What kind of novel endings make you want to cry?

[midnightwriter]

I wonder if there are similar elements in those endings that make us cry or want to cry.

I've been obsessed with this question lately, and this of course means I have a total block and can't remember any novel that made me cry. But there's a short story by Tatyana Tolstaya, "Peters", and it does make me weep.

What's happening there is that the reader knows the protagonist is in a hopeless situation and nothing will change, but the protagonist himself is hopeful. And of course, by the ending, I felt great empathy with the protagonist.

What else makes us cry? Is it mostly sadness, or happiness?

[hannahi]

For me it's not so much the ending but the whole arc of the plot. For instance there's the "black moment" in romance novels, typically at the end of the book right before the happy ending, where you think all is lost. It's the contrast between this and the resolution that would be a good example of what affects me the most.
Come to think of it, I don't remember that a book moved me to tears--certainly some movies have, though even that is a rare occurence. I was a Russian language/literature major so I certainly have read a lot of weighty stuff--in fact I participated in a special topics course taught by Tatyana Tolstaya, where we discussed her collection "On the Golden Porch."

[AuntNi]

Oh gosh, I cry at everything. I will never live down the time I was reading the American Girl book, "Changes For Felicity," to my daughter, and broke down sobbing when Felicity's grandpa died. DD promptly dubbed me "wimpy."

I mostly cry when the characters die. Old Yeller and Lonesome Dove come immediately to mind. I cried really hard at the end of Revolutionary Road, mostly because of the situation the kids were in.

I really get absorbed in books, and relate strongly to the characters. So I tend to cry at a LOT of books.

[Oriole]

I cried when reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. (not at the end though).

I think one cries with good writing, when book makes you feel for the character. Just killing someone off, or separating the two people in love, won't do it. The author has to be good enough to grab your soul with words, yk?

[Smokering]

For me themes of growing up are the most poignant. The loss of innocence, nostalgia thing. It permeates To Kill a Mockingbird right from the opening sentence - I tear up when I start reading the book, often, let alone at the end! - it's present in Peter Pan, and a bunch of other books I can't think of right now.

Mind you, I cry at everything. Death usually gets me, no matter how shoddily written. And beauty amidst hopelessness, like the end of The Grapes of Wrath.

[SAHDS]

I cry if I'm moved. Be it sad, happy, tragic, enlightening, triumphant, whatever. If it moves my spirit, the tears are rolling! And, ftr, I am a CRIER when it comes to books. MAN.

[Jessy1019]

If I really enjoyed a book, really got into the story . . . just the fact that I'm nearing the ending is enough. I want MORE.

Otherwise, though, it's usually the happy endings that get me.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

I'm not typically a "crier", but if it's something heart-wrenching that I can relate to (have been through/have helped someone get through) then I get all emotionally wrapped up and cry.

The whole "having loved and lost" theme gets me. Or losing a child or childhood pain really started getting me after I had my kid and my miscarriage.
...which is why I think The Time Traveler's Wife really got to me...two recurrent themes in that book.
yep, cried like a baby during and at the end of that one.

[Storm Bride]

Losing a child has always really upset me, and I've avoided reading anything that I think will have that as a plot element since losing Aaron.

Other than that? It's usually when someone is hurt by something they really couldn't help, and there are no good options. The end of Jean Auel's The Mammoth Hunters always gets me, because Ranec's heart is being broken, and he really didn't do anything to warrant that. (Mind you, it might upset me because, while I in Ayla's shoes wouldn't have hooked up with him in the first place, there's no way I'd have given up my people for Jondalar. Their relationship kind of creeps me out, in a low level way.)

[Sailor]

It's usually the happy endings that make me really cry. I really dislike tragic endings or depressing books, so if that happens at the end, I'm usually too unhappy with the ending to feel sadness. However, there are exception to that rule - the Time Traveler's Wife definitely did me in and I used a whole box of tissues.

I think, like another poster said, it's the general arc of the plot and the characters. If I can't empathize with the characters, then it doesn't matter what the ending is. If I am really connected to the characters, then their emotions play on mine.

[journeymom]

In HP and the Deathly Hallows someone close to Harry died. I didn't cry because the character died, I cried when Harry cried and was heartbroken. So I felt Harry's sadness.

And yes, in Kirsten's American Girl story one of her friends died of cholera or something. I was trying so hard not to cry in front of my daughter I sobbed! Then I had to laugh at myself. Poor dd was worried for a moment there. Now she knows I cry at the drop of a hat. I told her, just you wait till you've been pregnant and are carrying your heart around outside your body. Then you'll know!

[MysteryMama]

Cormac McCarthy's The Road got me. I didn't boo-hoo, but I teared up, which (for me) is really saying something.

Also Grapes of Wrath, but I was feeling very emotional anyway at the time... still. Very moving.

I'm sure there are others, but these are all that come to mind at the moment.

[ramama]

Bastard Out of Carolina made me cry at the end, mostly in anger. I was so angry and sad about the ending that I returned the book to the store (don't judge me! LOL). I mean, the ending was so so so unjust, but the real sad thing is that that sort of thing happens all the time.