With their vast scope and the unparalleled ability to bore into someone’s head, novels have perhaps the greatest potential for affecting us emotionally. As much as I love movies and television, novels have the ability to move me the most.
So which novel most affected you? And what was the part that did it?
As a kid I remember being deeply affected by classics like Johnny Tremain, The Bridge to Terebithia, My Brother Sam is Dead and Where the Red Fern Grows.
As an adult, well, I’m not actually much of a crier, but I was pretty moved by The Sky is Everywhere, The Secret Year, Atonement and, of course, The Book Thief.
What about you?
Art: Never Morning Wore To Evening But Some Heart Did Break by Walter Langley
The Book Thief! Read it twice and convulsed with sobs both times. Love that book.
The Sky is Everywhere left me a little teary-eyed. But no book has ever made me cry harder or touched my soul more than Between Shades of Gray by Rupta Sepetys. Truly moving.
13 Reasons Why. Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe for the sheer beauty of the storytelling.
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. And I made the mistake of watching the movie first.
Bridge to Terabithia, Friday Night Knitting Club, The Fault in our Stars and Me Before You all got me.
Conversation with my then-eight-year-old:
Him: I just finished Where the Red Fern Grows.
Me: Oh? Are you ok?
Him: [shakes his head no]
Me: Do you need to cry for a while?
Him: Yes please. [throws himself into my arms and sobs]
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
As a kid, "Beauty" by Bill Wallace had me bawling.
As an adult, quite a few books have brought tears to my eyes, but I can't think of a novel particularly that moved me so much that I cried a lot (although a couple of scenes in "Conspiracy in Death" always get my crying, no matter how many times I've read the book!)
Some non-fiction books have caused me to cry buckets, too, though…
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons had me seriously tearing up at the end. Need to go back and reread it.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I think a lot of it had to do with a decade long journey coming to an end, and having grown up with the books, it somewhat symbolically signified the end of my childhood.
As a new mom, I received a book called "Just Like You". I couldn't get through 5 pages without crying!
Oh, geez. There have been so many. Atonement made me ball my eyes out. Deathly Hallows? Yep. The Fault in Our Stars, Last Summer of You and Me,and probably more that I can't think of right now.
The Book Thief had me crying like a baby for a good ten minutes.
The Grapes of Wrath, the last paragraph.
Whoops, meant to include Atonement.
Old Yeller. Nothing even came close. I was inconsolable for a month.
There are two books, actually. The first one is The Hobbit (it's been years since I've read it so I can't remember why I cried, I just know I did)
The second book is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Such a sad, sad book.
Flowers for Algernon
Pawn in Frankincense – Dorothy Dunnett
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K Rowling
Brokeback Mountain – Annie Proulx
Some because they had devastating endings, some because of heartrending scenes which impacted the course of events; all made me cry so hard I could no longer see the page to read.
I just finished reading The Obvious Game by Rita Arens, and it had me crying not only when I was reading, but as I was going about my day later. LOVED it.
Mila 18 by Leon Uris.
I was only about twelve and this was my first exposure to WWII Polish and Jewish Ghetto history, so the emotional impact of the novelised tale was extreme!
I remember crying like a baby as the Polish cavalry charged the German tanks, and being utterly devastated when some mothers poisoned their own children rather than have them die on the trains/in the camps. I'm sure I'd have cried a lot more, but I was numb by that point!
It made such an impact on me I've never even attempted to reread it as an adult.
The Road made me cry. I cried repeatedly while reading The Fault In Our Stars. But no book has ever made me cry the way The Book Thief made me cry.