The first book I can remember that ever made me cry was Daniel Keyes' Flowers For Algernon, which, seriously, made me weep for weeks. (Yes, yes.) Anyway, this morning brings word that there will be a new film adaptation of the story, starring Will Smith, and I am CRYING again.
It gets worse: Algernon will be a CGI mouse voiced by Robin Williams. Jk, but, like, probably!
The only worse possible scenario would be if Will Smith dropped out and they replaced him with Nicholas Cage.
We read this in middle school, and watched the original film adaptation, but the teacher fast-forwarded through an "inappropriate" scene, awkwardly standing in front of the Tv as she did so.
My friend and I of course rented it to see not only the explicitnesses but how, exactly, creative license was taken … and we were like THAT'S IT??? WHATAWASTE OF $2.50!
The 60s movie is terrrrrrrible.
Isn't there a weird split-screen situation at some point? I don't even remember any sort of sex, just being all WTF? over the split screen.
The censored scene was the scene to which to you refer–it was some sort of awful psychedelic acid trip montage that was achieved with split screen/overlay/projection/fade/mirroring techniques … WTF, and how!
Charlie Just Don't Understand
Charlie Don't Surf Anymore
Gettin' Charlie With It.
First book that made me cry: A Day No Pigs Would Die, at the end, when he finds the piece of paper on which his father had been practicing writing his name. Ugh! I'm tearing up now!
Argh!
Charlotte's Web? Anyone?
And here I was about to write in East of Eden. Guess I buried this.
Me too! The last page killed me.
Now I think it's overblown twaddle but back then…
So true! Wish Grapes of Wrath had beaten it to the punch. (I've gone off those occasional fry-ups now too!)
Man, I just reread that book a couple years ago, and boy howdy Fern just kind of totally loses interest in her little animal friends once she decides to make Henry Fussy her boyfriend, doesn't she?
Balk, your willingness to admit to crying only makes me love you more.
I cried when I found out Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz was that hysterical sequined drunk woman crawling across the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
I agree. The "Will It Float" girls are ridiculous.
A Taste of Blackberries? A Bridge to Terebithia? OK, fine, you're a boy — Something for Joey?
Bridge to Terebithia made me cry in book form and even in the less than fantastic movie form. I will even admit that I was the only non-parental male over 30 in the theater that evening.
The saddest thing a I ever saw on TV was the "Eight is Enough" Christmas special when Abby gave Tommy the e.e. cummings book that his deceased mother had bought for him before she died because she always did her shopping early. I dare you not to cry, if you ever see it.
Where The Red Fern Grows – I wept for weeks.
YES!
One summer when I was a little kid, my mom and I read this aloud to each other. There were sections where neither one of us could go on because of all the sobbing.
Blurgh! I finished that book (or got to the sad part) during an indoor recess one rainy day in grade school. I was taunted mercilessly as tears streamed down my face. I went and sat in the corner until we had to go back to class.
My Brother Sam is Dead. While I can't claim to have been taken by surprise, it leveled me.
I Am the Cheese?
I've never made it all the way through Lord Of The Flies because I start sobbing uncontrollably when Piggy's glasses get broken.
I'm really gonna date myself, but, the first book I remember crying to was "The Boxcar Children," by Gertrude Chandler Warner. It was the first book that I could relate to. Four children who were orphaned and resorted to parenting themselves. I read it in the late 60's, so child protective services were no where around my neighborhood (neither were my parents.) The book made me hopeful.
I loved that book. Looooved. As far as I know, kids still read it — or at least they did throughout the 70s and 80s.
My siblings and friends and I dramatized the shit out of those books all over the woods in our neighborhood. I'm shocked none of us has grown up to star on a soap opera. 'I'm so cold! I'm so hungry! I'm shivering! Look at me–I'm shaking! Oh, we're so poor and aloooooone!'
We had a junked VW Beetle that we made into our own little club car.
I cut an L into the fur of Lucky, the family dog, like the little brother did to Watch. The problem was, he was a shepherd-husky, and his wirey top coat did not grow back for years, and everyone thought he had mange.
Cried on the bus while reading Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Jack, the dog, dies.
Shit just got real!
I busted my cherry on The Hiding Place.
Watership Down. Still scared of bunnies.
Little Women when Beth dies. Damn.
WHY DO YOU NEED KIDS TO CRY, BOOK WORLD?
Rumer Godden, A Doll's House, I am still crying.
For crying from happiness, though … A Wrinkle in Time. An unforgettable surprise, that your heart could be so full from being so happy.
I cried at A Separate Peace.
But mainly because they didn't have sex.
The Little Mermaid. the real, depressing version, obvs. although it's hard to think of a children's book i didn't cry to. i think i just liked crying.