http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#03cd4807-d5b8-4802-a19e-e2be3617acc5 Denys Finch-Hutton in "Out of Africa". Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:57:06 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#03cd4807-d5b8-4802-a19e-e2be3617acc5 Canela, too hot for you 2009-10-02T16:57:06Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#36ff5ad3-43d1-4c1b-a365-c20dd85d473d Dumbledore - Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince Does Old Yeller count? Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:39:47 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#36ff5ad3-43d1-4c1b-a365-c20dd85d473d Deirdre 2008-06-23T03:39:47Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#83125335-9290-4370-adcf-a49f44c5e520 Dumbledore, also Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Jane Eyre made me cry, but I don't recall at what point as it's been over 25 years since I read it. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:04:54 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#83125335-9290-4370-adcf-a49f44c5e520 smoorefu 2008-06-20T23:04:54Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#b6065ffb-678b-4116-8647-2b3d4fd29fbf Susana in The Dark Tower, she didn't really die so much as give up at the finish line. I really felt abandoned, even after Jake and Eddy died that was the hardest part of the books. I never gave a rat's ass for Susan, wizard and glass suck so bad I couldn't feel anything for any one Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:04:43 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#b6065ffb-678b-4116-8647-2b3d4fd29fbf Max 2008-04-28T12:04:43Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#5a1a7965-64ee-4d0e-8957-0583a31a46b1 Ya, even after seeing the movie first that one hit pretty hard. mac is truly one of my heroes. I have theory that the town witch McMurphy grow up in is my home town but it could just as easily be any of the other crappy Oregon towns between the coast and Penelton. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:53:27 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#5a1a7965-64ee-4d0e-8957-0583a31a46b1 Max 2008-04-28T11:53:27Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#db474aea-37b0-4486-a445-3003d5daeab9 The other 6 seemed to think so. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:45:40 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#db474aea-37b0-4486-a445-3003d5daeab9 Max 2008-04-28T11:45:40Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#f66b0fad-03aa-4a85-8273-3f37ee1355b1 I agree about "Buddenbrooks" and was wondering what you thought of the man in "Death in Venice" and also of "Little Herr Friedmann"? Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:24:10 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#f66b0fad-03aa-4a85-8273-3f37ee1355b1 Oscar_Francois_De_Jarjeyes 2007-08-20T16:24:10Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#76a0c9c7-28b9-4999-8fda-3b76d1897c15 *Add Jay Gatsby to the list Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:21:59 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#76a0c9c7-28b9-4999-8fda-3b76d1897c15 Oscar_Francois_De_Jarjeyes 2007-08-20T16:21:59Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#393326fe-bf86-471a-923a-c0fd4f31d8dc Sydney Carton's death didn't make me cry exactly, but it was sad. Walter Fane in "The Painted Veil" really saddened me too. There are others but I can't think of them right now. Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:21:16 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#393326fe-bf86-471a-923a-c0fd4f31d8dc Oscar_Francois_De_Jarjeyes 2007-08-20T16:21:16Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#4d6d109a-5037-4882-a135-f30e2f044821 title character in Isabel Allende's book Paula; the mother manatee in GGM's Love in the Time of Cholera. Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:58:47 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#4d6d109a-5037-4882-a135-f30e2f044821 Chili 2005-10-03T20:58:47Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#b3025f93-93e9-40fa-abdd-73d7060ae9c1 By all means do! It's very nearly my all-time favorite SF novel (I'm a lifelong reader of the stuff) and far superior to the movie. If you get hooked on Tevis, read "The Hustler" next. Fri, 30 Sep 2005 09:23:49 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#b3025f93-93e9-40fa-abdd-73d7060ae9c1 Rockstar 2005-09-30T09:23:49Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#fcdc93a5-7811-4e81-961e-3db5ca10bf07 I've got to read this as you're the second person in recent memory to mention this book in a positive light. Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:28:55 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#fcdc93a5-7811-4e81-961e-3db5ca10bf07 $item.owner.firstName 2005-09-28T15:28:55Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#702c2be0-78f9-406c-bcb3-3e081d7fa2e1 I agree that the saddest passages often have nothing to do with physical death. What finally happens to Newton in "The Man Who Fell To Earth" (by the criminally-underrated Walter Tevis) is far more pathetic than his death would've been. The bartender's bland pronoucement of "I'm afraid that the fellow needs some help" is shattering. Wed, 28 Sep 2005 04:03:27 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#702c2be0-78f9-406c-bcb3-3e081d7fa2e1 Rockstar 2005-09-28T04:03:27Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#9848a8b6-5644-49bb-ba76-ddb3c287911b Yeah! Leslie from Bridge to Teribithia. Cried my eyes out. Wed, 28 Sep 2005 02:03:42 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#9848a8b6-5644-49bb-ba76-ddb3c287911b Pie 2005-09-28T02:03:42Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#049dc1e1-6e21-4786-b412-b01991de2768 Bad girl. :) Tue, 27 Sep 2005 14:38:01 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#049dc1e1-6e21-4786-b412-b01991de2768 $item.owner.firstName 2005-09-27T14:38:01Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#cbe4d75c-1a33-46e3-8b27-ebd047c1d87c Just last night I arrived at Bookclub with 6 pages to go of "The Mill on the Floss" My comrades made me go in the other room and finish the book. My eyes were full of tears when I rejoined them, feeling alittle foolish. Tue, 27 Sep 2005 14:19:54 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#cbe4d75c-1a33-46e3-8b27-ebd047c1d87c Static 2005-09-27T14:19:54Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#644c8c8c-8cfc-4253-9c85-24dec3200c2d I agree with Marie that my saddest momemts in literature are not necessarily linked to the physical death of a character. Lately, I've been thinking of Prince Myshkin from Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot." An innocent and truly good soul, Myshkin is annihilated by a vacuous society where his honest deeds and love are the accoutrements of idiocy. His end is another "living death." I'm can usually take my medicine, but I felt devasted when I finished this book. Tue, 27 Sep 2005 05:47:29 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#644c8c8c-8cfc-4253-9c85-24dec3200c2d $item.owner.firstName 2005-09-27T05:47:29Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#27e3bca8-c42f-41e2-98ab-0553e4a180eb Andrei Bolkonski in Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' Rima in W.H. Hudson's 'Green Mansions' (it's been eons since I read this!) Erlend Nikulausson in Sigrid Undset's 'Kristin Lavransdatter' trilogy Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening' All of these were first read during my emotional early teen years. As an adult, I find I rarely cry over character deaths anymore, but am more likely to shed a tear over "living deaths"-lives blighted by indifference, cruelty, fear, longing, regret. Thomas Buddenbrooks' outwardly successful but inwardly dissatisfying and pathetically circumscribed life in Mann's classic novel 'Buddenbrooks' is far sadder than his eventual death; on first reading 'Ethan Frome' I remember fervently wishing Edith Wharton HAD killed off her characters; and the utterly hopeless but completely undramatic ending of Henry James' 'The Golden Bowl' provoked a sadness in me that lingered for weeks when last I read it. Fates worse than death to me, I guess... Tue, 27 Sep 2005 00:56:18 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#27e3bca8-c42f-41e2-98ab-0553e4a180eb Marie Therese 2005-09-27T00:56:18Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#fbdd46fc-3e16-4ea5-ab3b-3c8a321900e9 Abel in The Romantic. I remember waking up the next day and my first thoughts of the morning were remembering that he was dead. Tue, 27 Sep 2005 00:45:46 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#fbdd46fc-3e16-4ea5-ab3b-3c8a321900e9 Michelle Lauren 2005-09-27T00:45:46Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#9835854c-2473-4ec6-b9dd-86c958280307 I can't believe no one's said Walt in World According to Garp, or Garp, even! Owen Meany, for that matter- Irving really has heartbreaking deaths, now that I think about it. Mon, 26 Sep 2005 23:34:27 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#9835854c-2473-4ec6-b9dd-86c958280307 Hot Damn 2005-09-26T23:34:27Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#bcd0da46-33bc-4532-af9c-007dd31ce598 Oh... that girl in Bridge to Terrebithia. Fri, 23 Sep 2005 10:34:02 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#bcd0da46-33bc-4532-af9c-007dd31ce598 JM 2005-09-23T10:34:02Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#d0083220-6557-4c99-b8cf-100710eb060e It gets me every time. Like Ignatius' fadeaway in "Dunces," it's an example of a perfect ending. Fri, 23 Sep 2005 03:21:38 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#d0083220-6557-4c99-b8cf-100710eb060e Rockstar 2005-09-23T03:21:38Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#ea545e51-5dfc-464c-9280-d9c471bb3d9c I haven't thought about Mac's demise in a long time, but have to agree with you that the poignancy of a his demise and the Chief's resulting escape after made this novel for me. Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:07:37 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#ea545e51-5dfc-464c-9280-d9c471bb3d9c $item.owner.firstName 2005-09-22T15:07:37Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7d91111c-de62-4687-9089-242dc7124960 Which reminds me: I cried for Septimus in "Mrs. Dalloway." Thu, 22 Sep 2005 08:53:47 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7d91111c-de62-4687-9089-242dc7124960 Sady 2005-09-22T08:53:47Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#2790385c-218a-4556-bd06-c214908245ea The poet who jumps out the window in The Hours. Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:54:38 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#2790385c-218a-4556-bd06-c214908245ea JM 2005-09-21T20:54:38Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#99697251-2937-4b52-bfcd-62f308815318 when i was a kid, i hated the snake for killing the little prince. took me years to get over that death. Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:31:31 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#99697251-2937-4b52-bfcd-62f308815318 cece 2005-09-21T20:31:31Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#ca9e60e7-808a-4d9a-8f8c-44499fd7a7e3 Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.' By the time Mac's wheeled into Big Nurse's ward for the last time, he's a lobotomized vegetable, a rotting exhibit of the power of the Combine. When Chief Bromden mercifully smothers him to death, part of Mac's spirit becomes his. Despite decades of passivity, the Chief finds ripping out the ward window and running to freedom easy, inevitable. Death scenes in books don't affect me as much as a really perfect ending does. I just finished "A Confederacy of Dunces" for the second time and Ignatius Reilly's unlikely-but-inevitable deliverance at the finish still squeezes my heart. Wed, 21 Sep 2005 08:26:06 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#ca9e60e7-808a-4d9a-8f8c-44499fd7a7e3 Rockstar 2005-09-21T08:26:06Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#a95fbec5-96c0-499f-ae2d-3a2a31f55f03 oh i don't have any quarrel with flawed characters. it's just that they overtly and offensively flawed characters in his novels were consistently women. they were either weaklings or opportunists...no middle. the men seem to have a lot of virtue: angel clare, gabriel oak, jude... but the women?? don't get me wrong. i loved his novels, but it was just so consistent, this string of women with said character flaws. he didn't deviate. Wed, 21 Sep 2005 01:10:15 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#a95fbec5-96c0-499f-ae2d-3a2a31f55f03 cece 2005-09-21T01:10:15Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7d520b5c-0277-44e9-9a25-688f18f834db You are right, they did exist. Didn't Jude suffer from the same sort of weakness? Hardy seems to love giving his characters a single, overdeveloped virtue, and then takes sadistic pleasure in using it to destroy them. It's fascinating, and I hope a little dishonest. I hate thinking that goodness will ultimately screw you over. Anyway, I guess I still think that weakness was not exactly the problem. Perhaps a somewhat misshapen morality made his characters more vulnerable. You know, like have one leg significantly longer than the other. Wed, 21 Sep 2005 01:03:31 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7d520b5c-0277-44e9-9a25-688f18f834db Tyler 2005-09-21T01:03:31Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7519b8cb-11e9-48a7-a263-fa4ceb9fc267 Beth in Little Women. Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. Jim Casy in Grapes of Wrath. I think I cried the entire way through Jude. It was just so horrible. I know she doesn't die, but the scene when Kitty, from Anna Karenina, is giving birth and almost dies and Levinin prays to God to save her always makes me cry. Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:51:54 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7519b8cb-11e9-48a7-a263-fa4ceb9fc267 Miss Gillian 2005-09-21T00:51:54Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#ff60c4ee-7463-427e-bff2-a7942db6e1da i just wanted to see him write stronger female characters. tess was a victim. bathsheba everdeen and the women from the "the return of the native" and "the mayor of castlebridge" were all opportunists; the woman in jude the obscure was honest to fault (hence the children's death); and i think the woman from "a pair of blue eyes" was sort of like tess as well. i just wanted him to write one strong female character because they DID exist i victorian times. Tue, 20 Sep 2005 23:11:58 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#ff60c4ee-7463-427e-bff2-a7942db6e1da cece 2005-09-20T23:11:58Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#b6da0574-6921-40f9-acef-a7921246af2a "i concluded that thomas hardy did not like women. his female characters were always lacking." Hmm. I guess he probably harbored some bitterness. But I figure that a serious, flawed female character is more of a demonstration of respect than an empty, perfect, hot-house beauty. I'd rather know Tess than some other vapid victorian bubble. Tue, 20 Sep 2005 23:02:55 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#b6da0574-6921-40f9-acef-a7921246af2a Tyler 2005-09-20T23:02:55Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#e291ddf6-537c-4138-acd5-2dbd3e568a28 Oneiros/Morpheus - but then did he truly die ? Jus Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:54:12 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#e291ddf6-537c-4138-acd5-2dbd3e568a28 Jus 2005-09-20T22:54:12Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#dc8e6d03-ac58-410d-95d4-4cd04603051c yah. i totally questioned the value of "honesty for honesty's sake" after i read that. after reading that book, i concluded that thomas hardy did not like women. his female characters were always lacking. Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:33:13 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#dc8e6d03-ac58-410d-95d4-4cd04603051c cece 2005-09-20T19:33:13Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#e5b909d8-2bbd-4e1b-a30a-46a143bc52bd I totally forgot about that. Ugh. I believe that the page before that scene, I thought: "things could not be any worse." I was wrong. Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:27:40 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#e5b909d8-2bbd-4e1b-a30a-46a143bc52bd Tyler 2005-09-20T19:27:40Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#c3b028b2-238b-4d01-95d2-2c34e370d7ec The death of the Jude's children in "Jude the Obscure" was heart-rending to me. That was truly tragic. Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:19:34 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#c3b028b2-238b-4d01-95d2-2c34e370d7ec cece 2005-09-20T19:19:34Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7503f788-a256-4021-86c3-ecbbab3752ed I agree with you on Tess. Actually, Tess got to me all the way through. It was a very tearful book. Also, Anais Nin's diary entries on her death, which she wrote on her deathbed, always get to me. Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:14:26 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#7503f788-a256-4021-86c3-ecbbab3752ed Sady 2005-09-20T19:14:26Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#3cd0b624-edd1-40ff-944f-1eda7616865f I guess those Victorian novels really get to me. Tess, in "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," and Maggie in "The Mill on the Floss" are both pretty heartbreaking. Oh yes, and my high school favorite: Phineas in "A Separate Peace." Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:11:16 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#3cd0b624-edd1-40ff-944f-1eda7616865f Tyler 2005-09-20T19:11:16Z http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#8d4ee58d-2501-48f2-9142-ce5355a50867 My top few are (warning some spoilers): Beth in Little Women Dumbledore in the The Half-Blood Prince The anti-hero in A Tale of Two Cities Lenny in Of Mice and Men Charlotte in Charlotte's Web Dora in Time Enough for Love Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:07:20 GMT http://literacynerds.tribe.net/thread/de8c9bcd-a369-4f55-951c-38e9740d2e59#8d4ee58d-2501-48f2-9142-ce5355a50867 Spanker 2005-09-20T16:07:20Z