Monday, August 22, 2005

The knockout punch.

I've been thinking lately about what makes a story great for me. I've read a ton of books in my life and I plan to read many more. I've also seen quite a few movies and reluctantly plan to see a few more. But out of all those stories only a small percentage have stuck with me, the rest have sunk to various oblivious levels between "good" and "awful".

This is what I feel makes a story great: The emotional punch. If a story can't make me feel anything then it's not worth the time. Forget if it's artistic, cool, whatever. The stories that I love are those that get inside your heart and they don't leave you when the movie's over or the book's closed. You carry the characters around with you and they've become a part of who you are.

Here's a few examples:

East, by Edith Pattou
This book was well-written, good characters, dialogue, settings, etc. But the story never resonated. When I put it down, I was done.

Bottom line: Landed a few punches but no knockout.

But here's another book:

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.
When I was a kid I went to summer camp every summer and no matter how much fun I had, I would always miss my Mom and Dad at night. Camp can be a scary place; there's bigger kids that tease you and tell dirty jokes, there's cool counselors that you'd do anything to hang out with, there's girls and when you're ten or eleven, living with girls in a forest for a week can be a very confusing experience. I think that camp is a lot like school but you don't have your home and parents to retreat to.

When I read Ender's Game all the feelings of summer camp come back to me. In the book, Ender is sent to battle school when he's six years old (they start military training young in the future) where he's trained for combat. But inside Ender, at night when he's laying in bed, he just wants to go back home to his sister, the only person who ever loved him.

I think that's why I'll never forget Ender's Game. It's not because the plot is so great (it is), and it's so exciting (it is) but it's because when I read it I become Ender. I'm back in my bunk at summer camp, missing my Mom and Dad and just wanting to go home. When Ender finds his sister Valentine in the game (if you've read the book you'll understand) it hits me in a place I can feel and that's when the story digs itself into my mind.

All my favorite stories are full of those moments:


  • In The Last Battle the battle at the stable and then when Tirian steps through the stable to find the kings and queen of Narnia waiting for him. Actually just about every part of The Last Battle is an emotional ride, so I'll move on.

  • The Neverending Story when Bastian gives the Childlike Empress a new name.

  • Blade Runner when Roy is dying and says those beautiful lines: "I've seen things you wouldn't believe..."

  • Revenge of the Sith from the start of the duel, straight to the end.

  • The Dark Tower, the final scenes. It's such an incredible end to such a long journey. (The Dark Tower really illustrates my point because it's not the most well-plotted or, at times, coherently-written bit of work but that story is just an amazing emotional journey.)

  • Fellowship of the Ring, when Gandalf falls in the Mines of Moria and in Return of the King when Frodo and Sam are climbing up Mount Doom.

  • Peter Pan when Wendy grows up.

  • Superman: Action Comics 1, when (don't laugh) Superman rescues Lois for the first time.

  • Sense and Sensibility, when Hugh Grant confesses his love to Emma Thompson at the end. (Can I get sensitivity points for admitting this and being a guy?)

  • A movie I watched just last night: On the Waterfront, when the priest makes his speech to the dock workers, "Christ is kneeling right next to you..."

  • Magnolia, the whole cast sings "Wise Up" by Amiee Mann. If you've seen it you'll get it.

I could go on for quite a while but I think you get the point. It's the times when people start cheering or crying in movie theaters. All these stories become more than movies and books, they become a part of you. For me that's what makes the difference between good and great.

So what are your stories? What are the books/movies that hit you with a knockout punch that you won't forget? And what are the moments in those stories that resonate with you? Let's hear some of them.

21 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good post, honey. Had I known you were suffering so at camp, I'd have gladly followed you.
Oh my gosh, the part in "Gone With the Wind", (the book, the best book) when all those Southern men march out to war, from the 14 year olds to the very old codgers, bravely, hoping for victory.
In the movie, "Return of the King" when Sam picks up Frodo to carry him up the mountain, I almost stand and praise God. No kidding.
In Ammadeus, when Solier (sp?) realizes God is speaking through the opera of his enemy, and redemption and mercy flow over the audiance, and he knows it's out of his hands.
In the book, Christy, (spit on the inane TV series) where her whole classroom of Appalachian youngsters sing and tap their bare feet
In Glory, when those men march into battle, and everyone is cheering, and the Captain releases his horse on the beach
I've got to stop or I'll start crying...

1:54 PM  
Blogger Levi Nunnink said...

All good calls, Mom. Glory is just full of those moments.

2:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In, "The House at Pooh Corner," when Christopher Robin grows up. I can honestly not read that chapter without crying out loud, ask Madeline, she has had to endure me trying to read it to her. That last conversation between Christopher Robin and Pooh when they are alone in the "enchanted place" is heart wrenching.
-Claire

4:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Romeo and juliet ( the new one)
When Romeo falls on his knees and screams " I defey you stars!" makes me wanna cry right now.

Brave heart ( duh )
like the whole last hour.


Peter Pan book ( Good Call)
The whole growing up thing makes me bawl !

I totaly concur with all of yours too


Claire,
I totally know what you mean, i cant even talk about it without crying, its that growing up theme I cant handle!

5:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Return of the King (book) when sam and frodo are at the docks to go to the havens. It is much more emotional than the movie.

In the two towers when Sam is talking to frodo in the Gondor seige from the enemy scene. and sam is talking about the good in the world. It makes me cry.

Levi: I love Ender's Game, I read it a while ago, it is so great, the character's are good, like bean is good he's my favorite.

6:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Return of the King (book) when sam and frodo are at the docks to go to the havens. It is much more emotional than the movie.

In the two towers when Sam is talking to frodo in the Gondor seige from the enemy scene. and sam is talking about the good in the world. It makes me cry.

Levi: I love Ender's Game, I read it a while ago, it is so great, the character's are good, like bean is good he's my favorite.

6:09 PM  
Blogger The Zombieslayer said...

For me, it has to be something that I can't put down. Harry Potter did it for me, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe too.

Edward Abbey used to write about the death of the American southwest and a cowboy's lone stand to fight it. He was a good writer.

I like Kurt Vonnegut. His stuff is hilarious. He's into living life and laughing at it without getting too serious. I like that.

I usually like my fiction on a light level because it has to contrast from the non-fiction that I'm always reading.

6:19 PM  
Blogger The Zombieslayer said...

Oh, the last movie that really, really moved me was In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day Lewis as a wrongly convicted terrorist. I was literally angry after watching it.

6:20 PM  
Blogger Sadie Lou said...

Books!
I love books.
Here are some of th ones that hit me:

The Princess Bride
The LOTR
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Dark Tower Series
Ender's Game
The Stand
Little House on the Prarie
To Kill A Mocking Bird
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Cold Sassy Tree

8:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yeah,

Little Women

I know it ebarassed mom but the part where beth dies always makes me cry even if Itry not to.

9:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Okay, Claire and Roz, I can't believe you even posted without mentioning the series The Mark of the Lion by Francine Rivers. Hidasa and Marcus forever!!!

Also, I love the book Israel my Beloved by Kay Arthur. In the beginning when Sarah (Israel) is leaving her husband (God) for her many other lovers it is such an intense scene. He has to let her go and says He can't compromise himself, not even for her - I love that scene, you just feel God and who He is sooo much. I also love that scene in LOTR's with Sam carrying Frodo too Michele. I am also totally with you on Braveheart Roz.

Another movie I absolutely love is Ben Hur. That whole movie is full of great moments like the chariot race and Jesus going up to be crucified. I also love anything with Gene Kelly such as my alltime favorites Singing in the Rain or Anchor's Aweigh with Frank Sinatra. The last one I leave is in the Goonie's when Mouth says "What about my dreams...I'm taking them back, I'm taking them all back" and proceeds to raid the wishing well.

Anyhoo, that was random talking from me. Also, Roz I am taking Endur's Game with me on the plaine to Texas this week and am excited to finally have time to start it. I can't wait to converse with you when I get back and it is finished.

9:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sadie's back!!! Yay! Twasn't the same blogging world withou' ye. I'm sure you'll soon be an expert at typing and nursing at the same time. Sadie, who could forget in the Little House series, when the locust come and eat their crops, for the second time, and Pa lays his head in his arms on the table, finally losing his hope.
Rebecca, take Gone With the Wind to Texas. You're too romantic for Endors Game.
Zach, yes, the bible has the best moments of history. Like the life of David is so dramatic, I love when he's an old man and worships from his bed, or the story of Joseph and his brothers, or the most awesome moment in history when Jesus returns with the armies of heaven riding behind him. (Gandalf is sort of a pre-Jesus type I guess)
One moment I forgot that is so emotional is when Dumbo visits his mom at night and she rocks him in her trunk.
Sorry for sort of taking over your blog, Levi, but this is exciting and you know I like talking to our little friends.

7:54 AM  
Blogger Levi Nunnink said...

Zach: I thought about including The Bible in my post but didn't because 1) I'm sort of talking about fiction and it's not fiction and 2) there's just too many emotional moments for me to list.

Buuuut, seeing as you brought it up. I was just reading 1 Samuel the other day, where Saul dies in battle and it hit me like I'd never read it before. I could just see these two armies out of ancient history and this tragic king killing himself. It's really a sad story. I started thinking what that day (and the day before) must have been like for Saul. He knew that he was going to die in that battle and that David would become king. I wonder what he was thinking.

Sadie: Great to have you back! I hope everything's going well with lil' Andrew. I agree with most of those books in your list, by the way.

Zombie: Harry Potter/JK Rowling is king of the king of the emotional punch. That's pretty much why I read her books. She's not the most lyrical writer but she always pulls out these scenes that have you on the edge of your seat and end like a thunderclap.

Jurdian: Yep. That speech by Sam in the Two Towers puts a lump in my throat too.

Sisters: Yes, "The House at Pooh Corner" is one of the saddest, best endings I've ever read. The books were already so good but to end it like that... I get a little wistful just thinking about it...

8:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Levi, not to be too bossy on your blog, but I don't want your commenters to get away from the original flavor of your query; You don't want lists and titles of great stories, you want the "punch" where your heart rips for the protagonist, where the character becomes or does what he should or must, the "Moment" that makes it a great and memorable story. ("The Climax!" as Timmy, the circus mouse awkwardly repeated again and again in Dumbo)
Am I not right, my son?

9:16 AM  
Blogger Levi Nunnink said...

Yes, my mother, you are right.

9:39 AM  
Blogger Levi Nunnink said...

For example, in the Lonesome Dove series, the emotional climax of each book is where Larry McMurtry kills off one or two of the main characters!

Darn that author.

9:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Okay...(we ask Global rocker with tried patience)
WHAT MADE WILLOW GREAT????

11:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Michele - For some reason I have never been tempted to read Gone With the Wind. I guess since I have seen the movie I feel like I would be going over the same thing. Anyhoo, I am looking forward to reading Ender's Game. Thanks for the tip though :)Maybe someday when I have time I will pick up GWTW.

9:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of course you have an opinion, that's why you commented on this blog. What I was wondering, (and Levi is too, if you read his post) is, what is the "punch" in Willow, what was one of the moments in it that made you care about the character and story? Tell the best part, I'd really like to know. I love hearing about books, even if I'll never read them.

8:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the best stories haven't been written; just as the best songs or ideas haven't been taken or infiltrated as of yet...

6:23 PM  
Blogger Sadie Lou said...

how typical of an anonymous comment to be so...vauge.

5:01 PM  

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