Hey Hedwig is a female owl. Show some respect !
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Hey Hedwig is a female owl. Show some respect !
Ooops! I thought it was the big bearded guy who goes around on a flying motorcycle. Mixing characters up already (I think I have read too many Potter books!)Quote:
Originally Posted by Guinivere
SPOILER ALERT: That was Hagrid, but the bike used to belong to Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kafka's Crow
Yup, the deaths of Harry Potter's Hedwig and Dumbledore were major crisis points in my life; I very nearly never picked up another book again for fear of being distressed to the same or perhaps even greater degree by more deaths.
Okay, that was part in jest at my sentimentality towards a wizard and an owl, so the most awful, tear-inducing deaths of which I've read are Ralph's in Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady - gosh, I was crying for so long at this point! - Liza Tillerman's in Cynthia Voigt's Dicey's Song and Frederick's in Philip Pullman's The Shadow in the North.
I wish I hadn't read this thread in its entirety; I'm reading Lolita at the moment, and although Humbert is continually making references to his being a murderer, I wasn't yet ready to believe that Lolita would die by the end of the novel. Does Humbert kill her, by the way?
And I agree with another member here who said that Anna Karenina's death in the novel of the same name wasn't really that great. I didn't like it at all, and in my opinion it was the worst aspect to the novel, except for the tiresome ending.
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Okay I am beginning to regret having started this thread. Will someone please take the apropriate action, if it is too distressing for readers. Maybe we should vote on it ? I mean how many spoiler alerts do we need ? Is red and capital really enough ? (I am serious by the way)Quote:
Originally Posted by Loike
Haha. I don't mind at all; I read the whole thread, and I knew that in doing so I'd probably come across something that I didn't know.Quote:
Originally Posted by Guinivere
And for what my opinion is worth, this is a very interesting thread. :).
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Why would you want to know the ending before you complete the book? Just curious... And no, he doesn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loike
I don't know, really. Normally I'm adamant not to find out the ending of a book before I've finished it, but for some reason I'd very much like to know with regards to Lolita. It's almost too intense for me to keep reading without knowing what's going to happen. I may well collapse with the shock otherwise! Haha. And if Humbert doesn't kill her - I shall take your word for it - I'm even more likely to collapse. So perhaps the saying, "Forewarned is forearmed" is prudent in this case? ;).Quote:
Originally Posted by johann cruyff
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SPOILER ALERT; Beth in 'Little Women,' a very long time ago; Romeo and Juliet in the play of the same name (yes, I know it's tripe compared to Lear, but I don't care :)); Sidney Carton in 'A Tale of Two Cities;' anyone who died in the last Harry Potter book, maybe especially Dobie; and last, Hester and Lee Grumman in 'The Subtle Knife.'
"She said, 'We held 'em off. We held out. We're a-helping Lyra."
Then she was pressing her little proud broken self against his face, as close as she could get, and then they died."
I weep for them, the ones who are trying.
without reflecting i should say the death of Emma Bovary ( Madame Bovary from Flaubert) , of Mme de Morsauf ( the Lys in the valley from Balzac), or the tragical death of Julien Sorel ( The red and the black from Stendhal)...
The dog Balthazar in the Forsyte Saga & Lennie in Of Mice And Men
Personally I examine the entire plot before I even begin reading anything - or watching any film.Quote:
Originally Posted by johann cruyff
The reason I do this is to get an idea of the work (either book or film) as a complete work - with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. With knowledge of the ending or climax, forshadowing does not require a second reading to be effective.
Plus it helps me get through really long books. The first thing I did reading the Brothers Karamazov was flip through the book till the end so I didn't seem like I was just endlessly turning pages - there was an end in sight.
That I can understand :lol: I sometimes take a look at the titles of chapters, for instance, but I usually try to read without knowing too much in advance. I wouldn't say I read books just for the plot, but knowing it in advance would kind of kill it for me...Quote:
Originally Posted by mayneverhave
Yes i agree with you on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by mayneverhave
Guinivere, as i've mentioned before, If you go to your original opening post and put the words Spoilers Alert at the top of it, then everyone will know that the thread is going to give away some info, that way, no one else has to constantly write Spoiler alert at the beginning of their posts as they have already been pre warned. If you want i can put it in the thread title. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Guinivere