# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/41 "2008-11-25T11:07:35Z")
Yeah, I’m another one who had a couple tears while reading “Of Mice and Men”. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/42 "2008-11-25T11:42:03Z")
has anyone not gotten misty reading little women? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/43 "2008-11-25T12:25:50Z")
Last time I got all misty over fiction was while reading John Ringo’s _A Hymn before Battle_ when Mike 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. ---
**Author:** ![Buford\_was\_no\_angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Buford\_was\_no\_angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buford_was_no_angel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/44 "2008-11-25T12:37:53Z")
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_: 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. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/45 "2008-11-25T12:40:34Z")
I cried when I read _The Bridges of Madison County_. As a lover of literature it was either that or vomiting. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/46 "2008-11-25T14:19:44Z")
No. But I’ve come real close. Real fucking close while reading **The Time Traveler’s Wife** when 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. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/47 "2008-11-25T14:27:41Z")
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 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. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/48 "2008-11-25T15:40:20Z")
> [@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!” ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/49 "2008-11-25T15:57:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/50 "2008-11-25T16:32:32Z")
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. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/51 "2008-11-25T16:38:48Z")
I welled up during the last few acts of Tom Stoppard’s play _Arcadia_. Just imagining that final dancing scene gets me teary eyed every time. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/52 "2008-11-25T16:41:25Z")
The first chapter of “The art of racing in the rain” by Garth Stein pretty much did me in. [http://www.amazon.com/Art-Racing-Rain-Garth-Stein/dp/0061537934/ref=sr\_1\_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227631090&sr=1-1](http://www.amazon.com/Art-Racing-Rain-Garth-Stein/dp/0061537934/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227631090&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/53 "2008-11-25T19:30:01Z")
Definitely _Owen Meany_. And _Odd Thomas_ by Dean Koontz. I bawled – what a horrible ending. I’ve never read the sequel, or even reread that book because it tore me up so. And I reread everything. I’m sure I teared up the first time through the LotR – I was fourteen and impressionable. As for Harry Potter, I cried when the OWL died. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/54 "2008-11-25T19:43:43Z")
> [@schnuckiputzi](#): > > Definitely _Owen Meany_. And _Odd Thomas_ by Dean Koontz. I bawled – what a horrible ending. I’ve never read the sequel, or even reread that book because it tore me up so. And I reread everything. > I’m sure I teared up the first time through the LotR – I was fourteen and impressionable. > As for Harry Potter, I cried when the OWL died. The sequels to Odd Thomas are not as tragic, though they have their moments. This last one was only OK, but still good enough that I will read the next. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/55 "2008-11-25T20:07:22Z")
I’m a sucker for talking animals…Huan’s fate in my copy of **The Silmarillion** has many tear-drop wrinkled pages. > **[Lúthien and Beren |](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huan_(Middle-earth)#Huan)** > > They came to Sauron's Isle, and Lúthien sang a call to Beren. He answered, but Sauron heard her song and sent wolves to slay Huan, but Huan killed them, one by one. Finally, Sauron transformed himself into the most powerful of all werewolves and went out. Huan flinched, but Lúthien smothered Sauron's lunge in her enchanted cloak. Sauron changed into different shapes, but Huan bested him. Lúthien forced Sauron to surrender the keys of his tower; he fled in the shape of a vampire.\[T 2\] Lúthien dest... ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/56 "2008-11-26T01:49:18Z")
> [@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 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_. Oh God, yes. In _Outlander_, I cried when Claire had to leave Jaime in the dungeon…and then later in the book, when he cried while telling her what happened afterward and that she must leave him and go back. In _The Fiery Cross_, I cried when they found Roger at the wrong end of a new rope, and in _A Breath of Snow and Ashes_, I cried when they rescued Claire from her kidnapping, and when Brianna, in the rowboat, paid her final visit to Stephen Bonnet . I also cried at the very end, when they pry open the wooden box, Brianna smells the homemade paper with the dried flowers and says “Mama…” Diana Gabaldon has a habit of leaving me in a tear stained puddle. ---
**Author:** ![Tess\_of\_the\_Derbyville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Tess\_of\_the\_Derbyville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess_of_the_Derbyville)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/57 "2008-11-26T02:46:46Z")
I’m not a weepy person and think many love stories are just plain sappy, but the last paragraph of _The Dogs of Babel_ destroyed me. Not just tears and sniffles but racking sobs for several minutes. Re-reading it still kills me, “I remember my wife in white.” ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/58 "2008-11-26T06:38:12Z")
Actually yes. There’s a scene from Robert Jordan’s last book, Knife of dreams, that does it for me. It’s rather hard to explain if you don’t know the series but… [spoiler] When Nynaeve goes through the length of the Borderlands rallying the survivors of Malkier to follow Lan north to the Last Battle. The scene with her and the gem merchant is awesome. It gets me every time. She’s basically redefining reality by sheer force of will. Forget that Malkier has been dead for a generation. _She_ takes the old bonds of loyalty seriously and dares anyone to disagree. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/59 "2008-11-26T15:47:57Z")
> [@Tess\_of\_the\_Derbyville](#): > > I’m not a weepy person and think many love stories are just plain sappy, but the last paragraph of _The Dogs of Babel_ destroyed me. Not just tears and sniffles but racking sobs for several minutes. Re-reading it still kills me, “I remember my wife in white.” This is exactly what I came in to list. I haven’t really cried over a book in some time… but this book brought me to the brink of hysterical sobs in a couple of places. Fantastic book, but one of the saddest, most poignant things I have ever read. Heart-wrenching. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262/60 "2008-11-26T15:58:06Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > When I was a kid, I read Old Yeller. Cried like a river when they had to shoot him. Old Yeller dies?!? /Phoebe from Friends [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-cry-at-a-passage-in-a-novel-or-short-story/474262.md?page=4)