Reading is an emotional journey. From the excitement of reading a new book to the painful goodbyes at the end of a series, it isn’t solely focused on intellectual gain. There are connections formed with the characters that can be hard to let go of. We cry, we laugh, we fall in love, and once we have finished reading, we must close the chapter of the fictional relationships we built with the characters and story. Read on for a full breakdown of the emotional rollercoaster a reader experiences.
A Readers Beginning
When a highly anticipated book is released, there is excitement with the new read. Whether it is a new book from an author you love, a book from an up-and-coming new author, or another installment of a series you adore — no matter the case, time will always feel like it drags on as you wait to get your hands on the book.
The 5 Stages of Book Grief
The stages of grief are broken down into 5 categories: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This same emotional breakdown is found in how we process our grief when it comes to finishing a book. If you have ever questioned your emotions after reading a book, please know you are not alone. These emotions are very real and valid. In the same way that movies can make you cry as they tug on those heartstrings with a touching story, books offer the same emotional connection but deeper, especially if you have spent years reading a book series and finally finished the last installment. Those feelings can be a lot and they begin with:
I Can’t Even Believe It, No Truly
At first, your heart will not want to accept that you have just finished the book you’ve been dying to read for months. It almost won’t even feel real. Truthfully, the minute you set that book down the reality of the situation will not be fully processed until later. Some of the most treasured books can take days to emotionally over, but the moments after? In that pain, we are unable to accept anything. No one wants the book to be over, even though we may stay up until 3 AM to finish it.
It Is More Than Anger
This emotion depends on whether you enjoyed the ending of the novel or not. Ultimately, you might have built up a particular ending in your mind or had thoughts as to what would really tie up the book with a nice little bow after spending years of investing your time with these characters, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen.
Maybe a Bargain?
Maybe you tell yourself it wasn’t that bad. Or you try to reason with yourself that you shouldn’t be feeling these emotions so deeply after finishing a book, but listen, you cannot bargain away those emotions. Please feel them. Just because something is fictional does not mean that your heart isn’t connected to the story. You might have spent years devoting your reading time to a particular series, and once that ends it feels so sad.
Feelin’ a Little Depressed
After the initial pains, anger, and frustrations end, you are met with sadness. A mourning-like state bourne from knowing that a small portion of your life is over. And while that may sound quite dramatic, it is not. You will never be able to experience a story like you did the first time. Those emotions can never be reproduced after that because those were real reactions based on a story you had no foreknowledge of. It is okay to say that your book has ended. It is completely okay to cry. In fact, it would be strange if you felt nothing.
The Final Acceptance
The final stage in our book grief journey — acceptance. At some point, you will begin to accept that the book is over. The outcome of the ending will not change no matter how much you might daydream about it, and there is simply no other book to explain anything more. The characters will be officially let go, and the book will be placed into its final resting place on your bookshelf unless you dare to read it again.
Finishing a book or a book series is not the end of the world. It instead allows your heart and mind to be opened up to new adventures and exciting connections that you didn’t know existed. Once that has ended, it may feel as though nothing will compare to that book, and you are right, maybe it won’t, but there are so many beautiful books in this world waiting to be read that your time to move on will come.
Reading is wonderful, beautiful, and heartwarming. It can also be hard, painful, and depressing. All of these emotions are valid. It is okay to feel the sadness in letting go of a book. We do hope you know you are certainly not alone in walking through complex emotions after finishing a title, and we hope that a breakdown of the 5 Stages of Book Grief allows you to process your own feelings once that book is back on the bookshelf.
Want to go down another emotional rollercoaster reflecting fictional deaths? Click here.
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