I reread 'Bridge to Terabithia' at 32 and it wrecked me way harder than it did in 5th grade

I figured a kids book from 30 years ago wouldn't hit that hard anymore. By page 120 I was literally sobbing into my cat's fur at 11 PM on a Tuesday. Turns out losing a friend you actually connect with hits totally different when you're old enough to know how rare that is. Did anyone else have a childhood book punch them in the gut as an adult?

2 comments

2 Comments

cora_perez13d agoMost Upvoted

I ugly cried reading Where the Red Fern Grows again last year, and @grayw32 is right about the age thing making it worse.

grayw3213d ago

Oh man, okay so I have to say something about this. Bridge to Terabithia is actually from 1977, not 30 years ago. It came out way before we were even born. So that's like almost 50 years old now, which honestly makes it even crazier that it still hits that hard. But you're totally right about the friend thing. When I read it as a kid I thought it was sad, but as an adult you realize Jess and Leslie had this once in a lifetime connection. Its not just about losing a friend, its about losing the one person who actually saw you for who you were. That idea of finding someone that gets you is so much heavier when you know how rare it actually is in real life. I re-read it last year and I was a mess too, had to put the book down and just stare at the wall for a while.