It’s raining where I live in Canada. On this grey morning, I want to talk about something that feels just as dismal as a rainy day.
It has to do with an activity many of us innies love to do most when it’s storming outside: Curl up with a good book and get lost in its pages. The world can writhe and rage all it wants outside our doors. As long as we have our cozy corner and the company of a few fictional friends, we are content.
Why we mourn fictional characters
Unfortunately, fictional characters don’t go past the borders of their books. Reading the last page of a novel marks more than just the end of a great story. It spells the end of several relationships, too.
We form some serious attachments over the course of a book’s hundreds of pages.
We fall in love with the protagonist, who is lovingly tortured by the author in more ways than we can count. We develop a strange attachment to the sadistic writer, who seems to know us better than most of our friends or family. We even feel affection for the villain who shows us that evil can be interesting when worn right.
Do other introverts feel this way?
During Christmas break one year in college I gobbled up all thousand or so pages of Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. When I plucked the hefty book off the shelf at my school library, I didn’t expect to like it at all. Then I was sucked in by the first sentence:
“Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.”
I would soon learn why Scarlet was so enticing. The twins never had a chance against her willful charm. Page after page I became more attached to Scarlett and the other characters in the book.
When I reached the final page, I cried. I couldn’t believe it was over. Part of me wanted to dive back into the center of the story so I could reunite with its characters. The other part couldn’t bear the thought of reliving all the tragedy and triumph, especially knowing how it ended.
So, I mourned those fictional characters for the remainder of Christmas break. Whenever I was reminded of them it was like a punch to the gut. It was as if I’d gone through a breakup with a book. It felt more heartbreaking than the end of some of my real relationships.
I felt similarly despondent when I finished reading The Hunger Games Trilogy recently (apparently I still have the psyche of a 19 year-old girl).
I wonder if we introverts mourn fictional characters more than extroverts do?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Do you mourn fictional characters, too? Which book did you get most attached to?
Please share your comments below.
Lots of love,
I think this is what fan fiction has been invented for 🙂 Funny to see this post; just the other day I was wondering if writing fan fic would be more of an “innie” thing, or if there are just as many extroverts writing fan fiction. Curious to see what others think.
Good question, Mandi. I’m not sure, I’ve never felt inclined to write fiction, so couldn’t say. 🙂
Not so much from reading fiction as a deep, vivid dream. I have enveloped so deeply I didn’t want to get out of bed and had to force myself to get up after failed attempts to rein gage into the dream world. I haven’t found any connections of inni’s and vivid dreaming, but I know they’re out there! 🙂
Oh boy David, can I relate to loving vivid dreaming! Years ago, when I was giving up smoking, I used nicotine patches – the 24 hour variety, and soon became addicted to the intense dreaming that ensued. The pharmicist warned me that most people couldn’t tolerate the 24 hr patches because they gave them nightmares and recommended I use the 16 hr ones instead, but I was curious about the so-called nightmares. Well I wouldn’t have described them as nightmares, well not most of the time. They were just super-intense dreams that I wanted to live in. I couldn’t wait to get to bed at night so the dreaming could begin. Still dream vividly, but alas, not like I did on patches.
I apparently have the psyche of a 19 year old girl also and I’m a guy, beat that one.
Hahahah I admit defeat. 🙂
I am feeling very sad today as I know I am coming to the end of the book series I started writing last February. I feel sad when finishing books written by others- I’ve never felt this sad before about the end of a story.
I became good friends with all the people in Scruples. Starting with Anne, who was clumsy and overweight and had a massive transformation to Spider who was a drop dead good looking man who designed dresses for her boutique. And then there was the little but feisty French designer, Valentine. I have read this book many times reliving my friendships with all of them and of course pouring over the dramatic parts of the story.
Oh, I can definitely relate to mourning the loss of fictional characters; in fact the whole fictional world I’ve entered can be missed for days, weeks, possibly even months. I go through a kind of grieving process and feel hollowed out and it makes the real world seem even more alienating than usual. One of the interesting things I find too is that often the least pleasant protagonists are the ones I miss the most, because (at least to my way of thinking) they resonate the most. Only the best writers can create nasty central characters that entrall us nonetheless and hold us spellbound for the entire length of the novel. They’re the ones that get under my skin and stay with me forever: think Emma Bovary, Humbert Humbert, Roshkolnikov. I miss those miserable bastards so much, I go back and read those books again and again and again.
A group of friends and I are writing a fanfic together. I’d say most of them are extroverts, and that the friend that started it was too. But it might also be how obsessed they are with the characters.
I’m introvert, so I’m not giving exactly the input you asked for, but . . . John D. MacDonald wrote 21 novels on a fictional character named Travis McGee and his sidekick Meyer. MacDonald died unexpectedly in 1986, shortly after finishing the 21st novel. I’ve never gotten over it, because McGee and Meyer died then, too. It was incredibly hard to leave the characters after I finished The Lord of the Rings the first time over 40 yrs ago–could be why I’ve read it 11 times since. Same with when I read Harry Potter back to back. I do get involved (same with some movies, too).
Oh yes, I most definitely do. 🙂 I get so lost in the story, that I completely forget the outside world (I love that feeling). 🙂 Like most of the Introverts, I too love to read when it’s raining outside, rain calms me down, and with a good book by my side, pleasure is guaranteed. 🙂
The books I got most attached to are surely “Metro 2033” and “I am Legend”, two post-apocalyptic bestsellers. 🙂 I got so attached to the main characters in those books that I cried like a river at the endings (they were really sad)… Later, when I finished reading them, I was so sad for the story and the characters, because I was, in a way, expecting a happy ending, was I wrong… Like yourself, part of me wanted to jump in and change the ending. So I can really relate to your experience Michaela and your feeling when you were reading “Gone With The Wind” and “The Hunger Games Trilogy”. 🙂
I love post-apocalyptic stuff! I’ll have to put those on my list. Thanks for sharing, Marko.
I feel very lonely when I finish a book. I go through some days of low-level depression, always knowing that I’ll be better once I start that new book. And I never thought about it as being a characteristic found more in introverts than extroverts. I wonder if that’s the case. Very interesting! I’m eager to follow the comments.
Thanks for sharing. That also happened to me. When i read “canvas under the sky” by Robin Binckes. I felt inlove with the characters, when somebody died i would take a short break to digest the news before moving forward. I still miss some of the characters now and think about them. Thank god its normal, i thought i was losing it…lol.
Ayla in “Clan of the Cave Bear”
Peculiar – just after I read your comment I watched a very nice short drama israili-french film “Aya” for the 2nd time. The main characters in this film Aya and Mr. Overby inspire me a lot, because they both push their boundries on a car trip in a way that forms an extremely interesting meeting between two persons, who don’t know each other in the beginning.
Tonight I experienced the same feeling when the film was over like the first time I watched the film. A feeling where I miss both the persons, their qualities and the unique athmosphere that this story makes. Really intense.
I also wonder that about fellow introverts. I struggle watching anything but comedy movies because I get so emotionally infused. I try not to watch movies or read non educational books because they really do a number on me. (I give in occasionally because my extrovert husband is an avid movie watcher). If I watch horror, I’m messed up for weeks.
I last read Heaven is For Real and cried,cried,cried. I couldn’t talk about the book for at least 2-3 weeks with out tearing up and getting the ball in my throat.
All in all, I’m an INFJ, and I suppose it’s to be expected. I’ve always wondered about others too.
I didn’t realize I did this until a few years ago. One of my favorite authors wrote a great series of books that also tied into a previous serious, I spent several years and thousands of pages following the characters. In the final book of the series almost every character died. I was shocked as I watched character after character die off. It was a great series and book but I hadn’t seen that coming. Of Mice and Men also had me mourning for a bit. I re-read it fairly recently and was surprised how much I was caught up by the end.
I read of Mice and Men in November and it really moved me. I mourned for days.
‘I should have shot my own dog’
Brad, I am kind of outraged on your behalf. Well, not outraged, but I think killing off every character in a series unexpectedly sounds cruel and irresponsible on the part of the author. Unless it truly serves to advance the story, that isn’t right. Kind of sadistic when you consider that the author created or birthed the characters. Like step away from the Kool-aid, hello. Anyway, sorry to hear that you had that experience.
Thanks a lot, Michaela. I definitely mourn fictional characters and i was starting to think no one else does that.
It’s hard to say which book i got most attached to. But if i had to choose, it would be one of my favourite books.
Okay… this is really embarrassing to admit… but, when I was 15 I read a short novel called “Charly”… the story of a wild, city-girl who falls in love with a simple boy, devoted to his religion. She converts, they start to live happily ever after, until WHAM she dies from cancer. After finishing the book, I hid in the food pantry for a half-hour and wept like an actual close friend died… I had no idea why I’d gotten so upset back them, but now I’ve learned that when we develop a bond with someone (real of fictional) the loss we feel when they leave our lives is just as real to us…
This has happened to me more times than I can count….and that is what makes good literature so compelling. Definitely felt this way about GWTW…and, oh, how the Hunger Games ended! And there are countless other examples in my (INFJ) world. But it is nearly always a rewarding and inspiring experience, even if it is sometimes an intense one. Thanks for this post–I could really relate!
Michaela, I think with me it’s a little bit different. I’m a passionate reader since I was a youngster. I’ve realized that I prefer “offbeat”, “witty” and humoros” books which can cheer me up. I strictly avoid dramatic or sad stories, because my mood often is dramatic enough. – I think it’s much easier to make persons cry instead of make them laugh. – Life sometimes gets sad faster than you prefer – I wanna laugh and try to forget what is bothering me. Especially I wanna laugh even when I feel bad. – I always avoid to cry, because it makes me feel so damn weak and helpless and I really hate this! – I want to read a book which makes me laugh again in such situations. These books are my “lifelines” and these authors are my “heros”! 🙂 – Sometimes I’m discussing with women about “crying”, they explain that “crying” would be helpful for them – but this doesn’t work for me! – Matthias
PS: Here’s are exceptions:
Horror? Crime? Yes this I like: E.A. Poe, Count Dracula and the psychothrillers of Patricia Highsmith (dramatic stories about “normal everylife people” which could be your “nice neighbors” until they are so pissed and murder your “innocent” grandma later…) 🙂
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”
― C.S. Lewis
I agree. I never read his Chronicles of Narnia until I was in my 30’s, but was so taken with the time and space travel, the adventure, the creatures, the children and their adults. I missed them so much when the last page was turned. I read them aloud to my children once every year until we found Madeline L’Engle and grew very attached to all the characters In her Wrinkle In Time series. Oh yes, and the Redwall books, too. I still love them all, they’ve become family to me and my daughters, who are beginning to introduce their children to our relatives of the page.
I, too, mourn fictional heroes. I just finished reading A Man Called Ove and really fell in love with him. I found myself putting the story down to prolong the inevitable end! What’s worse is when a loveable character dies. It’s somehow worse than the words “The End”. I’m a huge fan of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot on television but I know that in the last episode of the BBC series he dies (I read it somewhere) and I know with certainty that I’ll NEVER be able to watch that episode for that reason!
Definitely! The characters may start off as words on a page but they quickly become alive in my mind. I cried when Dumbledore died, swooned when a handsome young thing sweeps my new “friend” off her feet, travelled to many exotic locations, felt saddened when “our” quest has come to an end and we part company or victorious and eager for the next case to be solved with Sherlock Holmes or his successors, and felt the angst of youth trying to figure out “what I want to be when I grow up” (I too, formed a deep attachment to the Divergent series and the Hunger Games fictional characters and caught myself multiple times wondering what they’re up to now…I guess I’ll never really grow up! 😉 )
So glad to know that I’m not alone in this!
Oh yes, I’m right up there with the feels when it comes to fictional characters. Most devastating death was in Diana Gabaldon’s outlander series. One of the main supporting characters died and I cried and cried. Not just trickle of tears but huge painful sobs! I never cried so hard over a book. But i get choked up on a regular basis when reading. I feel lost after finishing a great book and therefore I reread A LOT!! I get a lot of weird stares when I tell people I do that and that I NEVER give my books away. I love going back to my ‘friends’ and get sucked into their stories again and again.
I’ve been an avid reader since I learned to read and I am always haunted by a boon for awhile after its done, just like you mention wanting to immediately read it again but not wanting to go through the emotions all over again knowing what you’re in for. Thoughtful post.
Jane Eyre & Ender’s Game, so many more, and hopefully many more good books to fall in love with in the future!
I’ve never come to realize how attached I get to fictional characters and fictional personas until I read this post. I personally do not read as much as I do watch movies. When it comes to action, I always feel drawn afterwards, as if I were in that movie, or I was a secret agent,etc. Although I must say, romance is what really pulls me in. I get so drawn into romance, it’s lead me to believe I’m a hopeless romantic. Anyways, it makes life interesting per se. Thanks for the clarifying post Michaela!
I suppose I miss characters, but even more so, I miss the world that I visit in a book. I read very quickly but I tend to slow down considerably when I find myself coming to those last few pages. I think I got into series of books precisely so I could revisit the worlds within them, including (yes) the characters but also the places, the relationships, the situations, and the language of the writer. I am happy that when I close a book, its world doesn’t leave me right away. I often sit stunned for a long time processing what has happened, and then I carry it around with me long after.
Storm raging outside…
A book, a cozy corner and a hot cup of chocolate inside!
I feel you! There are some books where I would cry and it would take me weeks to get over it. What amazes me is the fact that the author can make us so enthralled with the story and characters that they linger in our mind even after we finish the book.
Lord of the Rings. It took a year to get through the trilogy while I was in university and I sobbed when it was over as though I had said goodbye to my best friends! I had lots of friends but never told a soul. Lol
I thought I was the only one! I love reading massive fantasy series. It takes so long to read them though so I do end up having a total bond with the characters. When I finished a huge 14 book series called The Wheel of Time (anywhere from 600-1100 pages per book), I totally cried and felt like my life was over! I had no idea what I was going to do with myself and knowing that I’d never learn anything new about those characters that I’d come to love gave me a little bout of depression! It’s nice to know this doesn’t just effect me. I thought I was just super weird lol thank you so much for sharing this!
I recently watched this animation film titled, ‘Grave of the fireflies’ which is based on a novel of the same name. The death of the protagonist, a 4 year old Setsuko, from malnutrition literally brought tears to my eyes. The final moments of WW2 being the background setting of the film made me realize that war is the failure of Society to protect its people, especially the innocence of children like Setsuko.
Wonder if an intorovert would ever own a convertible?
This post caught my attention immediately. I knew I would have to comment. I was a very early reader. I became almost addicted to that fugue state I reached when a teacher gave a class free play and I would take out a book. The ambient background noise would fade, then disappear. I was in the flow. An altered state of reality. It is delicious. It is the same when I make art or garden too. But while I started with children’s classics, then Mom’s gothic, spy, mystery, then eventually massed a huge collection of science fiction. And as you fall in love with characters, you share their births, marriages, revolutions, politics, religion, tragedies, and triumphs, and ultimately death. And I will remember a line from the main character in Larry Niven’s “Ring World” when his female companion dies while coping with crises he says, “I’m going to get over this sooner or later. Why not now?”. Lines like that echo forever in my mind. My newest read and my new number one is “Seveneves”, by Neal Stevenson. Epic.
After I read the last book of Harry Potter, I curled up and cried, and was depressed for like two weeks.XD Even my mother got concerned but I didn’t tell her the reason why (I know she wouldn’t laugh at me but it feels embarrassing). I read the first book when I was 12 and it felt like I was also growing up along with them. So when it ended, it feels like saying ‘goodbye’ to a friend whom you will never see again.
I was in my 50’s when I read the Harry Potter series, and when I was through I had no idea what to do with myself. I felt like my mind had nowhere to travel and nothing to do. Kind of like the ending of every school year when you’re a kid. You are so invested in the characters that they become ‘the people around you’. Finishing the books is like loosing all your friends at once. I will admit that the impact of the Harry Potter series and my devastation at knowing I’d arrived at the final page, really surprised me.
Oh my god yes I mourn my characters!! I’ll be so down for like weeks when I finish a really good book!! Lol, it’s insane others do the same thing! I’ve also found that I do this over tv shows as well. My recent attachment was Eureka I was really sad when it was over, they were like my other family.
Me too! I’ve missed my friends in Eureka so much! I’ve been mourning since they were canceled. It’s as if there was an experiment that went wrong, evaporating the whole community. I don’t really want to know if that’s the case.
Oh my goodness I thought I was the only one! For me it isn’t just books characters, it can be tv characters or movie characters that I’ve grown to love. I get so emotionally invested and nine times out of ten, get my heart broken. There definitely is a mourning period afterwards. I feel like I can’t watch/read anything anymore without giving my heart to it.
I feel exactly the same way about my many fictional characters.
Sometimes I think that why we connect or feel for them so much is partly due to how we may be ‘numb’ to our own emotions (I’m told this too is an introverted tendency).
Hence, perhaps this is a way of how we ‘feel’. Feeling alive through connecting with these characters. Just a thought.
I remember reading Herman Wouk’s trilogy taking place during WWII….War and Remembrance, I think. At the end, I lay on my bed and sobbed for at least a half hour over the fate of the characters. I was in a funk…grieving, actually, for at least a day.
My daughter, who is an INFP did the same thing at the end of Watership down at 10 years old…inconsolable. We really enter the characters’ world.
I love this. I have never been able to watch Disney movies, I cry!!! My hubby rented Life of Pi as I love everything India, I was so upset and shaking, I barely could finish it! I have many stuffed animals still at 52, sleep with a stuffed Elephant….:-) If one falls on the floor, I actually pick them up and apologize LOL Thank you for all your shares, I am so thankful to find out there are other HSP/Introverts out there, just like me!!!!
I am the same way with my stuffed animals. I’m 46 and still sleep with a teddy bear. 🙂
“The Warlock” by Wilbur Smith still has me mourning after three years.I’ll probably never love like that again.
I am so relieved to read so many other people feel the way I do about books, and the attachment to the characters. There are so many books that had that effect on me. Recently, the Deborah Harkness All Souls trilogy had me feeling sad at the end of the series. I got very attached to the characters. Off the topic a tad, the movie ‘The Others’ starring Nicole Kidman had me hysterical for hours. I was completely immersed in the story. I felt the pain and confusion her character and her children at the end of the movie. (I don’t want to give away the story for anyone who isn’t aware of the movie) Thanks!
but forget about them soon as i grab another book to repeat the cycle..for real moaning get hold of Danny Scheinmann’s “Random Acts Of Heroic Love”. boy, you’ll moan from page 1..
Hi Michaela,
Thanks for your amazing site and for this article. I find that if I enjoy a book or tv show I get completely attached to the characters and can’t bear the thought of having to get to know new people by starting a new book or show. I came to the end of the ‘True Blood’ box set last month and have only just started to get over it. Bookwise, I loved the Jack Caffery books by Mo Hayder- I really hope she writes some more of these. But to be honest, if I like a book enough to stick with it past the first couple of chapters then I get pretty attached to it. Funnily enough, though, I never ever reread books, although I believe a lot of people like to do this.
Hi Michaela,
It’s really nice to have the feeling that you live in the head of another person. Some authors can describe the characters so well, that I am able to switch into another world. I see this world before me and the clothes I wear, the people I speak with. I liked the book of Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the shore. I felt as if I stepped into a dreamworld. Somehow this eased my mind. Last summer I visited the US and learned about the writer ‘Willa Cather’. She wrote the book ‘My Antonia’. This is also an example of an author that describes a world where I can feel the sun burning, see the waving grass and see the people walking by in a small town in Nebraska. Can’t wait te read another book of her.
With me, it depends on the book, and how much emotional involvement there is with the main characters. When that involvement is there though, it’s normal for me to feel upset at my favourite characters demise. Even if that character doesn’t die in the book, I still feel emotionally attached to him/her. One of my own favourite characters would be Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear (a previous commenter mentioned her). Another book I really like is Wolfen. For some weird reason, I find myself identifying with the creatures in that book, and not the humans!
Thank you for this article Michaela :o)
What sprang to mind immediately from the dungeons of my past as a teenager in the 1950’s/60’s is the memory of losing myself in the writings of Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and the like … search to understand … still do
thank you for catapulting me back to a time long changed and yet so precious :o)
You’re welcome, Ingrid! 🙂
When I read a book, I become the fictional character. She/He and I have to have similar qualities whether it’s morals or a code, or thoughts, or anger. Something that ties me to them. When they experience heartbreak, or pain, or loneliness, or unworthyness, jealousy, if I have established that bond with that character, I empathize with them. I’ve had tears scatter over pages because of one scene no matter how many times I have read the book because that character gets ME. I AM THAT CHARACTER.
Hi Michaela,
First, I’m an extrovert learning more about introverts by reading your awesome blog…but you don’t need my affirmation…you already know that! ?
That said, I am becoming more contemplative…not an extrovert trait. I also mourn the loss of characters after finishing a good book. Perhaps I imagine myself as the hero like Harry Potter going from rags to riches, or Katniss fighting to the victorious finish, of Luke Skywalker (movie character mourning) and the light side of the force overcoming the dark side.
Perhaps a different perspective from an innie. All for your enjoyment and consideration. The more I read your blog, the more I learn and you and innies. Thank you!!
Jim
Thanks for sharing your outie perspective, Jim! 🙂
Ms. Michaela , first of all ,(I know u get many of these .) thank you for taking time to ,even read , everyones mail . I am an avid reader ,have been since I was 10,( mom taught me ). really started reading in high school . 2 novels a week ,most times . thank the Lord for libraries . check out your local library ,look for Tim Downs (bug man series .) to me reading is a safe escape , I can leave this world behind for at least a little while . Yes , I do relate to alot of the characters in the novels I read , but I know that the rest of the world will be out there waiting for Me .If u ever get down Houston tx. way , for,maybe, a seminar,please let me know . would to attend . Yours Sincerely ,Kirk Webb .
Thanks Kirk! Maybe I’ll see you in Texas one day, then. 😉
Yes, I do feel sad when I finish some books, I wish they were longer…
Recently I always go back to “The Kite Runner” and to “The Thousands Splendid Suns”, both from Khaled Hosseini.
There is something extremely painful and realistic about it.
I think of my favorite characters and it just melts my heart.
So glad to know im not the only INFJ feeling this way about fictional characters.
Although the way it is writtenm these might as well be real people….
This is so true! I like to call it my book hangover. I get so emotionally attached to characters that I want to either reread the book or immediately find something similar. The characters in books can often be something for me to aspire to or learn from. They’re like wonderful, unique relationships. Thanks for writing this! I love reading your articles (I don’t usually follow blogs 😀 ).
YES book hangover is the perfect way to describe the feeling.
I’m an introvert, and I’ve never felt this. Actually, the whole concept of mourning a fictional character sounds ridiculous, although I’m not judging anyone who does. I’ve read books and watched movies I’ve loved. I’ve even felt a strong connection to certain protagonists, but it ends there. When I watched the last Star Wars movie (love those movies), I was properly shocked when Solo was murdered by his son (sorry for spoilers). But if you ask me if I mourned this fictional character I’ve known for 38 years? The answer is no.
My daughter is an extrovert and she devours books. She goes from on to the next without spending time to reflect on the one she just finished. I often wait a couple of days or longer to start another fictional book because I want to savor and muse over the story and characters I just read. I find that I learn a lot about myself through the characters and find flaws in the my thought patterns through seeing a finctional character with those same or very similar patterns of thought. Some of the books that have make a great and lasting impact on me have been: Jude the Obscure, The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, Villette, and Anna Karinina.
Me too, I don’t want to leave the story yet. I identify a lot with the characters and seek to learn from them. Your book list seems interesting, I should check it out.
I am still mourning the loss of Odd Thomas, my favorite literary character over a series of 6 novels and 3 novellas from 2003 to 2015. While Odd has become fully smooth and blue, I have not, and I miss him still!
I guess it would be unfeeling of me to say that I did not feel a sense of loss after reading Me Before You (I mean, would anyone not?) … but it haunted me for weeks! Another was The Bronze Horseman trilogy (I found some closure by the end of the third book, but it was still pretty bad)… there are so many others, but I won’t be a bore 😉
Count me in. Books are my way of gearing down and I will often carry the characters around with me for days. I also was crushed at end of the hunger games trilogy. Never too old for a good story.
Hello there, I do not like to read, so I have not had this experience. I do have the experience with movie characters, but there is not a mourning because I can always watch the movie again. I particularly feel attached to Thelma and Louise. I feel like they are my friends and that I accompany them on their trip.
This may sound odd, because there is a rape involved, but I find the movie soothing. First, she doesn’t get actually fully raped, thank God. I love watching Thelma shoot the villain. I don’t believe in violence, but I like her making the bad guy stop and it feels like a sort of justice to me.
I love the southwest. I’ve been there twice and cannot not afford to go again. The colors, open spaces and big sky feel so good and bring back very nice memories.
I loved Lonesome Dove – both the book and the mini series. I couldn’t get enough of Robert Duvall’s character as Gus. To this day, he is not Robert Duvall, but he is Gus. But I was SO upset when he died!!! I generally don’t read a book more than once, but if I am watching the mini series, I will stop watching it before he dies.
I also loved the Horse Whisperer. But I was so upset when the horse whisperer dies in this book! When I went to the movie … I was preparing myself at the end of the movie for his death because I didn’t want to cry. I was SO excited that they actually CHANGED that part of the book and he did not die! 🙂
I love when I find a good series to read. It’s so exciting to know there is more to come!
I felt sad when I finished reading The Kite Runner. Also when I finished the Millenium series by Steig Larsson. Really got into all the characters.
Thank you for this! I have never related to something more than this post. I’m almost 21 and my mom keeps telling me I should start reading adult books but I still cling to my teen novels. I get fiercely attached to the characters and cry for days when one is killed off even if they weren’t my favorite. Hunger Games also made me cry. So did the City of Bones series and any John Green novel. I go in denial and reread the last few pages of the book just to stay in it longer.
I always feel sad when I finish a book. I feel even worse when I finish a book series. The Lord of the Rings was the worst! I have read the series three times. I still get sad when I finish it. It’s almost as bad as when Dr Who regenerates or gets a new companion.
Hie Michaela thanks you very much, you are such a life savour (sorry about broken English) I grew up in rural areas in Zimbabwe, I was so quiet many people thought I was shy or i hate people, they didn’t understand me I loved spending time alone in my room reading books and daydreaming I had few best friends they were different from me but I loved them they were protecting me from siily questions that people asks about me being quiet or shy, at high school things became even worse than they were before teachers hated me a lot sometimes makes jokes about me that affected me big time because at home my stepmother was abusing me shouting about many things even my father when he comes back from work she would tell him lies about me then he beat me, I was young then you know but I had to be strong for myself, I started to hate school I just finished it because I was forced to do so, I failed that caused a war at home I had to escape to save my life, Now I’m living in south Africa working as a security guard and studing I want to finish my studies, I keep thinking about my past and ask myself that I’m really an introvert or my past affected me a lot I’m still quiet loving my time alone readings novels and short stories on internet, my favourite novel is last chance do die Vail was my hero I wish the auther could write part 2
I thought I was the only one who felt that way about my book characters. I literally miss them for days after I am finished the book. I listen to audio books on the way to work and they become my travel buddies. My latest book was The Ghost Bride. Loved it. Miss the heroine ☹️
Hello Michaela,
Thank you for sharing this with us! I fall in love with stories and characters (books, movies, cartoons, anime) and i miss them so much when the story comes to an end… But, in a way, they always remain with me – sometimes i think about them and how they would react in certain life situations, what they would say if they saw that i am sad or upset. I have many good friends that just happen to be fictional characters… A lot of book characters are INFJs or introverts, so maybe it’s normal to feel understood and to relate to them? ?
Hi Michaela,
Gone with the Wind had a big effect on me ‘ I shall never be hungry again’ It had me hunting down the sequel,Scarlet.
But the book that drowned me in tears shortly after high school was Maeve Binchy’s Echoes. I fell in love with a poor photographer that died.
This year I have read three that left me in emotionaly unstable: The Samurai’s Garden, My friend Flicka and of Mice and Men.
Glad to know other introverts don’t hop from book to book without feeling.
Yes, I not only mourn fictional characters, but like doing so, and seek bittersweet plots and storylines, just to feel the deep pool of heart-wrenching “oh my gosh” that such stories cause me lol Though I must admit, the feeling’s the most amazing when it’s unexpected.
I like that when it hits hard, it lingers, sometimes so long I can’t imagine ever feeling good again (or even in other things like relationships I heart in shows or movies, feeling that lingering expression of cuteness tattooed on the soul). And I like that with these characters, there’s that ever-present knowledge that it’s not as if you’re losing a real person in your life, which has a life-long impact; knowing that is helpful because you know the sorrow will eventually end, which helps in feeling less bad about seeking out the feeling. Sometimes it’s just nice to feel something, you know?
It’s nice to have fiction have such a hefty influence and presence in my life, providing such a preferred perspective, what, with all the turmoil going on in real life, sometimes. It just sucks when it fades (and when movies/tv shows/books end), so I end up chasing the next “high.” 🙂
Hi Michaela,
I know the feeling so well! Monk was one of my all-time favorite shows and when it ended, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I felt not only joy for the character I’d been rooting for over the course of eight seasons, but also sorrow of never going on another adventure with him again. But, I will say this, I find it equally baffling people can get upset over the deaths of celebrities they’ve never met and have zero connection with outside their chosen medium.
Great post, Michaela! I have always felt closer and more vulnerable to books than to people. Some books I have owned for 40 years, and they feel like faithful friends. I read GWTW when I was 13 and became so familiar with it that my family would open the book randomly, read a few lines and then I would tell them where in the book that was. When I’m required to read a book for Book Club, I sometimes feel afraid or resentful because I know the book will have a huge effect on me, but I also appreciate being forced to read outside my comfort zone. So not only do I love the characters, I bond with the entire book and definitely feel ‘hungover’ when it ends.