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The Gabbers  JMC"JMC is fascinated by the politics of romance reading and writing, and by the genre’s position in the publishing and media worlds." read more...
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To cry or not to cry
« 03/07/2010 Grab Bag Winner | Home | Need Help with Audio Books! »  Tears. Some characters (and real life people) can cry beautifully. For example, Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester in the popular Supernatural program) is an expert at producing a single tear to demonstrate his character’s manly pain and heartache. Others become a complete mess the instant their tear ducts open. Sometimes letting go of the tears releases tension or grief or some emotion that you’ve been holding in tightly; it’s a relief to let them out. And sometimes, letting them out just leaves you red-eyed and congested with no relief or resolution in sight. Until recently, the only book to make me cry was L.M. Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside. No matter how many times I reread Rilla, two particular passages get to me: one because it leaves characters heartbroken, and the other because it leaves them emotionally fulfilled. The recently read book (not genre romance) surprised me with tears at the epilogue; surprised because the epilogue was not tragic or depressing, and I wasn’t sure what prompted the tears until I took a step back, emotionally-speaking. [Ultimately, while the epilogue included some sadness, its tone was one of happiness and acceptance, and the characters were left in a good place; my reaction was a function of a confluence of events and emotions that were largely unrelated to the book itself.] For several years as I participated in a very large and very popular romance site’s annual reader poll, I was perplexed by the “Most Hanky” category. Cry? Because of a romance novel? What? Wasn’t the whole point of the romance novel the HEA? What was there to cry about? Why would crying be a good thing, a prized category in a poll for the year’s “best of”? And does anyone reading romance (ostensibly for the HEA) really want tears to be part of their reading process? Obviously, some people do, because that category in the poll never lacked candidates or winners. Does the inclusion of the very lows, the heartbreak and pain of the characters that may prompt tears, make the HEA sweeter? Is it the contrast of emotions that appeals? If you like hanky reads, what is it that appeals? And how do you find them? Is there a particular genre or subgenre that lends itself? (Women’s fiction presents itself to me as a prime possibility, but that’s not genre romance, really.) What are your favorite teary reads? If you avoid teary reads, what is it about them that puts you off? This entry was posted by JMC on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 6:00 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 25 Responses to “To cry or not to cry”Leave a Comment |
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March 11th, 2010 at 8:39 am
I like a teary read every once in awhile. It is sort of a cleansing and sometimes I just feel like a good cry.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was on t.v. again on lifetime and I watched it again – just something about it – the ending for me is so gutwrenching.
For me good cry books were:
Barbara Delinsky’s Three Wishes
Linda Howard’s Sarah’s Child
Kristin Hannah – Home Again
and anything by Nicholas Sparks
I love my heas and even with the cry factor in these books, they did have a hea.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I pretty much always cry when there’s a sad scene or angsty scene in a book…I don’t really seek them out but when it’s a very emotional scene I can’t help but cry. It’s kind of therapeutic since stuff in real life weigh me down and a good cry is just what I need to lighten the load. I pretty much read only romances with the occasional thriller/suspense novel thrown in…Becoming Three by Cameron Dane…there were a couple of scenes that really hit me hard and I was crying for a bit there. There are waay too many books that have induced a good cryfest for me to name but needless to say I think that it adds to the whole experience of reading the story.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I love a good cry every now and then and there have been a lot of books that have brought the tears to my eyes!!!
I agree with Pat:
Three Wishes by Barbara Delinsky was an all out cry for me!! And definitely anything written by Nicholas Sparks…can’t help it…I cry.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:18 am
I prefer not to have a sad book, like my happy endings – there is too much sadness in the world and reading is an escape for me.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:26 am
I’ve been known to shed some tears while watching some movies but not so much while reading a book. Don’t know if that’s because the books I read don’t have sad scenes in them or if they do, it doesn’t affect me as much.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I don’t like to read books that will make me cry. This is why I avoid Nicholas Sparks books. My youngest daughter reads all his books and keeps trying to get me to read them, but I’m not looking for a sad read. I cry at movies all the time, I don’t want to do that with books. Not that I haven’t, I just prefer the HEA.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
As a general rule, I don’t cry over books. Movies? Yes. I cry all the time over movies. Books? Yeah, not so much.
That being said, I will get “misty” over a good emotional scene in a romance, but it never has to do with anything “angsty” or “sad.” The last instance I can remember was in a western romance. The heroine ran the general store in town and for some reason (can’t remember now) the residents were boycotting her. She was going to have to close up the store and leave town. In a last ditch effort, she slashes prices to drive in business – and it doesn’t happen. Then a little girl comes in (because the child was friends with the heroine’s son? I can’t remember now) to buy some penny candy so that the heroine didn’t have to close the store. OMG – I’m such a sap, that just did me in.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Sometimes a particular scene in a story will make me cry but it doesn’t happen too often. One scene I remember is from Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas where Haven goes to her brother Gage for help. She is at a really bad place in her life but her love for her brother and her relief to see him brings tears to my eyes.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I don’t cry while reading books or watching movies. There are some sad things there, no doubt. I just don’t react to it with tears.
March 11th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
I don’t like to cry while reading books or watching a movie; I like to be entertained.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I avoided reading Linda Howard’s “Cry No More” for a long time because I heard it was a tearjerker. I did enjoy the book very much, but haven’t read many of these emotional books.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
I also prefer not to cry; I do love my HEA. But sometimes the tears come from excessive emotions in general rather than specifically sadness.
Most recently, I remember tearing up at the end of Lover Awakened when Zsadist declares his love and starts speaking the old language because he is overcome. Sharon Sala’s category “Annie and the Outlaw” is another one, though this is sadder.
I just read Kristen Higgen’s “The Next Best Thing” and the heroine is not in a great place emotionally (she’s a widow) so her descriptions of her husband had the waterworks starting a bit.
If I’m not in the mood the cry, it may put me off the book a bit. But a well-written story usually pulls me right in.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
I like to read a tear jerker every once in a while but not often. I read to escape and that is not escape for me.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Any book that doesn’t put me through a roller-coaster ride of emotions ending in tears being shed is in my opinion a light read. I don’t want the HEA to be a given, I want the characters to struggle over obstacles and fight for it.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
I like my heas. So I dont usually read a book that will make me cry. Sometimes you don’t know that will happen; a few weeps are ok. LOL.
March 12th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I do not really care to read a sad story. I prefer to enjoy a good story with no need to have tissues at hand. A good suspense story is what I love or a hea.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
I prefer romantic suspense so there is usually no crying and I prefer no crying in readin’ LOL.
March 13th, 2010 at 5:38 am
I don’t expect to cry, it just happens. I like my HEA books.
March 13th, 2010 at 8:56 am
In my youth, I read a lot of highly emotional stories with some very traumatic circumstances for the characters. I cried every time. As I grew older, and my own life became more difficult, I shied away from “tear jerkers”. Last year, I read book which opened the flood gates and caused me to have a great, cleansing cry. “Surrender to the Devil”, by Lorraine Heath, features a wonderful, strong, handsome hero who is gradually losing his eyesight. The epilogue of the book is what made me cry. It tells what happened in the later years as he became totally blind. It is one of the most beautiful examples of true love that I have ever read. I’m crying now, as I do each time I think of that epilogue.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Virginia, thanks for the recommend. I don’t read very many historicals and I think this is, correct? I will have to check it out.
I loved several of Heath’s older hist. romances though – Always to Remember, Parting Gifts and Sweet Lullaby – htf – but if you can find them grab them up.
March 13th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I like highly emotional reads as long as there is a HEA. If there is no HEA then I won’t read it…I don’t mind crying if the story is really well written
March 14th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Several of Elizabeth Lowell’s books have brought tears to my eyes: Eden Burning, A Woman Without Lies, Untamed, Forbidden….
A lot of her heroes seem to have issues with women and marriage(misogynists).
I do not go looking for books that make me cry.
March 14th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I can tolerate, barely, a read that chokes me up because of the satisfying outcome. Jane Eyre noting that their son has Mr. Rochester’s black eyes still gets me. But I haaaaate reading sad stuff. I’d rather close a book with a smile on my face.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Reading is my favorite type of entertainment!
When reading I am pretty empathetic with the characters…I laugh, cry, get angry and blush when reading something extremely graphic. I immerse myself totally in the story and if I have to put the book down due to embarrassment or tears all the better. I love it when I read a book, then later I it takes me a few moments to remember it wasn’t a movie that I have seen but a really great book!
March 24th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I liken reading genre fiction – including romance – to riding a rollercoaster. The reader gets caught up in the action and (in romance in particular), in the emotion. There’s the highs and lows, the excitement, the fear, the rush… but you know, at the end, that everything’s going to be okay.
I love the emotional ride, so yes, if a book moves me to tears, then it’s a rewarding part of the reading experience for me. As long as the teas aren’t right at the end!