# What books have made you cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247 "2008-01-20T09:46:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/21 "2008-01-20T19:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=Rubystreak] _Harry Potter_, several times, I’m corny enough to admit [/QUOTE] Count me in on that, too. At least once a book since _Goblet of Fire_. I lost count during the last one, but none of them gave me the racking sobs like the ends of _Order of the Phoenix_ and _Half-Blood Prince_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/22 "2008-01-20T19:41:49Z")
I puddled up at the end of Nevil Shute’s _On the Beach_, particularly in the scene with the young couple and their infant child. If you’ve read the book, you know why. I got a little misty while reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s _Team of Rivals_, about Lincoln’s Cabinet, as the President and First Lady take a carriage ride - true story! - in the afternoon before going to Ford’s Theatre, and talk about how relieved they are that the Civil War is over, and happily talk about their plans for the future. But it was not to be… ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/23 "2008-01-20T19:44:30Z")
_Where the Red Fern Grows_ ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/24 "2008-01-20T19:49:38Z")
**The Dark Tower VII.** When Oy dies and when Jake dies (for the last time) **Time Traveller’s Wife** , of course, for the reasons mentioned above. **It** , when the dog is being tortured. Only Stephen King book I’ve ever not finished because I was so upset by the descriptions. **The Color Purple** , and the movie. The note at the end of the Dark Tower V, I think, where Stephen King talks about Frank Muller being in a motorcycle accident. I bawled like a baby. I felt like those characters, whom I adored, had all just been taken from me. Frank Muller WAS those characters to me. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/25 "2008-01-20T19:54:00Z")
**Under the Skin** , by Michel Faber. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/26 "2008-01-20T20:16:04Z")
Many many many books - but a few I can think of off the top of my head (mainly because I remember reading them on planes and being embarassed I was sobbing with people around): [A Crack in Forever](http://www.amazon.com/CRACK-FOREVER-Novel-Jeannie-Brewer/dp/0684801485/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200859786&sr=8-1) [Where Love Goes](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Love-Goes-Joyce-Maynard/dp/0517701774/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200859821&sr=1-2) [Year of Wonders](http://www.amazon.com/Year-Wonders-Plague-Geraldine-Brooks/dp/B0002D6D9W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200859850&sr=1-1) [Through a Glass Darkly](http://www.amazon.com/Through-Glass-Darkly-Karleen-Koen/dp/1402200447/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200859905&sr=1-1) [Love is a Mix Tape](http://www.amazon.com/Love-Mix-Tape-Life-Loss/dp/1400083036/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200859936&sr=1-1) Also - Where the Red Fern Grows, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Joy Luck Club, The Color Purple, Watership Down, Year of Magical Thinking, Time Traveller’s Wife. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/27 "2008-01-20T20:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=JoeSki] Ripped my heart clean out of my chest. I didn’t cry, but my eyes were dying to let the levee break. [/QUOTE] I did cry. Damn you Audrey Niffenegger - you knew what you were trying to achieve and by fuck you succeeded. Many, many congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/28 "2008-01-20T20:28:28Z")
Oh my goodness, **Glory** just reminded me that I finished _Watership Down_ during “reading time” at school. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my boyhood, bawling without control, in front of all of my classmates, aged ten. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/29 "2008-01-20T20:30:15Z")
Wally Lamb’s _I Know This Much to be True_. The ending, where the old woman does the magic with the rabbits, gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/30 "2008-01-20T20:39:56Z")
_The Subtle Knife_ where Lee dies holding off the bad guys with his daemon Hestor spotting for him. The line that describes Hester putting her little head on his chest and dying nearly killed me _Birdsong_, the Battle of the Somme, 'nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/31 "2008-01-20T20:40:24Z")
[QUOTE=jali] **Otherland Book 4** - Near the end when Olga makes her sacrifice to “hold” her son. [/QUOTE] I really teared up when Orlando’s parents got to visit him in the Middle Earth sim. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/32 "2008-01-20T21:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Oh my goodness, **Glory** just reminded me that I finished _Watership Down_ during “reading time” at school. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my boyhood, bawling without control, in front of all of my classmates, aged ten. [/QUOTE] One of my first posts here was about reading Watership Down for the first time. I wish I had read it when I was younger. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/33 "2008-01-20T21:33:19Z")
[QUOTE=yojimbo] _Birdsong_, the Battle of the Somme, 'nuff said. [/QUOTE] That and when Elizabeth visits the memorial at Thiepval. Not the names of the dead, but the names of the missing - 58,000 strong. She has to sit down quickly in the novel, overwhelmed, as did I in real life. > [@](#): > > Here are recorded names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields July 1915 February 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/34 "2008-01-20T21:50:57Z")
The first and last time I’ve ever cried was while reading **The Bridge to Terabithia** when I was 10 or 11. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/35 "2008-01-20T21:54:56Z")
The end of _Charlotte’s Web_ always gets me. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/36 "2008-01-20T22:05:14Z")
Where the Red Fern Grows Little Ann and Old Dan. I’ll miss you, even though you weren’t my dogs. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/37 "2008-01-20T22:08:02Z")
_Toby Tyler_ ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/38 "2008-01-20T22:13:47Z")
**Dragonfly in Amber** by Diana Gabaldon. When Jamie makes Claire go back to her time. Claire said she heard her heart break…it was like the snap of a flower stem. I had to put the book down and bawl into a pillow. But then, in **Voyager** , when Claire tracks Jamie down through history and shows up at his printing shop! I was crying from joy. And I know it’s sneered at around here, but the\* Dragonlance\* series. I forget if it’s **Dragons of Winter Twilight** or **Dragons of Spring Dawning** , but when Flint dies, and Tas is sitting off by himself, tears streaming down his face. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/39 "2008-01-20T22:16:37Z")
I’ve snivelled over quite a few of the previously mentioned–I’m such a sucker. Orson Scott Card has zapped me quite a few times, most notable in **Hart’s Hope & Lost Boys**. I’ve strictly forbidden my daughter to read the latter until Grandboy is safely into high school. I bawled like a baby at the end of **Marley and Me** but then again any halfway well described death of a beloved pet will get me going. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247/40 "2008-01-21T00:38:23Z")
I came here to post about _The Time Traveler’s Wife_, and I am not at all surprised to see how many people have beaten me to it. That book was perfect from beginning to end, but reading the last 100 pages was like sloooooowly pulling a Band-Aid off of my heart. You know how it will end but are powerless to stop it. And then that epilogue. That book is amazingly painful to read. Even my husband cried over it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-have-made-you-cry/434247.md?page=3)