Which literary death was the hardest for you to come to terms with?
One of the things that makes Stephen King’s books so memorable, in my opinion, is the way he doesn’t shy away from killing off characters after he makes you care about them. There’s one death that still haunts me: that of Susan Delgado, Roland’s lady love in Wizard and Glass, the 4th book in the Dark Tower series. I kept waiting for someone to come to her rescue (“Surely they can’t kill her off!”) but nope.
The first death I remember is Beth’s in Little Women. I stopped reading the book after she croaked and I’ve never revisited it.
As a teenager I always got stuck in Little Women when Beth died and would have to start over in a few months. As an adult, I could not finish John Grisham’s Sooley after the shocking death. I have yet to return to that book.
Ruth Jamison in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. The entire death scene was absolutely heartbreaking. I remember having to put the book down because of how emotionally wrenching it was. When I saw the movie many years later, the same scene had even more of an impact for me because of the superb acting.
1 Like
I sometimes wonder 
if I’m the only person alive who has read Little Women and wasn’t particularly affected by Beth’s death.
@Sunny Haha, too funny!
1 Like
There are two books that bring me to tears even now when I think about them.
When Old Dan, a coonhound, dies and Little Anne, the other half of this hunting pair, grieves herself to death at his grave in Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I cried for days afterward.
The death of Gus McCrae in Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry broke my heart when I read the book. I remember exactly where I was when I was reading those pages. My husband, daughter, and I watched the TV miniseries when it aired a few years later. When the episode with Gus’ death started, I began sobbing and had to leave the room.
2 Likes
No literary death ever stayed with me to the degree that the loss of Bambi’s mother and the death of Charlotte (in Charlotte’s Web) did. I was four when I read both and thinking about these scenes in the book to this day almost six decades later evokes a memory of how significant these feelings were for the young me.
3 Likes
I would have to say that it was the death of Beth in Little Women, that I read when I was 10-years-old, that shattered me. I was also crushed by the death of Charlotte in Charlotte’s web.
I was devastated while reading The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. To this day, if I think an animal character is going to die, I will usually choose not to read the book.
Another book that made me cry a lot was Black Beauty. For financial reasons I need to re-home my horse, Cosmo, but have just been unable to trust anyone to love him as much as I do. I think Black Beauty warped my mind a bit in that regard.
1 Like
Oh, don’t even get me started on books with animals! Like you, @Dee_Hatcher, I have trouble reading books where something happens to the animal. I won’t read any book that has a “good” animal in it. Even if they survive to the end, you just know something is going to happen to them that’ll make you worry. Gosh… Charlotte’s Web? Old Yellar? Bambi? (OK, not a book but equally upsetting).
… OK, rant over.
1 Like
Oh, @Lana_Maskus, I forgot about Lonesome Dove. That was a tough one, too.
(Dang, what a sad topic! Who thought up this one, anyway?!?)
laughing
Nope, you are not alone. Beth was the least interesting “little woman” to my younger self—probably because I could never connect to someone that saintly. 
2 Likes
I think it was Kim Kovacs. Oh! Wait a minute, that’s you isn’t it? 
1 Like
Thanks Marilyn! I feel better now. It’s nice for one’s opinion to have some company.
Not to mention One-Eyed Cat by Paula Fox. 
Although it is hard to say for whom I ended up feeling more sorry–Ned for his torturous journey of guilt and redemption or the cat.
I too was affected by The Red Pony. I think maybe even traumatized to where I didn’t want to read anything from Steinbeck during my teen and young adult years because of it.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle—was devastated by the ending.
1 Like
Glad to know that, @Donna_J! I’ve had good ol’ Edgar on my shelf forever. Guess that’s one I can cross off my list, LOL.
I loved the book but the ending was crushing. I would still read it!