# Ever cry at a passage in a novel or short story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262 "2008-11-24T16:26:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/1 "2008-11-24T16:26:16Z")
Well, tell us about it. Brought to you by the campaign for pithy OPs. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/2 "2008-11-24T17:18:33Z")
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” ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/3 "2008-11-24T17:19:59Z")
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_. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/4 "2008-11-24T17:26:11Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/5 "2008-11-24T17:26:13Z")
Oh God, yes. And one keeps knifing me in the gut no matter how many times I reread the series…_Dragonfly in Amber_, when Jamie sends Claire back through the stones Of course, I cried happy tears in the next book, _Voyager_, when Claire walks into Jamie’s printing shop. Jamie…_sigh_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/6 "2008-11-24T17:34:41Z")
The passage in _A Suitable Boy_ that talks about the legacy of Mrs Rupa Mehra. And _The Amber Spyglass_ whereLyra and Pantalaimon undergo intercision.I sobbed like a baby. Big fat tears flopping down my cheeks. And at the end too. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/7 "2008-11-24T17:41:53Z")
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! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/8 "2008-11-24T17:55:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/9 "2008-11-24T18:10:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/10 "2008-11-24T18:11:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/11 "2008-11-24T18:12:21Z")
I misted up when in _The Hundred Days_ Barret Bonden is cut in half by a cannon ball. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/12 "2008-11-24T18:23:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/13 "2008-11-24T18:31:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/14 "2008-11-24T18:42:04Z")
Near the end of HP and the Deathly Hallows when Harry is walking through the woods. I start to tear up when 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. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/15 "2008-11-24T18:49:26Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/16 "2008-11-24T20:19:14Z")
I bawl, complete with big ugly noises, towards the end of Charlotte’s Web. No one was with her when she died. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/17 "2008-11-24T20:21:04Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/18 "2008-11-24T21:47:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/19 "2008-11-24T21:57:56Z")
I’ve never made it through “The Scarlet Ibis,” without turning into a puddle. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/20 "2008-11-24T22:13:58Z")
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…) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262.md?page=2)