Are you a Cry-er?

Do you tend to cry in movies or when you read a great book? I have to admit, I’m not much of a cry-er. Sometimes I’m really in the mood for it, I choose a tear-jerker to watch or read, and my eyes stay dry the whole way through.

Do you judge a story by whether it made you cry or not? I actually cheer when a friend reads something I've written and tells me they cried. Success! I must tell you about the book I stumbled upon earlier this month. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah blew me away.

I can’t say the beginning overwhelmed me, but it was very good. I can’t say that half-way through the story it became my favorite book, though I enjoyed it very much. But when I reached the final one hundred pages, the culmination of the whole story packed such an enormous wallop, I was shocked by the sheer enormity of emotion I felt for her characters. I cried constantly for the last 50 pages. I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before. Luckily, I was reading it at the beach, wearing huge sunglasses.

The story is beautiful. And she built it so gradually, I didn’t even notice how enormous the implications of every detail had become. So of course, as an author, I analyzed her plot. I followed some advice from my favorite book on writing craft and picked apart the entire novel. And when I came to the last 50 pages, yup! I cried again. Sheesh!

So now I want to write something like that. Something that will take my readers on a journey they will feel themselves, instead of just watching from the sidelines. Read Firefly Lane if you want to feel a story deeply, or if you find yourself in need of a good cry.

Fair warning: adult language and themes throughout.

What was the last book you read that made you cry?