first time I read it I was ten, so the adult characters were these unfathomably complex mysteries - I could dimly feel just how powerful they were and how incredibly written, but Gareth I could understand. Even in the later sections, when he’s an adult, I always half-saw him as the boy who tried to stop the others from killing the unicorn. And yes, Aglovale (is it Aglovale?) inviting them to dinner! ‘Now I have got a new Pellinore to love.’ My copy is tear-stained in a whole bunch of places, and not just from when I was ten. I have no shame about admitting I am a great big crybaby for my man T.H. The beautiful imagination and the _writing_. My God, the writing; the rhythms. Entire paragraphs of that book are engraved on my brain because they’re so utterly perfect. ‘“My last brother has broken his fealty. And Lancelot…ah God, my head!” He stood swaying in the dim light, holding the bandage with both hands, while his shadow moved grotesquely round the tent pole.’ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/75 "2012-10-18T00:29:34Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > My copy is tear-stained in a whole bunch of places, and not just from when I was ten. I have no shame about admitting I am a great big crybaby for my man T.H. Did you ever read _Mistress Masham’s Repose_? ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/76 "2012-10-18T03:18:50Z")
Another Rumer Godden-An Episode of Sparrows. Every time ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/77 "2012-10-18T03:37:05Z")
In [Jim Corbett’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Corbett_(hunter))book _The Man Eaters of Kumaon_ he spends the second chapter telling storier of his spaniel, Robin, who accompanied him on many hunts trying to stop man-eating tigers and leopards. The chapter finishes: [spoiler]When I had satisfied Robin that he was not to blame for our temporary separation, and his small body had stopped trembling, I put him down and together we walked up to where the leopard, who had put up such a game fight, and had so nearly won the last round, was lying dead. I have told you the story, and while I have been telling it Robin the biggest-hearted and the most faithful friend man ever had has gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds, where I know I shall find him waiting for me. [/spoiler] Gets me every time I read the book. ---
**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 18, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/78 "2012-10-18T08:17:44Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Carl does not like BOOM. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/79 "2012-10-18T09:00:46Z")
> [@Evin](#): > > I’ve never cried over a book either. > And I’ve only laughed out loud once that I can recall: > The Tin Drum. Same here - The intro to Terry Prachetts Discworld series. - The Colour of Magic. Over 20 years ago and I think thats why I love the discworld it made me laugh out loude in the middle od a shop when looking for something new to read. The Big Bang Theory stuff about the Great A’Tuin. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737/80 "2012-10-18T11:30:13Z")
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Bambi! I read it while walking home for lunch as a 9-year-old, and my mother was worried something awful had happened as I tried to choke down my grilled cheese. Finally I blurted out "They killed Bambi’s _mother!_ and completely lost it. I’ll always love the way my mother handled that, comforting me and letting me know it was OK to cry at a book. _snif_-I need to go call home now\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-made-you-cry/637737.md?page=5)