Are there any scenes or chapters that really stick in your mind, even years after you've read a book? Scenes that still send a shiver down your spine when you think about them?
I can think of one off the top of my head. The "Snowden" chapter of Catch 22. Throughout the whole novel, there are references to Snowden and some event that happened to traumatize Yossarian, but it keeps getting put off, never fully explained... Then finally comes the chapter containing that painful flashback. I thought it was tremendously powerful. Almost all the details of that book are gone from my mind, I read it so long ago... but I still remember quite clearly the profound effect that the Snowden chapter had on me.
What scenes really stick in your mind?
Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :
The ending to "In Dubious Battle" the entire "Grapes of Wrath" and anything by Lovecraft all stick with me.
Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :
When the kids kill the pig in "Lord of the Flies."
Posted by Smaug (Member # 2807) on :
When Covenant says the name of the sand gorgon in "The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant". Great Scene!
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
OHHHHH! I gotta second SMAUG here.
What a scene.
That one has stuck with me too.
What a scene.
Posted by Ico (Member # 3303) on :
I remember that pig scene from "Lord of the Flies" but the others I've never read.
That scene was disturbing... and so was the scene in which Piggy (that was his name, right? The fat one with glasses) got killed.
Posted by nitewriter (Member # 3214) on :
The end of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". The accountant of the first attack in "Jaws". The last line in "A City of Churches". The end of "The Lottery". The last scene in "To Light a Fire" though not scifi or horror, really has a wallop. "The Raft" had some memorable scenes. Then there is the usual array of great scifi/horror with great scenes: "Coma" - "The Exorcist" - "Pet Semetary".
[This message has been edited by nitewriter (edited March 22, 2006).]
Posted by Aalanya (Member # 3263) on :
There's a great scene in Mary Stewart's The Hollow Hills that I remember very vividly after several years. I don't want to give details though in case you guys haven't read it. (Her Merlin stories are really incredible. If you haven't read them, you really really should.) For those who have read it, it's the scene between Merlin and Arthur where Merlin reveals Arthur's parentage after Arthur has just "been" with his sister.
Posted by EmilyAsAlways (Member # 3323) on :
The entire last chapter of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers.