Top three character deaths in books we can’t get over

Authors can be cruel to their readers, and none more so than when beloved characters die in ways that we just can’t reconcile with. There are hundreds upon thousands of character deaths we can’t get over, and not all of them are down to George R R Martin. Here is a rundown of just a few of the character deaths in books we can’t get over.

Leslie Burke (Bridge to Terabithia)

Whether you’re watching the movie or reading the book, the death of Leslie Burke is a bitter pill to swallow. Not just the moment you find out that she is dead but the impact that her death has on the rest of the characters, especially Jess. Jess goes through the seven stages of grief and it’s even harder to read about his struggles than it is to accept that Leslie is really dead and not going to suddenly pop out of the woods again.

Brooks Hatlen (Shawshank Redemption)

When Brooks is given parole, you can already see things are not going to end well for him in the outside world. Having spent most of his life in prison, there is nothing more terrifying than being a free man. You see the man struggling to adjust, and even toys with the idea of committing a crime so that he breaks his parole and can go back home. Yet, in the end, he decides that instead suicide is the answer. He writes a final letter to Red and Andy in Shawshank, carves “BROOKS WAS HERE” in the wall and hangs himself.

John Coffey (The Green Mile)

When an innocent man suffers for the crimes of an evil one, it is always hard to see. When that man is a gentle and simple creature like John Coffey, it’s even worse. The man with healing hands, who cures Paul of his urinary tract infection, cures the warden’s wife of an inoperable brain tumour, and brings Mr. Jingles back to life, is completely innocent of the crime he is put to death for. Just as there is nothing that Paul can do to save his life, there is nothing the reader can do either.

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