Readers - what moves you the most in books?

[Lily]

And by move, I mean, you break down in tears and you're a crumpled mess, either despressed or happy tears, so happy you're choking on it.

Death scenes are an obvious choice, and that definitely moves me, but I'm wondering if there are other things that really moves you.

[Jenn]

Pretty much with any time travel novel, especially KMM's highlander series, I cry every time when they are separated and it takes a few weeks before they find each other. Other than that with any book where the character has lost both parents or one parent and they reflect back to when they were alive I cry bc it hits close to home.


Now for happy tears-any good satire:)

[Kevin]

The best books move me by simply ending. I don't want to leave that world and return to my own.

[Tabitha]

The moments that move me most are those of intense, emotional revelations; ones in which I feel true empathy for the recognized emotions that are being emulated through the characters.

Like in The Kite Runner when Amir discovers that Hassan is really his....(spoiler). Or in Cry, the Beloved Country when Kumalo and Jarvis meet on the mountaintop the day that Kumalo's son is to be executed for Jarvis' son's murder.

In short, to borrow a quote from the wonderful My So-Called Life, a moving moment "makes you feel. It makes you wonder. It wakes you up!"

[Lily]

Fun answers! These are all the reasons I read for pleasure :)

[Belle]

Separation of mother and child get me. I can't listen to Baby Mine without crying.

[Jacek]

Teen abuse. Extreme poverty. Also, anything I can relate to my own life. Deep down inside, I guess I'm a really emotional person. :P

[K.P.]

What gets me is psychological trauma and the human condition. Also abuse (any and all kinds)... yeah, despite my salty attitude, I get emotional. I hate when books pulls into my feels. >_> but it means I'm not a breathing number-crunching apparatus disguised as a human.

[Quentin]

Animal death or abuse always gets me, especially if it's a pet that's been a major part of the story.

[G.G.]

I second what Quentin said!

[Lily]

Hmm, I'm not sure if this is going in the right direction. I do mean moves you, you had a good cry, it was worth reading every torturous word, it was the beast heartbreak you've ever had in your life and you loved it.

That kind of thing.

Think postive :)

Tabitha's example of The Kite is a good one, but then, I agree with her on that one.

Anyone else?

[Jacek]

Oooooh, then nope. No things like that for me. I read books to get myself down, not to have good cries and whatnot... :)

[Lily]

Jacek wrote: "Oooooh, then nope. No things like that for me. I read books to get myself down, not to have good cries and whatnot... :)"

Haha, fair enough :D

[K.P.]

lolz! but isnt any book that elicits some kind of emotion (positive or negative) a good thing? that means the author was doing their job right.

[Lily]

K.P. wrote: "lolz! but isnt any book that elicits some kind of emotion (positive or negative) a good thing? that means the author was doing their job right."

Sure, but I was only asking for the kind of stuff that makes you glad to read it, no matter how hard you might cry.

[Tabitha]

Kevin wrote: "The best books move me by simply ending. I don't want to leave that world and return to my own."

Me, too :0)

[K.P.]

im happy reading anything that lets me escape my insufferable reality and that still causes human responses. sure the stuff i read has a broad range (from stupid schlock to heavy disturbing stuff) but i have this need to check im still alive and can relate to people despite my great disdain for most.
hope that's more understandable. lolz

[Lily]

Tabitha wrote: "Kevin wrote: "The best books move me by simply ending. I don't want to leave that world and return to my own."

Me, too :0)"

Oh, yeah, about that.

It definitely moves me to get so emotionally involved with the characters, so when I reach the final page, I'm scrolling like an idiot in my ereader, hoping against hope there's more because I'm in complete denial this is THE END.

Kevin. I'm looking at you.

[Amber]

I just read Now Is the Time for Running and there were so many moving scenes in this short book. What made them powerful was that the characters' relationships were fully real and complex before they were broken apart, and the soccer games--phew. I don't even follow that sport and yet the meaning those games had to the protagonist was so intense, when he had so little else in his life that gave him meaning or hope ... Things move me if I'm invested in the characters, and then what moves them moves me.

[Courtney]

Heroic sacrifices where the character doesn't make a big deal out of it - like "no worries, I was going to do that anyway". Also when misfits and fuck ups finally prove to everyone they're worth a damn.

[Courtney]

Also romances where someone says something like "you're worth hell" and they're not being figurative.

Now I'm remebering a billion things and feel like crying - thanks for the fun topic, Lily lol

[Lily]

Anytime :D

[Justin]

One thing that moves me in books is the killing of a character but done more along the lines of "putting them down" sense. Like in Of Mice and Men, Lenny had to die by basically being put down. Like in The Green Mile when they had to kill John Coffey and in a book called Sewerville by Aaron Saylor(indie author) a guy had to kill his brother as hard as it was it just had to be.

So I'd describe the impact of putting a person down to death in such a way that I can't help but feel moved. The character isn't randomly going they know they did wrong or its their time and the other characters do them justice.

[Kevin]

Lily wrote: "Tabitha wrote: "Kevin wrote: "The best books move me by simply ending. I don't want to leave that world and return to my own."

Me, too :0)"

Oh, yeah, about that.

It definitely moves me to get so..."

I just now saw this :-D

Thanks :-)

[Lily]

Justin, Of Mice and Men, that moment... oh gawd... so beautifully tragic.

[Lily]

Kevin, you're welcome, now stop torturing your readers lol