Do you like books that make you feel happy or sad?

[Mira]

I like books that leave me with that really warm feeling that all is safe and wonderful in the world. Probably because I deal with hardship all day long, and am sort of depressive.

I really don't like books that make me feel sad - in fact, I get weirdly angry at them. How dare you kill off the main character? Where's my happy ending? Lol.

How about anyone else? Do you like to feel that warm glowy feeling at the end of the book? Or do you prefer something that feels deeply poignant and sad?

[Moni12]

For me it depends a lot on the book. If it's upbeat than I want it to have a happy ending. One book I read (part of a favorite series) killed off an important character and then in the end I find out the person didn't really die. Some just feel like they should end tragically. Example, when I first saw Fiddler on the Roof (I know, not a book) I was disappointed with the end because it felt like it should have had a sad ending. After seeing it a few more times I like it now. For me it doesn't matter so much what I feel, but how strongly a book makes me feel. If it moves me to tears or makes me laugh than I appreciate it. Like Animal Farm by George Orwell, horribly sad, but it makes such a great point that it doesn't matter that it didn't make me feel good. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and East by Edith Pattou are two books that make me feel everything the main character is feeling everytime I read them. The first is more humorous than the second, but both are excellent!

[Sommer Leigh]

I like both, but I think it depends entirely on the book.

Like, How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford broke my heart. I mean, you knew it was coming (duh, the title?) but it is such a beautiful, moving, important story about two wonderful characters. I bawled for hours after I read that book and still days later if I thought about it I'd start crying in the car. I'm not usually a basketcase but that book...but just because it totally bowled me over and made me so sad, I wouldn't have wanted the book any other way. I mean, the power was in the ending. It had to break my heart to be successful.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is another book that made me cry and cry and cry. I couldn't stop bloody crying. It's about World War II though so it kind of couldn't be any other way and I wouldn't have wanted it to.

But then there's books like this one I read this weekend called Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick and it is a really beautiful story about growing up, getting it on, and dealing with the death of a beloved parent. It's also about friendship and terrible choices and how hard high school can be. I loved the whole book, but the end? It's not really a happy ending. And I really wanted a happy ending. I wanted the best for all the characters involved but that doesn't so much happen.

I like how warm and happy I feel at the end of Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, especially since she puts us through the ringer throughout the rest of the book. Likewise with The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

My biggest pet peeve though? This seems to be particularly bad with contemporary YA books - I hate it when the "wrap up" of the book takes place in only a couple of pages and the conflict resolution is told to us in a few quick paragraphs. The boy kisses the girl, people make up, friends forgive each other, whatever. The big moments happen after the fact in a retelling by the narrator. There's no emotional pay off.

[dios4vida]

I'm a big fan of Happily Ever After. I like it when I get the warm, fuzzy, yay-they-did-it kind of feelings. Succeeding against overwhelming odds only to go on with a happy life?? I'm all over it.

I've read several books where the endings weren't quite so happy - a character died or things just didn't go the way they "should" have gone. I don't automatically dislike the book when it ends like that but it's hard for me to reconcile with. A few of my favorite series end with a death that I wish didn't happen but I still love the books. I guess it's just the way things go.

Sad, sad endings are really not my cup of tea. My life is difficult enough at times, so I like my books to make me happier and give me an escape from sadness instead of bringing me down. If I know a book is sad then I won't read it unless I have really, really, REALLY good motivation to do so.

[Moni12]

I'm a big fan of Happily Ever After. I like it when I get the warm, fuzzy, yay-they-did-it kind of feelings. Succeeding against overwhelming odds only to go on with a happy life?? I'm all over it.

In this case you may enjoy Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It's a Cinderella story and definitely for a younger audience, but still a favorite of me and my sisters. Of all the books we've read since it seems to be the one we will always have in common. I started reading it when I was eleven or twelve because it was recommended by my sisters. I'm 20 and it still makes me feel all mushy inside.

[dios4vida]

In this case you may enjoy Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

I've seen the movie, is it the same?

[Heather B]

I'm definitely in the boat with the rainbow gang.

I'm a very emotive reader, so if a book ends sadly I'll generally be in a bad mood for days. I don't mind so much if there's a sequel and the sad ending can be justified but if I invest a lot of time into a book/series and it disappoints me... oh man, you better get out of my way.

*cough* Mockingjay *cough*


One book that absolutely shattered me was Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead. I wandered around the house stunned for hours before I shook it off. Then I got cried, got angry and was desperate for the next book - and you know what?

I still love that ending.

[Moni12]

I've seen the movie, is it the same?

I really wish they made a decent movie, but the only thing that is the same is the obedience and the characters names. Actually, there isn't even an evil uncle. If you hated the movie you should definitely give the book a chance.

[Jessa]

Yep, happy endings for me too. I sometimes think that the only people who like sad endings are people who don't really have any sadness in their lives. So, in a way, I kinda like that there are people who like sad endings. It's nice to think that there exist entire subsets of humanity whose lives are so generally positive that they have to seek out sadness in fiction in order to have access to those feelings.

That's probably not true, but I like to think it.

I read to get away from pain, sadness, and depression. I have enough of it in daily life; the last thing I need is more of it in literary vacationland.

Now, that having been said, I should clarify that I'm talking about tragic endings. I'm ok with bittersweet endings.

[pavloviandoggy]

I find books that make me happy more entertaining. But the books I REMEMBER and I view as literature tend to be sad. That's partly because only well-written books make me care about the characters. Still, the BEST books can have humor and tragic elements. I still remember reading A Prayer for Owen Meany in high school and crying for an hour. But that novel made me laugh.

[sierramcconnell]

I like true to life endings. People dying and such. Not all glowy and happy. Life doesn't happen that way.

I don't read to escape I guess, I read to...I don't know. I'm weird. I guess maybe it would be too much of a shock to escape for a little only to come back and realize that it isn't that way. People aren't miraculously okay and evil isn't always vanquished.

Sometimes love doesn't triumph over all. I like those endings. They leave you wanting more. >:3

The Book Thief, OMG yes, I knew it was coming and yet I BAWLED. I loved those people and it was so heartwrenching. I cried for days after just thinking about it, trying to resolve it. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I couldn't believe my friends were all, "Oh, it was okay" or "Oh, I couldn't finish it". And yet they reread the Twilight Saga seven times?! What is wrong with you people?!

I wanted to shake them against a brick wall.