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  1. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    Books that made you cry? Or come close to tears?

    Discussion in 'Discussion of Published Works' started by Orcalot, Jun 12, 2017.

    Curious to see what books have hit an emotional nerve for people and why. I'm hoping my w.i.p. will have the emotional oomph to cause a few tears. Feel free to include childhood reads also.
    Help yourselves to the box of tissues at the door :D
     
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  2. Masked Mole

    Masked Mole Senior Member

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    I cried a little when Eva died in Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's the only book or movie that has made me cry, as far as I know.
     
  3. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    One Hundred Years of Solitude gets me every time....
     
  4. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    I'm a huge sap who primarily reads romance, so much of the time I'm teary-eyed when reading. It's weird because in everyday life I'm not a crier at all - I didn't cry at my wedding, when my daughter was born, or when my dad died. But give me a book, movie or TV show that's the least bit mushy and I fall to pieces. I find it very cathartic and actively seek out books that look like they'll be particularly angsty.

    A recent example would be Peter Darling by Austin Chant. I read the whole thing in about 3 hours on my birthday and cried through probably half of it. It was GLORIOUS.
     
  5. ajaye

    ajaye Senior Member

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    Ohh, lots of animal books when I was a kid. Black Beauty. The Billabong book where Nora's horse Bobs died. The Incredible Journey even with its happy ending.

    I'm getting worse as I get older, now even people books can make me cry.


     
  6. dragonflare137

    dragonflare137 Member

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    If my memory serves me correct, I've only ever cried super hard when I read Fell by David Clement-Davies. There was a part at the end where the antagonist from the first book (The Sight) gets shown in a vision, and it got me real good.
     
  7. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    Whuthering Heights among many. I cry easily at movies and books. :)
     
  8. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    The short story version of "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. I've never read the novel, and that's probably because the short story is so powerful. It's an emotional kick in the guts.

    Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. (I was a kid at the time.)

    Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke (I don't remember anything at all about it; I was about nine or so at the time. I remember it hitting hard, though, to a junior sci-fi nerd like me.)

    The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende. A kids' book I read as an adult. The plight of Atreyu moves me deeply - the young knight who believes he's lost everything, but hasn't.

    I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now.
     
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  9. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    Too many by now. But the most recent and memorable was 'House to House' (David Bellavia). The scene where the unnamed woman lays down flowers will probably stay with me forever.
     
  10. LostThePlot

    LostThePlot Naysmith Contributor

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    There's a reasonable chance that I'm just a bit weird on this point but...

    No-one else's work has ever made me cry. My books can get me every time. But no-one else has pressed my buttons in quite the right way. And yeah, this is because I'm weird, and yes it's because I know what gets to me in specific ways, but as far as I'm concerned no-one does pain quite like me; hopeless, helpless, unflinching looks right into the eye of of the void. Did I mention I write teen romance? Still, no tears for the author, right?
     
  11. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    hmmm lots of weepy goodness here

    lol I hear ya sister. Had one of my dogs put to sleep last year, was with him at the vets, drove him home, buried him, all dry-eyed. Then came into the house and stuck on Marley & Me and cried like the rain. Totally cathartic.

    My literary sniffle-inducers are almost always to do with animals. When I read Sara Gruen's Water For Elephants I just about managed to put it down to go to the bathroom, then sat on the pot in floods of tears because the antagonist, a circus ringmaster, has just discovered that it's Rosie the elephant who's been stealing the lemonade.
    In the non-animal department, I shed a few at the end of We Need To Talk About Kevin. I'm now a fully fledged 'Shriver worshipper.
     
  12. ajaye

    ajaye Senior Member

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    I couldn't watch that. Won't read animal books now either. Life of Pi made me cry before I 'understood'. I'll skip pages if there's unforeseen animal heartache.

    And sorry about your dog @Orcalot . :(
     
  13. Orcalot

    Orcalot Member

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    thanks, you're a sweetie
    Life of Pi almost made me cry at the gorgeousness of the writing :D
     
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  14. ajaye

    ajaye Senior Member

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    Oh yes! That and The God of Small Things.
     
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  15. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Pi, no, Small Things, yes....
     
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  16. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Nope, haven't had it happen yet. Maybe there is something out there
    that could give me a run for my money. Though I doubt it, but you
    are welcome to try.

    Won't lie I got close at the end of His to Use: Breaking Melody (Book 1).
    And that is because it was just absolutely horrible what the fucker does
    to the poor girl in the end, I can totally relate to on a personal level but
    in a different context. Instead I got super pissed as my PTSD was triggered.

    Other than that nope. And I don't think none of you could break my
    near flawless record on that end. :p
     
  17. ajaye

    ajaye Senior Member

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    What about movies @Cave Troll ?
     
  18. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Oh, I was responding to the title of the thread. I didn't think about the visual side of it in motion pictures. :p

    A few, but I can't pull titles off the top of my head. Got too much storage to sift through.
    The end of Repo: The Genetic Opera always gets me. It is tough though as I watch
    mainly Horror, and that doesn't do it.
    Song of the Sea took a bat to my feels for an hour and a half. (It is good for an animated movie.)

    That is all I got at the moment.
     
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  19. ajaye

    ajaye Senior Member

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    stickler :)
     
  20. rktho

    rktho Contributor Contributor

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    I'm a male. I don't cry.

    Over books, anyway. But someday I want to write something that will make people cry.
     
  21. ELeFloch

    ELeFloch Member

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    I cry over animals who die in books. I haven't read any in a long time because I just had to put my boy to sleep 3 months ago and I can't even look at books with dogs on them without wanting to be weepy. But I also will get a bit choked up when I read about a family struggling through illness, such as cancer or dementia. Mostly because of personal memories.
     
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  22. rktho

    rktho Contributor Contributor

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    I kill the villain's quirky pet snake... think that'd make you cry?
     
  23. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Better get past your dragons, then. NOBODY cries over dragons. They're, like, scaly and stuff.
     
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  24. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    What about a mentally tortured bio-engineered woman?
    Do you think that could make some one cry?
     
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  25. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Depends on what she was bio-engineered for. If she was bio-engineered to make people cry then the chances are good. The mental-torture aspect is a bit more difficult. If she's bio-engineered, why can't she just dial down the mental torture knob? If she isn't equipped with one, well, that's a design flaw, isn't it? ;)
     
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