Blogger Babble: Let's Talk about Loss

Loss is something that as humans we have to learn to deal with in our lives. It could be the loss of something relatively small; something that has broken and cannot be revived or something you have just plain misplaced; or it can be that loss of something/someone much beloved and a hole that you will always feel in your heart; a pet or a family member.

But how do you feel about loss in the books that you are reading? When a character that you have come to know and love disappears from your favourite books (ahem, J.K. Rowling I'm looking at you) or when there are horrific deaths (G.R.R Martin now I'm looking at YOU!). Does this make the author brave? Or do you hate them for it?

There's times when reading a book that makes me sob is therapeutic, and there's times where I will avoid those sort of books like the plague. And then there's times when it comes up out of NOWHERE catching me by surprise and making my world crumble. So really there's no cut and dried answer for me, but there are definitely some pivotal losses that I have felt in my reading life and some that I may NEVER, EVER get over.  Here's a few of my most tragic literary losses in my reading life so far.

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD

ALL the Harry Potter deaths

It's hard to say whose death affected me more in the Harry Potter series; when Sirius died I felt betrayed like never before; Hedwig was one of my absolute worst literary losses ever and Dumbledore's death was enough to make me stop reading the series for years and the loss of Snape was a suprisingly tough one to take (especially after being on the fence about him for so long!). Now as a mother myself and seeing the series from a slightly older and different viewpoint I have to say that Tonks and Lupin are two of the hardest deaths to face. I just can't stop wondering about poor Teddy and the fact that he wasn't even featured in HP and The Cursed Child still upsets me.

Prim from The Hunger Games

This one was a tough pill to swallow - it almost made EVERYTHING that Katniss went through null and void, as after all, it was all about saving her sister. It hurt - A LOT.

Tris Prior - Divergent Series

What was that??? I spent over 1500 pages with her and then.... Tears. Heartbreak. Betrayal. And two years later you still see Tobias mourning her death.

Maybe her wandering off into the sunset with Tobias having saved the day wouldn't have had the deep seated impact that her death did, but honestly? I would have been happy with that!!! Roth - you are an evil genius.

Ginger - Black Beauty
Both in the book and in the movie this was a heartbreaking loss. In the book it wasn't really confirmed that it was Ginger that was in the back of that cart, but even as a little girl I hoped with all my heart that all the pain was over for her. She was one of Beauty's best friends and had had such a horrible life. Watching the movie even now with my daughter STILL makes me cry my eyes out. It gets me EVERY TIME.

Eddard Stark - ASOIAF
This was the very first shocking and pivotal death in this series. Until this point I was sure that Ned was actually our main protagonist and would be in each and every book of the series. Oh how wrong I was. GRRM has taught me not to become attached to any of his characters and yet in spite of myself I have. Oh so many gritty characters to love in this series. Now to wait for the next book..............................

Do you agree with my picks? Are there losses that you have felt throughout literary history that will forever reverberate in your soul? How do you feel about losing characters in a book?