When I was 10, I was reading my dad’s geology textbook and I found a pamphlet tucked into it. He had forgotten it was there. It had been given to all the men in his unit to prepare them; soon they would be involved in the liberation of a concentration camp. The text and photos were horrifying, but the photo I remember most was a pile of corpses larger than our house. He had to explain Nazi Germany to me that night; that our family would have been killed had we been there at that time; what it was like for him to see the dead and the survivors…men, women, children.
I can’t remember ever crying over any book except Look Homeward, Angel – but that gave me a freakin’ nervous breakdown; I was crying for a week.
I cried at The Time Traveler’s Wife as well, but not at the same moment everyone else did. I cried at the actual culmination of that moment, and at the very end when Clare is old. Those were happy and sad tears all at once.
I also cried at Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s a powerful and moving book, and I think a very good commentary on human nature or society. Mostly, it’s a wonderful story, but the commentary is there and mostly subtle. I cried so hard, and will never pick up the book again. It tied in at the time with a great deal that was going on with my life, and it became oddly personal. To this day, I can’t even think about it without struggling to hold in the tears. I don’t think that’s going to be a normal reaction, though I can’t imagine most people reading the last paragraph or so and not tearing up.
I also cried at Harry Potter books six and seven. I can’t recall anything else off the top of my head, but there may be more.
You’re in for a treat! Not at all like his Song of Ice and Fire series, but brilliant nevertheless. Search for the title Fevre Dream on the SDMB, and I think you’ll see it’s been praised more than a few times.
Another great GRRM book, if you haven’t read it yet: Tuf Voyaging. One of my all-time favorites.
Happy? Happy? What in the name of all that is joyful, was happy about that? Claire was living her whole life, by that point, for that one visit - the point of deliberately setting the scene for Henry to find every day of her life, for years! That was the single most depressing, devastating and disheartening scene in the whole book!
Wow. Probably not what the OP was after, but what a devastating story. 10 is too young to face that kind of evil.
A River Runs Through It
*… Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.*
Excellent description of Maus. I won’t add anything to it. You said it. Everyone should read it.
I didn’t get that sense, no.
Simply that, wow, she did get to interact with him one more time after he died. Death in the real world is the end, and there was joy in being able to be beyond that, if only briefly. Yes, it was sad and heart-wrenching, but I didn’t feel it said what she’d done with her life up to then. It was a gamut of emotions, for a variety of reasons. Simple as that.
Most recently, the eponymous story in Eisner’s graphic novel A Contract With God: A Contract with God - Wikipedia
Particularly where the central character, an orthodox Jew, rages against - and repudiates - God following the pointless death of his adopted daughter, and turns away from humanity.
One of the saddest things I’ve ever read.
And, allegedly, written following the death of the author’s daughter from cancer
I was reading it aloud to my kids, and the lump in my throat finally reduced my voice to a whisper. I said, “No one was with her when she died.” and then I put my face in my hands and bawled.
Darth Sensitive, my daughter finished Flowers For Algernon yesterday. I went into her room and she was just sobbing.
This is the first one that came to my mind, as well!
Others:
What Dreams May Come
Little Women
Sense & Sensibility
Joy Luck Club
The Bell Jar
Last night, I finished rereading The Twelfth Card and by the end I was crying - the final few pages just got to me.
The Kite Runner. Spoiler tags due to the release of the movie.
When the young boy slashes his wrists in the bathroom after being told he’ll have to go back to the orphanage.
When I got to that part, or rather, the few lines before it, I knew exactly what was about to be described, and I honestly wanted to tear myself away from the book and not read that next part… But I had to. I read it, and I almost screamed. Then I wept.
Yeah, that pretty much describes the sequence of events when I read it to my girls.
I forgot to mention:
The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children
and
agh! I cannot remember the Title! kids book - has little boy sitting on bathroom floor unrolling a bunch of toilet paper! help? name?
When I was young, a long time ago, My Friend the Dog.
And -
Not a book, but I read it in the most recent of Barry’s collections.
On Hallowed Ground, by Dave Barry.
Regards,
Shodan
Another vote for A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz. I bawled at the ending. Oh, and hi, there.
Welcome! Your very first post, and you’re a member already? I hope you enjoy your time with us.
Don’t worry about those people setting up an aquarium and animal stall in front of your building. Just part of your welcome party.
The only book I consistently cry at, every single time (an still re-read the book. Most times, if I cry during a book I avoid it) is A Christmas Carol. I love that book.
I also teared up a little during The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, out of sheer frustrated rage. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
For some reason, I don’t think I’ve ever cried during an actual HP book (some fanfics, yes, but the books, no). I suspect most of this has to do with wanting to smack Harry for being a moody brat.
I cry much easier during movies, which is a little embarrassing.