These aren't just books that made me cry.
Because let's be honest...it's absurdly easy to make me cry! All you need to do is give me:
(A) An adorable couple and tear them apart
(B) A romantic proposal scene
(C) The death of any character ever
(D) Cute animals finding new homes
The truth is I just get too invested in books and their characters.
But these books are the ones that not only made me cry...they tore. Me. APART.
After reading these books I wasn't able to communicate/sleep/read other books/do anything without bursting into tears and becoming a weepy inconsolable mess. The authors of these books were able to reach through the pages of their books and tear my heart out of my chest!
So be sure and stock up on tissue boxes, ice-cream, and wine because we're about to get super serious up in here. Prepare yourself for my top 5 tearjerkers of all time.
(And by 'all time' I mean 'the almost 21 years of life I've stumbled my way through')
Also, although each of these books made me cry a sea of tears, they are all amazing books written by incredibly talented authors. So don't be afraid to pick them up and give them a go!
Also, although each of these books made me cry a sea of tears, they are all amazing books written by incredibly talented authors. So don't be afraid to pick them up and give them a go!
#1: The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle #3) by Libba Bray
Pain rating (1-10): This one would have to be a solid 9. I endured three stages of pain:
(A) The "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" stage
(B) The sobbing wildly into a mountain of tissues stage
(c) The numbly wandering through the neighbourhood and hugging random trees stage
Cause of pain: A needless twist ending that (after having to go through three whole books of OTP suspense) left me shattered. The author ripped out my heart and served it to me on a tree bark platter. And if you've read the book, you'll understand how using tree puns is a form of therapy!
Time length of pain: Umm...was it meant to have ended yet?! I can still feel faint echoes of it now, and it's been nearly six years!
#2: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Pain rating (1-10): The combination of this amazing book and it's tear-inducing movie (the 2002 version) = around a 10.5.
Cause of pain: Jesse 'Gosh-dang-he's-a-heartthrob' Tuck. It's all Jesse's fault! Although the book is beautifully written, it's Jesse who I as a reader really connected with. And his heartbreak at the book's end became my heartbreak (and since he's gonna live forever it's going to be a lifetime of heartbreak for the both of us!).
And I know the book was sad...but that one scene in the movie...when it starts to rain...! *begins to sniffle*
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| Am I replacing 'Winnie Foster' with my name mentally? Yes, yes I am! |
Time length of pain: As of now the pain is sort of bittersweet because I am an adult and can appreciate a deep and thought-provoking ending to a majestic book (or so I've convinced myself!). But the pain from this book was the cause of many a weepy ranting session at my house. I'd forget about it for a few months...and then out of nowhere I'd stumble across the DVD and the cycle would start up all over again!
(You can join me in my fangirling by watching the classic trailer here)
#3: Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth
Pain rating (1-10): ...
...
...
Okay. Let me just start this by saying that before Allegiant I thought that a pain scale from 1-10 was useful in rating bookworm pain. And I'm sure you did too.
But as Gandalf would tell us, we're all fools! We've become lazy and have gotten used to books that prepare us for emotional pain. I mean, most of the other books on this list gave readers some warning before ripping their hearts out.
This book gave me none. N-O-N-E!
So what does it rate from 1-10. 10000000000000000000000 (x1000000000000). There is no scale! Pain cannot be measured! And Veronica Roth threw everything I knew about book-related pain out the window and showed me what real pain truly was with Allegiant but I adore her anyway.
Cause of pain: Hmm...I wonder what it could have been...oh. Right. I think it was THAT TERRIBLE TERRIBLE ENDING THAT MADE UNICORNS CRY AND STARS FALL AND FANGIRLS TEAR AT THEIR HAIR.
Yep. That ending. Which totally did not make me bawl for days on end. At all.
Time length of pain: Definitely on-going (especially with the movie coming out soon).
#4: Tiger's Voyage (The Tiger Saga #3) by Colleen Houck
Pain rating (1-10): Probably an 8.5. The only reason this one isn't a 9/10 is because Colleen Houck took pity on us poor readers and gave us a happy ending
Cause of pain: No spoilers, but it's a scene in which we say goodbye to a much-beloved character. They don't die...they just leave. For good. I really can't explain it better without spoiling everything so forgive my awkward phrasing!
The loss of this character was like losing a really good friend. It hurt. They'd managed to work their way into readers' hearts and their loss was not only horrible, but it came as a real shock.
However, it was done in a really tasteful manner - the character was given the respect they deserved and the other characters were allowed the mourn this loss for an appropriate length of time (unlike in some books where the characters miraculously grieve in 5 minutes and go back to the plot).
Time length of pain: Due to the happy ending, this one was painful for around a month afterwards. It's still a little bittersweet, but readers can find peace knowing the character's sacrifice was for a good cause.
#5: The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials #3) by Philip Pullman
Pain rating (1-10): Most definitely a 10. A solid, painful-as-hell 10!
Cause of pain: Let me tell you guys a story.
So you're reading a book. A really good book. It's amazing. You're on cloud nine! Cue the book angels singing! Plus your favourite couple ever has just gotten together and nothing can stop you now. And you think:
Umm the answer to that is EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING can go wrong!
And everything did. The ending spiralled into a Tartarus-like abyss of lost hopes and dreams as you realised that it didn't matter how much progress any of these characters had made during this entire series. At all.
The realisation that you read a series of books for no reason whatsoever can be a hard one to comprehend.
Time length of pain: Until Philip Pullman writes either:
(A) An alternative ending to this book
OR
(B) Another book in the series that starts off with the sentence "Lol, jokes, that last book was a belated April Fool's joke and you should pretend it never existed!"
I will continue to live in a state of permanent bookworm pain YAY!.
Did you cry reading any of these books (or was it just me and my fragile bookworm heart)? Are there other books that have caused you to cry a river of tears?
Let me know in the comments below!
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