Precious tears

[Pulkit]

So well, as the topic makes it clear enough, I want to cry. Any pace, whatever theme, I don't care. No restrictions at all, except that it shouldn't be part of a series. Hard as I've tried, my eyes somehow manage to stifle the tears, always. The closest I came to crying was while reading Bridge to Terabithia and The Book Thief. I tried to wipe off the tears except there weren't any, which left me feeling cheated.

So I just want a book to make me cry, preferably not from tedium.

Thanks in advance !

[karen, future RA queen]

i am with you! i want to so bad!

this one did it for me:

The Piper's Son,and it seems to have that effect on a lot of people. it's not even that the subject matter is overwhelmingly sad, she just knows how to phrase small things so they flay you.

also, this one:

Mother, Come Home. true, it is a graphic novel, but it is a pretty great and powerful one.

please let me know if these work for you - i like to hear about other stubborn criers succumbing!

[Pulkit]

Thanks, Karen. 'll let you know as soon as I get my hands on these books.

[Nikkie]

I second The Piper's Son I think I cried more reading it then I did when I was pregnant.

A good tear jerker for me is always Wally Lambs She's Come Undone

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

I cry at just about everything. But question (if it's not too personal): what tends to trigger your crying? I find it has to really pull at some deep-seated personal memory or "issue" to get me going.

Stories of parents/daughters & sons? Try Carol Shields' Unless or Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin.

Stories of loneliness and longing and repressed anguish? Try Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go or The Remains Of The Day.

Stories that trigger compassion and empathy for the pain and suffering of animals? Try Gowdy's The White Bone or Adam Hines' graphic novel Duncan the Wonder Dog or for non-fiction, Jim Gorant's The Lost Dogs. (and I'm sure there's a ton more in this category, but it depends on your tolerance for sentimentality and anthropomorphism).

Holocaust lit always does it to me: try Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces or Wiesel's iconic Night or Styron's Sophie's Choice.

War in general is always good for a few tears: try Matterhorn (long but powerful) or - and I know not everyone feels the way I do - Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun.

That's all I got.

[jo]

the only book that's ever made me cry has been marilynne robinson's gilead. it's the (very beautiful, very literary) letter of an old, close-to-death, and very good man to his very young and much beloved son.

unlike you, i don't want to cry. it's very brave that you are so open about your desire to cry. i'm sure there are many like you, yet crying, or wanting to cry, is often maligned. good for you. there are no bad desires.

i agree with jakaem that it would help to know what makes you cry, though probably you'd say, in utter frustration: nothing does!

[Jessica]

Man, this is very personal, isn't it? What makes us cry? I mean, particular to who we are...and what makes you cry may not make me.

I don't cry easily from books but, that said, I am sure there are many in all that I've read that have brought me tears.

Now I have to consider...

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

I love this thread!

I have never thought about the desire to cry being maligned -- but that's probably true, isn't it? Is that possibly based on the general kinds of things that are recommended reads to make people cry - the overtly sentimental, emotionally manipulative stuff? (who really DOES cry at that stuff, though?)

I have often heard people say they want to feel scared and that's why they go to horror movies or read scary novels.

This whole idea of asking for or advising someone about what to read (or see) based on an emotion he or she wants to feel...wow, that takes this thing into new territory (or was it always there and I was too obtuse to realize it until just now?)

I'm thinking of RA now in an entirely different light - not forming a request in terms of what kind of frame, plot, pacing, characterization etc. one wants - but forming the request around what kind of emotion one wants to feel.

Very thought-provoking. Probably wreaks havoc with the established protocols, though; right, karen?

And yeah, takes us into VERY personal territory. I'm happy to share what makes me cry - malign me as you will! - but like Jessica says, what makes me cry won't necessary do the same for someone else.

[karen, future RA queen]

nope - nothing problematic here! RA is for whatever the person requests: you wanna cry - you wanna be scared - we can do it all. i wouldn't mind some more books of this kind myself.

[Pulkit]

Nikkie
Thanks :)

Jennifer & Jo
Thanks a lot :)
And without being too specific, what makes me cry, in general is a sense of loss and helplessness. When you've great ambitions and instead of achieving them you lose what you already have, even the potential to improve the situation or make anything better.

And in my opinion, emotions are the main reason I read. After all has been read and the book closed, emotions are all that's left. And for me, more often than not, books that most fervently trigger emotions end up being my favorites. And sadness is the strongest emotion. If a book makes you cry, you already love it.

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)]

I will put another plug in for Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces here, then. Because you mention loss and helplessness, and because you mentioned The Book Thief in your OP.

I've been meaning to write a review of it to try to get everyone on Gooodreads to read it, but it's defeated me so far. It's the most incredibly lyrical, beautiful, emotional book I've read in many months - maybe this year. The language is just. STUNNING. It has incredible depth - of thought and of emotion.

I don't always read to feel. I often read to think. When a book makes me do a lot of both, that's a 5-star book to me.

[jo]

i haven't read the two books you mention, but try this . if this makes you cry, i think we may all have something more to go on.

[Pulkit]

Jo
I read it and obviously it didn't make me cry. I doubt if anything so short ever can.

[Lisa]

I just followed Karen's advice and read Mother, Come Home--and I loved it! It takes less than an hour to read, but only 5 minutes to start crying!!! Great book. Different than anything I have ever read.

[karen, future RA queen]

holy cow i'm so glad!!! success!!!
go read and cry more and report back!!!

[Pulkit]

Too bad I didn't get it (Mother, Come Home) anywhere. I'm gonna read The Piper's Son pretty soon, though.

[Lisa]

I posted my review and gave it to my 17 year old son, telling him that it was a graphic novel. He doesn't like sad books, so we will see if he reads it.
Let me know about The Piper's Son.
I read another one that someone suggested in the Urban thread, Make Lemonade, and I loved that one too. I wrote a review, but couldn't find the thread easily, so I forgot to look again when I had time.
Karen, I really appreciate this group and all of the suggestions! You are the RA Queen!

[karen, future RA queen]

oh, god, i hope so.
i feel like when it comes time to write this paper, i am going to fall apart. listen for the sound of me in pieces, hitting the floor...

[Lisa]

You are writing a paper based on your experiences with this group? Great idea! I'm sure there are plenty of people that don't interact or comment, but appreciate all the good books suggested!

[karen, future RA queen]

yeah, i started this group as my big project for library school.... i gotta get 200 pages out of this... eek

[Lisa]

That many pages must be PhD? Good luck with your project--I think it a great idea and something I never thought of.
I just happened upon the group after friending someone in the group--I just invited myself. I am always looking for book suggestions from as many sources as possible...I am a book-aholic. I'm following your reviews too.

[karen, future RA queen]

nope, just regular masters. but maybe it will be so good, they will just give me the phd?

so i hope you have all kinds of book requests - i'm going to have to pad this sucker!

[D.M.]

The Plague Dogs may get you. It's a bleaker Watership Down.

[Emilie]

hi, this is my first time posting here. these are some books that have themes including that of a sense of loss and helplessness that made cry--
The Trick Is to Keep Breathing

The Marbury Lens
Last Night I Sang to the Monster


The Lathe of Heaven
Voyage in the Dark

[Pulkit]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

And I read The Piper's son and sadly(?) I didn't like it at all. But I checked out Saving Francesca before it which was awesome. Somehow, I find Tom Finch too weird. I mean, I couldn't empathize with him at any point, so that's probably why I didn't like the book. I'm not sure I want to cry anymore reading a book, since there's enough crying without it.

[Patricia]

I don't cry much when I read, but I do remember shedding some tears at Where the Red Fern Grows. Of course, it's a children's book and I was just a kid when I read it. Oh, and Love You Forever, a young children's book - but I was an adult when I read it. haha Hmmm...I remember Petey made me cry. Maybe I'm just callous in my old age because these are all old reads and I can't remember anything that has brought tears to my eyes recently.

[Kogiopsis]

I'm not an emotional person in general, but A Monster Calls brought tears to my eyes, which is the most any book has been able to do for some time.

[Christy]

My first thought was actually The Book Thief but then I re-read your original post. Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows were my go-to crying books when I was a kid, but I'm not sure that they would still work on me now.

More recent books that have made me cry have been Jellicoe Road, Split, Feed, Robot Dreams, and Everything Matters!.

If you're ever willing to consider series, I'd also recommend Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry (a trilogy, begins with The Summer Tree) and Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Trilogy (begins with The Knife of Never Letting Go).

I cry pretty easily myself, so I tried to pick out books that made me really cry.

[Carrie]

I totally agree with Old Yeller, Never Let Me Go, She's Come Undone and The White Bone. I'd also add The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (even though it's generally uplifting, there is a totally heart-wrenching part where the author decides it's time for his starving dog to die. The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are tear-jerkers, too.

[Angi]

Is The Piper's Son a stand alone kind of book or should Saving Francesca be read first?

[karen, future RA queen]

did any of these make you cry??

oh, angi - you can read it by itself - francesca enhances piper's son, but is not necessary for understanding.

[Lisa]

I LOVED The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind!! I had the audiobook and at first it was a little slow, but then it picked up! Towards the end while I was listening to the audiobook while putting in a flowerbed in my front yard, I found tears in my eyes and I was cheering for William! I had a great feeling in my heart for William! I felt like his mom, I was so proud of him!
I read Old Yeller as a child, but I recently picked up the audiobook for a trip tomorrow.
I started Saving Francesca about a month ago and it sounded so genuine, but I hated the way the powerful teens manipulate the rest. So I have stalled. It's on the floor next to my bed, so I may pick it up again.
Several of the others I had already read (and in the other threads too) so I am guessing you don't want feedback on the ones we read awhile ago.

[karen, future RA queen]

i don't mind - i just like hearing people talk about books. and maybe it will help someone else decide.

[Lisa]

OK, I have to go now--I will see what I can do later.

[peg]

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Ellen Foster by Kay Gibbons.

[Denae]

Just saw this and now I have to think. I'm pretty sure I have rather random associations that cause tears and a fair amount of it may have to do with my life in general. I'll have to think about this more.

Whoever mentioned The Summer Tree came up with a good one. It may also provoke the idea to scream or throw the book.

As for crying in general, I hate it. I've actually had a therapist say something about how it seems to be very hard for me and might be something I should explore. When I explained that it can be physically painful and causes me to just become confused and incoherent, she rather changed her tune. I tend to cry a lot when I'm angry. I know in personal life as well as books stories about the good times with a person who has died always get me, for instance with a friend whose child died remembering how he shared her incredibly wide smile brings tears far more quickly than just the thought that he died.

[Sam~~ we cannot see the moon, and yet the waves still rise~~]

My go-to "crying" books:
The Kite Runner
The Language of Flowers
The Fault in Our Stars
:)