Books that have made you cry?

JimRed · Post by **JimRed** » 13 Mar 2010, 20:47

Julius_Orange wrote:
JimRed wrote:
Julius_Orange wrote:I was finishing up The Road by Cormac McCarthy while on my lunch break (at a bookstore) and had to sit in the back of receiving behind a pallet because I couldn't help but shed tears over the last 15 pages. First time a book has made me shed tears.

I watched the movie online when I got home and got choked up at the beginning (another first) and the end. I'm a single father, so I guess that would explain it, but wow what an incredible book!
I've heard alot about this book recently, and people either love it or hate it. I'm trying to decide if I want to read it. Would you recommend I watch the movie first?
I read the book first and I would highly recommend you doing the same. I read the book in 2 sittings and I'm neither a slow nor fast reader. It made the movie better IMO.

The problem some people are having with it are:

- The writing style is quite different from the norm. McCarthy has said in one of his only interviews that he feels filling up a page with unnecessary marks is not important to the story. So there's very little punctuation, really only periods. No chapters, just breaks in the line to signify a new scene. It was difficult getting used to in the very beginning but he's consistent in how he transitions into thoughts and dialogue that you begin to pick up on it and it flows lyrically from there. He said he tries to write the way in which people tell a story, which after reading it to my son for an hour I completely understand now.

- Some critics have said the father isn't one of the "good guys", but it seems their view is even more bleak than the books and rather unrealistic to the situation.

- There are several themes and metaphors used throughout that not everybody is picking up on the first time they read it. Hopefully you see what I mean after you read it and read the discussions on these debated topics (example, the bunker and the ending).

- The book can be one hell of a downer.

Anyway, enough blabbing. Enjoy!

Thanks! I'll take your advice then.

This is going to sound weird, but I actually like reading books with "bad endings" (as in sad) every once in awhile. It changes things up a little bit and those kind of books usually make you think more.

phupost · Post by **phupost** » 14 Mar 2010, 01:11

there is not a book which makes me cry

lexie512 · Post by **lexie512** » 29 Jul 2010, 12:24

The book that made me cry was Marley and Me because I couldn't stand it when the dog died and the kids and the parents were talking to him in the grave!!

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 29 Jul 2010, 14:12

lexie512 wrote:The book that made me cry was Marley and Me because I couldn't stand it when the dog died and the kids and the parents were talking to him in the grave!!

Thats the funny thing about Hollywood movies and cute dogs- hundreds of people can be shot, burned, maimed and tortured before our very eyes and we wont even flinch, yet the moment it looks like a cute lab is going to kick the bucket we revert to snivelling emotional little weepbuckets unable to contain ourselves!!

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 29 Jul 2010, 14:22

StephenKingman wrote:
lexie512 wrote:The book that made me cry was Marley and Me because I couldn't stand it when the dog died and the kids and the parents were talking to him in the grave!!
Thats the funny thing about Hollywood movies and cute dogs- hundreds of people can be shot, burned, maimed and tortured before our very eyes and we wont even flinch, yet the moment it looks like a cute lab is going to kick the bucket we revert to snivelling emotional little weepbuckets unable to contain ourselves!!

StephenKingman ... me thinks thou art emotionally repressed

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 29 Jul 2010, 14:28

I do admit that it was quite sad when Marley died but my God, were we taken for fools- every last detail about that scene was manipulated and orchestrated to within an inch of its life- the building cresendo of music, the slow eyes closing and the tearful Owen Wilson, you only cried because Hollywood bullied you into it and not because it was genuine!

laci_baby · Post by **laci_baby** » 29 Jul 2010, 14:28

I agree StephenKingMan. Jack drowned in Titanic, and i was the only one that didnt cry. I yawned. Old Yeller got shot and i bawled for a week. I refuse to watch sad animal movies now.

elphesustaining · Post by **elphesustaining** » 29 Jul 2010, 14:29

I don't usually cry while reading a book but I did cry while reading the first half of Jane Eyre while she's at school and I also cried at the end of Flight by Sherman Alexie. It was a very good read although I thought I wouldn't be able to relate to it at all.

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 29 Jul 2010, 14:32

laci_baby wrote:I agree StephenKingMan. Jack drowned in Titanic, and i was the only one that didnt cry. I yawned. Old Yeller got shot and i bawled for a week. I refuse to watch sad animal movies now.

Agreed, i cried when i was a kid watching White Fang 2 near the end where his owner was throwing stones at him to keep him away, i was in tears at the poor dogs expression. and since then i have seen a thousand movies where people are killed slowly and horrifically and the most you can get out of me is "Meh?".

Mind you, a lot of those movies were crap horror movies and frankly, the stupidity of some of the decisions made by the characters means they deserved to die.

Waheeddd · Post by **Waheeddd** » 29 Jul 2010, 19:57

Farewell to Arms,that's the one make cry and sad for a whole day.

Hikkomijian · Post by **Hikkomijian** » 30 Jul 2010, 03:23

There was books, which touched me, but any of them never made me cry. And I don't suppose there will be one.

PhotonicGuy · Post by **PhotonicGuy** » 30 Jul 2010, 05:57

Nausea, by Jean-Paul Sartre . Even now I wonder why I was crying....

Alexa12345 · Post by **Alexa12345** » 30 Jul 2010, 13:43

I cryied at Acts of faith.

bluefoxicy · Post by **bluefoxicy** » 30 Jul 2010, 14:48

atrixa wrote:Tell us what books have had you bawling like a baby.

Well Asimov's writing is pretty dry and emotionless...

I flinched at Ender's Game. The writing is so low-quality compared to what I was used to (Donaldson). I can think of things I hated, but can't think of anything I've read that was written so bad that I cried; I haven't read Twilight though.