In fact, I hate it even more when ANY character is killed off just so you'll be sympathetic and feel compelled to read the book. REALLY? What kind of point is that. When you write, you have something to SAY, and when the book is about someone randomly dying for 'reader sympathy' then what are you SAYING? That it's bad when somebody dies? We all realize that by now! ANYONE who has EVER had someone die, even if it's just a beloved pet, knows how that hurts! Is it just that I'm cruel, or does that seem incredibly superficial?

For instance I just read My Sister's Keeper (this counts as a spoiler, but oh well). And I really, really liked it. It had an actual moral confliction that drew me, it was deep! I couldn't decide what to do, on one hand I can sympathise with Anna for her longing for escape/desire to free her sister, but I could also understand how her mother felt, and the need for Kate to live. It drew me in. And then, the younger sister died. And that solved everything. And I felt it was such a lousy ending. Because, although the debate was unsolvable, it was still incredibly dissapointing. I was like 'that's it? What? Wait, that's so stupid . . .'

I am unsensitive, but it just annoyed the heck out of me. That's not to say I'm touched when a character dies, even pointlessly, but I lose so much respect when an author does it. I feel like either a) they're taking the easy way out or B) they just want to buy our sympathy. The only time I can remember still loving a book with 'sympathy deaths' was 'the book thief' which the deaths, besides being heartbreaking, also made you realize just how horrible an act war is. Really. That book changed my views on wwII forever.

And I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say with your rant. Do you hate when characters die? Or when we're expected to be sympathetic and sad when a character dies? Or that you hate pointless deaths? 'Cause I'll agree with the last, but not the first two.

That's not to say I'm touched when a character dies, even pointlessly, but I lose so much respect when an author does it. I feel like either a) they're taking the easy way out . . .

What? Since when is it ever "the easy way out" to kill off a character? Killing off a character may be one of the hardest things a writer has to do. (Unless it's a Chibiko-type character or something . . . *whistles innocently*) Perhaps in your example it is, but never having read the book, I wouldn't know. (And you did say yourself the debate was unsolvable, so what choice did the author have then?)

When you write, you have something to SAY

Uh, not always. Perhaps my stories have some underlying message I was unaware of while writing them, but they are intended as entertainment. Personally, that's how I prefer books. After all, if I wanted morals and whatnot, I'd read Aesop's Fables.

The last two. And what I meant is that I hate it when, in a book like 'my sister's keeper,' (which was mostly atrocious) there's this lovely moral dilemma set up, and either choice you can make is a bad choice, and then someone dies and the moral dilemma just disappears! I'd honestly rather have them make the wrong choice and suffer from it - that does, to me, feel like the easy way out. But I've realized the only reason I was so mad was because of my sisters keeper. In play-version Les Miz when Gavroche dies is one of my favorite, most heart-breaking emotional wrenching scenes ever. I'm just being contradictory, as always. ^^

But wouldn't life be more interesting if it were?

That's really all that writing is: Making life more interesting... so tragedy is a good thing.

Also, I have to say that while I wouldn't read a book that revolves around a child's death or something, as it simply wouldn't interest me, I have no problem with children's deaths being used to tug at one's heartstrings. For those who follow Avatar, think of Iroh's story in The Tales of Ba Sing Se, when he was singing to his dead son. It had no plot purpose, really, they just wanted to make you sad. I still like that part, though, because it makes me tear up. (If any of that makes sense at all. >.>)

Oh, as side-stories, sure. It's when that's the whole point of the book that it really irritates me. I realize a good book can't be just one thing. It's impossible. A really good book is a million things at once.

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