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Have you ever finished reading a book that left you emotionally drained, a novel with impact where you couldn’t pick up another one to read for awhile?
15 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Have you ever finished reading a book that left you emotionally drained?”
I have, very rarely. Now you’d think I could remember a title given that it’s so rare to occur, but I can’t. Too many books under the bridge.
But being drained is when you know you’ve thoroughly been had (in a good way).
Drained of emotions, no. The feeling of loss? Yes.
I was knocked out by Lawrence Block’s Eight Million Ways to Die. I still remember the impact of the last line. Showed me how much you can do with a genre novel.
I love Lawrence Block. His Keller “Hitman” books were amazing. I’ll look that one up. Thanks, Jim.
I think the ending of _The Spy Who Came in From the Cold_, read many, many years ago, has left me gunshy about novels ever since. Just yesterday I finally got through William Brodrick’s _The Discourtesy of Death_ . It took me about a month of needing breaks and going back to it.
Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks. Also Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and other books about Viet Naam.
And also The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan
REDEPLOYMENT by Phil Klay was my last difficult book to read. It’s an anthology of short stories on soldiers coming back to America after serving in the Middle East. Very poignantly written, but the stories were sad or told in such a way to leave you exhausted.
A Fine Balance by Hinton Mistry haunted me for years!
I love haunty books. Thank you.
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I couldn’t put it down, waiting for the end. The end left you emotionally drained. They made a movie of the book, but it was awful.
‘All the light we cannot see’ by Anthony Doerr, 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner, is great read. I felt wiped out when I finished it and immediately had to read it again. It’s an unusual mix of thriller, war story, and literary novel. Not the sort of thing I normally go for but it has to be recommended.
Absolutely first class novel – one of the best I’ve read in years. And the combination of styles was breathtaking.
The Incredible Shrinking Man, both the movie and later the book.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Geez…that book haunts me to this day.
I have, very rarely. Now you’d think I could remember a title given that it’s so rare to occur, but I can’t. Too many books under the bridge.
But being drained is when you know you’ve thoroughly been had (in a good way).
Drained of emotions, no. The feeling of loss? Yes.
I was knocked out by Lawrence Block’s Eight Million Ways to Die. I still remember the impact of the last line. Showed me how much you can do with a genre novel.
I love Lawrence Block. His Keller “Hitman” books were amazing. I’ll look that one up. Thanks, Jim.
I think the ending of _The Spy Who Came in From the Cold_, read many, many years ago, has left me gunshy about novels ever since. Just yesterday I finally got through William Brodrick’s _The Discourtesy of Death_ . It took me about a month of needing breaks and going back to it.
Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks. Also Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and other books about Viet Naam.
And also The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan
REDEPLOYMENT by Phil Klay was my last difficult book to read. It’s an anthology of short stories on soldiers coming back to America after serving in the Middle East. Very poignantly written, but the stories were sad or told in such a way to leave you exhausted.
A Fine Balance by Hinton Mistry haunted me for years!
I love haunty books. Thank you.
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I couldn’t put it down, waiting for the end. The end left you emotionally drained. They made a movie of the book, but it was awful.
‘All the light we cannot see’ by Anthony Doerr, 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner, is great read. I felt wiped out when I finished it and immediately had to read it again. It’s an unusual mix of thriller, war story, and literary novel. Not the sort of thing I normally go for but it has to be recommended.
Absolutely first class novel – one of the best I’ve read in years. And the combination of styles was breathtaking.
The Incredible Shrinking Man, both the movie and later the book.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Geez…that book haunts me to this day.