Following on from the film weepfest here what are the books that have made you cry?
The one that I recall making me bawl the most was I Married A Communist by Phillip Roth, especially the last page and a half. I was visiting Berlin at the time I first read it and finding out the history of East Germany and the like made much of the subject matter resonate.
The Color Purple.
The Joy Luck Club.
(They’re on my movie list too.)
Angela’s Ashes - I had to put this down a few times.
Otherland Book 4 - Near the end when Olga makes her sacrifice to “hold” her son.
**Dune ** (one of the prequels) - When Duke Leto desperately wants to ressurect his son.
Roots
Almost anything by Maeve Binchy. Many novels by Rosemond Pilcher. All of Robin Pilcher.
Dickens has regularly brought a tear to my eyes, even upon multiple readings of the same work (I understand he would weep when reading his work to an audience). When Bob Cratchit–he of the good, pure, unselfish heart–breaks down, “My little, little child! My little child!” over the thought of his precious boy, Tiny Tim, dead and taken from him forever.
When Oliver Twist explains his sobbing to Bumble, “I am a very little boy, sir; and it is so–so…so lonely, sir! So very lonely!”
Dickens was often accused of manipulating his readers with melodrama. Worked on me, I guess.
I almost started this thread myself. While I may be a total wuss at movies, I have a heart of stone when it comes to books–with two exceptions. In the entire course of my life, I can remember two books that made me shed tears.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I checked this out of the school library out of curiosity sometime around the age of 13-14. When St. Clare was stabbed to death intervening in a fight, I was devestated. I cried for hours, remember almost throwing up, and could not return to the book for about two weeks thereafter. I have never been so affected by a fictional character’s death. I can’t even explain why–I doubt I had the capacity to fully understand the characters within historical context, and I don’t even really remember that book. I was just really attached to his sense of justice and integrity. I viewed him as a kind of father figure or ideal husband and I was stunned by his death. His death felt like the death of hope.
The last book that made me cry, did so just a few weeks ago. It is called Maus: A Survivor’s Tale and it would probably tear just about anyone’s shit up. If you have never read this book, I urge you to do so now. It is a memoir in graphic novel form, written by Art Spiegelman, that recounts his father’s experience as a Polish Jew at Auschwitz and the devastating impact the experience had on his family relationships. His mother also survived the camps and committed suicide about 18 years after being reunited with her husband. All of the Jews are depicted as mice, the Nazis as cats, the Poles as pigs, etc… everything has a satirical edge but the story retelling is simple, poignant, and heartbreaking.
Oh, and it won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992. They normally don’t do that for graphic novels, but this one was just so fucking good they realized they didn’t have a choice.
I was up until 6am reading this book, and when I finished, I sat there for a few seconds trying to absorb the implications of what I had just read. Then I started sobbing, these loud, braying sobs that woke up my husband. When he asked what was wrong, I just replied, ‘‘I finished reading Maus.’’ He had just finished reading it himself and understood completely–he rolled over, and went back to sleep, leaving me to my grieving experience. I can’t really explain the book, it defies description. I’ve read a few books on the Holocaust, but none have affected me the way this one did. The story isn’t about Jews and Nazis, but about humanity. One gets the inexplicable feeling that everything that has ever happened throughout history has happened to all of us at once.
Not to mention the gratitude. The overwhelming aching cloying sense of gratitude I felt for my life after reading it.
These are the only two books in history that I can remember ever moving me to tears. I have read some sad fucking shit, but for some reason, these are the only ones.
I’ve already revealed that I’m a big blubbery wuss in that other thread, so here is a selection of the many, many books that have made me sob like a big girl’s blouse:
Atonement. From the sounds of the movie, much of the emotional impact is lost. But the book had me weeping openly on public transport.
A Suitable Boy. Not just tear-jerking, but one feels a sense of loss when the book has finished.
A Fine Balance. The horror of Indian poverty expressed through the fate of empathetic characters. Similarly City of Joy (ignore the dumbass movie).
On Green Dolphin Street. So beatiful and tragic that I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it.
The Amber Spyglass.When Lyra has to lose Pantalaimon. Astonishingly heartbreaking, particularly considering the entire the entire dæmon scenario is a fantasy of the author.
Not out and out crying, but two that I remember misting up to were *To Kill a Mockingbird * and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
I came in with* A Prayer for Owen Meany*, too. And Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much is True.
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. It’s a tragic story in many ways, and the writing is just so beautiful.
Only one. The end of Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. Though they were tears of joy. Very much out of character for me.
Oh, actually I just remembered another one that made me tear up. It was one of the Calvin and Hobbes comic books, where Calvin finds a baby raccoon and tries to nurse it back to health. His innocent grief as he tries to come to terms with the unfairness of death is absolutely heartbreaking, and completely true to the character, given his affinity for animals.
Come on, am I the only one here who cried when Johnny Cade died in The Outsiders?
“Stay gold, Ponyboy…”
I remember crying when Gus died in Lonesome Dove.
The end of Ender’s Game made me cry and I cried at a few places in Box Office Poison.
Recently, the Regency dragon-rider alternate history book Temeraire made me sniffle at a certain death scene. Aaah, who’m I kidding, I bawled like a baby.
The Dollmaker by Harriet Simpson Arnow. The first time I read it, I did my sobbing in a closet – I didn’t want to scare the kids.
The second time I read it, I cried again, at a different part of the book.
The first time, it was a death that made me cry. The second time was when Gertie confronted one of her children’s schoolteachers. Gertie was fearless in her own world – nothing scared her, not even wild animals – but watching her prepare for humiliation for the sake of her child was heartbreaking.
It’s an awesome book. I keep trying to get people to read it, but I don’t think I’ve ever succeeded. The dialect is off-putting, I think.
I always cry when Beth dies in* Little Women *and when I read the poem Jo wrote about the four chests in the attic.
To Dance with the White Dog did it for me, too.
The Sparrow, by Maria Doria Russell-- killer ending
Iron Council and *The Scar *, by China Mieville-- he knows how to write tragedy… when is he going to write another book in the Bas-Lag universe?
The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman-- it was a long journey to that ending
Harry Potter, several times, I’m corny enough to admit
The ending of A Tale of Two Cities always makes me cry.
The chapter The Prince’s Tale in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had me sobbing like a child.
The Time Traveler’s Wife…
When Henry met his daughter, and then vanished right after she told him he was dead in her time.
Ripped my heart clean out of my chest. I didn’t cry, but my eyes were dying to let the levee break.
Oh my god yes. Tears, snot, tissues, the works. Goddamn that was sad. Fucking awesome book though.