Tuesday, March 11, 2014

On Crying Over Books

There are those people who never cry while reading.
There are those people who will cry at any book with strong emotions.
There are those people who...walk in on me sobbing over a book and tell me I'm an idiot.
(in case you're curious, my older brother. Who. Really. Should not have been. Walking into my room. Because. What if I was changing. Just saying).

I'm don't necessarily cry over all character deaths/misfortunes, and I rarely cry of happiness. I cried when I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (I'm sure some of you know why) and I also cried while reading Clockwork Princess because GAAAH it was just so...so... well I can't really find the right word for it, but I was basically in hysterics and didn't talk to anyone for like a week after reading that book.

Then recently, I was rereading The Giver by Lois Lowry, and I'm going to have spoilers of that book down below so please only proceed if you have read the book, don't plan on reading it, or (not that I recommend this AT ALL because it'll ruin the meaning of the book for you) don't mind being spoiled. I'll put a note where the spoilers end.
.
..
...
....
...
..
.
Okay so the first time I read The Giver, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention because I was ten and had to do a book report on it. It's not like I didn't enjoy the book, I just didn't really...think about it much.
And then I finally decided to reread the book, and...
W-o-w.
The Giver is a really intense book, and it's one of the earlier-published popular dystopian novels, as well as, in my current opinion, one of the best. The way everything works--pretty much no choices at all, no color, no hills, no birthdays, no biological familial ties at all, no grandparents, no SUNSHINE (I mean. Come on.), no snow, no........
So yeah, that alone already really intrigued me and had me on edge the entire time I was reading.

But near the end, when The Giver tells Jonas that he can't see colors anymore, and then it has the line "Jonas's heart broke" I'm not even sure. I just started crying. I was reading in my bed, and on the wall across from my bed there are several squares of different paint colors (paint samples) and then just seeing those colors, and seeing everything that was in my bedroom and thinking of how different lives could possibly be...
I am very bad at explaining thoughts, I apologize.



SPOILERS ARE OVER NOW
So my brother heard me crying, I'm assuming, and so politely just barged into my room and was like "....why are you crying...." *look of scorn*
Me (in tears): Well this book...it's like...um so...*another bout of tears* and they, well, I...
My brother: It's just a book.
Me: *tries not to strangle him*
My brother: What? It's not like it's real or anything.
Me: *physically restraining myself from killing him* But but but it's like...it...I...
And then my brother called me an idiot for crying over something that "isn't real or anything".

Moral of the Story: People who don't read don't seem to understand crying over books. And big brothers are mean.

I don't think there's anything wrong with having emotions over a story that might be made up. I can't exactly explain why because I'm bad with words... oops...
And besides, there's always a chance all the stories are true. ;)

In other news, I apologize for being gone so long. I was impeded by this annoying thing called Dealing With Reality and Homework.