"Hell Yeah!" Literary Moments

[Wiendish Fitch]

We have 'em for movies and TV shows, why not books as well? :)

A grim one, but from Serena (please, for the love of God, avoid the dreadful 2014 film at all costs):

Our titular villainess, Serena, is married to George Pemberton, a timber baron in the pre-Depression South. They are indeed a match made in Hell, as their shady business dealings quickly escalate to murdering anyone who poses any kind of threat. Pemberton has impregnated local girl Rachel prior to his marriage to Serena, and the sight of Rachel lugging his baby around does nothing for Serena's faulty sanity, especially after she (Serena) suffers a miscarriage.

Spoiler

 

Together with her repulsive toady Galloway, Serena plots to murder Rachel and baby Jacob.

Not to worry, Rachel is able to skip town with Jacob after fighting off Galloway (in a badass climax on a train that the movie unforgivably excises), escape to Seattle, and reunite with her childhood sweetheart. Pemberton, in a rare show of conscience, indirectly helps Rachel and Jacob get away (yeah, doesn't absolve you of everything else you've done, you evil shit), and Serena arranges for Pemberton to die a veritable domino effect of death for his betrayal (sorry not sorry, asshole).

Skip ahead to 1975 and Serena, now an old woman running a timber empire in Brazil, is interviewed by Life magazine. Rachel sees the article, and rips it out to show her family.  Serena and Galloway are then murdered at their home by a man who a witness swears is George Pemberton, which is impossible, of course, since Pemberton's dead. Then who...?

Yes, dear reader, Serena was murdered by the now grown-up Jacob, doling out some belated poetic justice to avenge his mother. I'm not positive, but I wouldn't be surprised if Rachel (who we learn has a heart condition), basically ordered a hit on the evil woman who terrorized her and her child all those years ago, just so she could go peacefully into that good night. 

I know I shouldn't have such an enthusiastic response to a murder, but after the utterly horrible things Serena did (she makes Lady Macbeth look like Snow White), I can't help but nod in satisfaction that that murderous bitch and her wretched henchman finally got theirs in the end. 

 

Why did the movie change this?!?

[Spartan Girl]

Ooh great idea for a thread!

I LOOOOOVED the moment in The Lovely Bones when Buck tells Abigail, his sorry excuse of a mother, to fuck off. And when she starts sniveling in the car, nobody wastes any effort to try to comfort her because, after all, you can't just ditch your family for ten years and mosey back into the picture just because her husband had a heart attack.

Unfortunately everybody does wind up forgiving her, which I hated, but whatever, it's still an awesome moment.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[andromeda331]

Petals in the Wind, Cathy returns and whips Olivia like she promised decades ago when Olivia whipped her. Then later showing up at the Foxworth Hall Christmas Ball and exposing Corinne as a liar, child murderer, and locked her kids in the far room and attic for over three years. Corinne comes up with lie after lie to explain away stuff only Cathy to demolish every single one. Foxworth Hall burns to the ground, Olivia dies and Corinne gets locked up in an asylum. After seeing Corinne and Olivia get away with everything including Cory's murder. It was nice that they finally paid for their crimes.

Edited October 5, 2018 by andromeda331

[Snow Apple]

"Not my daughter, you bitch!"

Do I need to say the book? Ha ha.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Snow Apple said:

"Not my daughter, you bitch!"

Do I need to say the book? Ha ha.

Nope, but I'd like to add that Harry finally killing Voldemort was another great moment, one that we waited for seven long books.

Oh, and Ron slugging Malfoy during the big battle with, "And that's twice you owe us, you two-faced bastard!"

[cherrypj]

For me, there are two that come to mind immediately. The first, from A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, is near the end, when 

Spoiler

Havaa's father, Dokka, learns that she's alive. "What all heard, what all remembered, was the fingerless man leaning back in the doctor’s arms, lifting his face, and laughing, a sound none had heard in many days, his cheeks wet as he roared a name--Havaa, Havaa, Havaa--and those who witnessed would remember how here, in Pit B, a man who had lost his freedom and his fingers, and would soon lose his life, had found in that name an immense, spinning joy."

The tears just sprang immediately to my eyes, I got goosebumps all over, I'm beating my chest, my breath just rushed out. God, such a moment for me. Such a book.

The second is King Theoden's "Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden" speech in The Lord of the Rings. Never fails to get me, too.

[Ceindreadh]

Light a penny candle by Maeve Binchy. 

(not putting it in spoilers because it's 36 years old)

Aisling walking out on her husband after he hits her while he's drunk.  She doesn't try and make excuses for him, she doesn't blame the drink, she just packs a bag and leaves because she refuses to be one of those women whose husbands slap them around.   I wasn't even in my teens when I read this first but I was cheering her on. 

[Haleth]

13 hours ago, cherrypj said:

The second is King Theoden's "Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden" speech in The Lord of the Rings. Never fails to get me, too.

And Eowyn's "No living man am I!" reveal.  And the moment when the standard of the king is unfurled on the ships and Eomer throws his sword into the air.  Jackson totally botched both.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Haleth

[DearEvette]

On 10/5/2018 at 7:27 PM, Spartan Girl said:

 I'd like to add that Harry finally killing Voldemort was another great moment, one that we waited for seven long books.

From the moment Nigel killed Nagini to Harry and Voldy's final duel  is so emotionally satisfying.  I can re-read that part over and over again.  The same moments in the movie don't  quite touch the emotional heft, imo. 

[Dr.OO7]

Emily Mayer has spent the entire Sweet Valley High book Nowhere To Run being verbally and emotionally abused by her stepmother. Now her baby half-sister is choking. Emily knows what to do, but her idiotic bitch mother is so hysterical that she won't let go of her. Emily remembers that the best thing to do when someone is hysterical is to slap them in the face--and she does exactly that.

This was ostensibly to save her little half-sister's life, but most readers, myself included, like to think that Emily was enjoying getting a little revenge on that horrible bitch.

[Black Knight]

In the first book of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma has just begun at an all-girls boarding school. A couple of mean girls are torturing somewhat sad-sack Ann, and you think Gemma is going to stand by too afraid to dare the wrath of the mean girls, because she really is in a difficult and dicey position here. But hell no! She stands up to them and for Ann! At that moment I was all in with Gemma and the book.

[ursula]

Darrel Waters administering six slaps to Gwendoline Mary in the first Mallory Towers book was a Hell Yeah moment for me before I knew what Hell Yeah moments were.

Edited October 9, 2018 by ursula

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, Black Knight said:

In the first book of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma has just begun at an all-girls boarding school. A couple of mean girls are torturing somewhat sad-sack Ann, and you think Gemma is going to stand by too afraid to dare the wrath of the mean girls, because she really is in a difficult and dicey position here. But hell no! She stands up to them and for Ann! At that moment I was all in with Gemma and the book.

That's enough right there to get me to go check out this series. Thanks. She sounds like the kind of heroine I can get behind.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Mabinogia

[Jenniferbug]

15 hours ago, Black Knight said:

In the first book of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma has just begun at an all-girls boarding school. A couple of mean girls are torturing somewhat sad-sack Ann, and you think Gemma is going to stand by too afraid to dare the wrath of the mean girls, because she really is in a difficult and dicey position here. But hell no! She stands up to them and for Ann! At that moment I was all in with Gemma and the book.

I LOVED the first 2 books. I remember thinking the 3rd one was awful though. You should check her Diviners series (if you haven't already). 

[Snow Apple]

2 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

I LOVED the first 2 books. I remember thinking the 3rd one was awful though. You should check her Diviners series (if you haven't already). 

This probably belongs in another thread but I wonder what it is about the third book in trilogies that's so disappointing in many series? I've been warned several times.

[Black Knight]

2 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

I LOVED the first 2 books. I remember thinking the 3rd one was awful though. You should check her Diviners series (if you haven't already). 

I didn't adore the third book, but I actually did like it quite a lot, especially how it ended. My main disappointment was the sidelining of Ann. I'd happily read another book to find out what happened next to everyone who survived...

And yes, I'm reading the Diviners series...got through the first book. I love the Roaring '20s setting, and I continue to love the way Bray writes female characters and female friendships.

I better throw in another Hell Yeah moment - I know this is such low-hanging fruit but it is awesome: the Purple Wedding in A Storm of Swords.

[Dr.OO7]

On 10/5/2018 at 5:41 PM, andromeda331 said:

Petals in the Wind, Cathy returns and whips Olivia like she promised decades ago when Olivia whipped her. Then later showing up at the Foxworth Hall Christmas Ball and exposing Corinne as a liar, child murderer, and locked her kids in the far room and attic for over three years. Corinne comes up with lie after lie to explain away stuff only Cathy to demolish every single one. Foxworth Hall burns to the ground, Olivia dies and Corinne gets locked up in an asylum. After seeing Corinne and Olivia get away with everything including Cory's murder. It was nice that they finally paid for their crimes.

My favorite moment in that book is when after that bitch-whore Yolanda taunts Cathy about having replaced her in Julian's bed and then actually tries to physically restrain her from going onstage, Cathy finally gets fed up and

"turned savagely upon her and shoved her so hard that she fell"

[andromeda331]

2 hours ago, Camille said:

My favorite moment in that book is when after that bitch-whore Yolanda taunts Cathy about having replaced her in Julian's bed and then actually tries to physically restrain her from going onstage, Cathy finally gets fed up and

"turned savagely upon her and shoved her so hard that she fell"

Another awesome moment!

[DearEvette]

17 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I better throw in another Hell Yeah moment - I know this is such low-hanging fruit but it is awesome: the Purple Wedding in A Storm of Swords.

Storm of Swords, the book, is chock full of Hell yeah moments.  Each subplot in the story has one.

 - Not only the Purple wedding, but Tyrion killing Twyin

- John being elected Lord Commander of the Nightwatch

- Daenary freeing the Unsullied and them ordering them to turn on their previous masters

- And not exactly 'Hell yeah' but more of a 'Holy Fuck?' when Catelyn's living corpse returns to oversee the killing of two of the Freys

I'll give GRRM his writing due, in each of the storylines he built up the tension and ratcheted up the suspense, so when these moments happened they felt surprising and cathartic. 

[HeySandyStrange]

Speaking of awesome Song of Fire and Ice moments:

"Foes and false friends are all around me, Lord Davos. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The fat man’s fingers coiled into a fist, and all his chins trembled. “My son Wendel came to the Twins a guest. He ate Lord Walder’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with his friends. And they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Freys choke upon their fables. I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter…but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”

I never thought thought a jolly old fat man like Lord Manderly could be so fucking badass. One of the series best moments.

Edited December 3, 2018 by HeySandyStrange

[Haleth]

12 hours ago, HeySandyStrange said:

I never thought thought a jolly old fat man like Lord Manderly could be so fucking badass. One of the series best moments.

One of my favorite characters and one of my favorite reveals in the book(s).  It's a shame he didn't make it into the show.  More pork pie, anyone?

[Neko]

"Not for nothing did Pa say she was as strong as a little French horse."

-Little Town On the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Rose Quartz]

1 hour ago, Sweet Summer Child said:

"Not for nothing did Pa say she was as strong as a little French horse."

-Little Town On the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder

Yep!  Laura was NOT going to let anything happen to her little sister Carrie and as a kid I loved that.

But I will admit that when I re-read this part a few years ago, I wondered what the situation was between Laura and the Wilders at the time the book was published.  I can't think of a more spectacular way of blowing up your relationship with your in-laws than writing your sister-in-law as a character with no redeeming qualities.  

[DearEvette]

I was chatting about The Kate Daniels series with someone and I realized that that series is chock full of 'Hell Yeah!" moments in almost every book.  One of my first favorite moments comes in Magic Strikes (book #3).  This book is where I tumbled head long into love with the series.   

In this one Kate and the shifters participate in the highly illegal, very violent, invitation only, underground tournament called the Midnight Games.  The descriptions of each battle as the teams claw their way to finals are both violent and darkly funny.  But the moment comes in the final fight when Kate recognizes that their rival team has been getting help from her father's (who is an honest to goodness God) henchman.  And this time it is in the form of a magical unstoppable blade.  What Kate does to stop the blade is pretty bad ass and the reaction of everyone around her when they realize what she's done is pretty damned boss! 

[Sharpie66]

I mentioned this in the Watership Down show thread, but it fits really well here, too. It’s the showdown between Bigwig and General Woundwort, specifically the moment when Bigwig says that his Chief Rabbit told him to hold this run and he would do so until told otherwise. That’s when Woundwort and his fellows realize that, holy shit, THIS guy has a Chief Rabbit and isn’t one himself?! Fuck yeah!

Edited December 9, 2018 by Sharpie66

[kathyk24]

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 6:17 PM, Snow Apple said:

"Not my daughter, you bitch!"

Do I need to say the book? Ha ha.

Narcissa Malfoy lying to Voldemort in order to find Draco was a Hell Ya moment. Harry's death sequence is a Hell Ya and tearjerking moment at the same time.

[Spartan Girl]

Varina by Charles Frazer has a pretty good HY moment: Varina and her traveling company take refuge in a former plantation run by a smarmy, spoiled racist douche-nozzle teenage boy who treats his former slaves like dirt and rants about how Varina and her men are a disgrace to the "great confederacy" (though apparently considered himself "above" fighting in the war at all). He winds up shooting one of Varina's men in an argument, and the other man, without a moment of hesitation, blows the little bastard's brains out.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

From one of my favorite books as a kid, Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski:

Our young heroine Birdie Boyer's frenemy next door, Shoestring Slater, has captured a rattlesnake and plans to tame it and keep it as a pet (well, it was 1800s Florida, what else is a kid going to do?). Birdie is appalled by this idea, but initially thinks nothing of it until one day she happens by a hutch in the Slaters' yard, containing the snake and a bunny that's meant to be its meal. This sickens and angers Birdie and spurs her into action. In an extremely tense moment that would make Hitchcock weep with pride, Birdie opens the hutch, and very, very, very carefully sticks one arm in there, eyes never leaving the suspiciously immobile rattlesnake, and pushes out the bunny, where it hops off to safety.

We later find out that the snake was sick and dying anyway, but considering that Birdie (who is all of 10, BTW) didn't know that, and risked her life to save the bunny, is unbelievably heroic and brave. A "HELL YEAH!" moment if ever there was one.

[Black Knight]

I have no love for snakes, but...

so all reptiles and animals and fish that are carnivorous should starve to death, then?

Birdie seems more naive to me than anything. I understand her being bothered, but this is a reality of nature. Many species don’t have the option of being vegetarians.

[CountryGirl]

Another shout-out for Cathy Foxworth - this one from If There Be Thorns. Cathy finally confronts the creepy woman living next door, quickly realizing she's her mother, Corrine. 

She physically attacks her but it momentarily stopped by even-creepier butler, John Amos.

She head-butts him and cracks his false teeth. He tries to come after her, but she knees him right in the balls.

He damns her to hell and she damns him right back.

She then slaps her mother into a rocking chair and full body tackles her. They roll around on the floor for a while and Cathy tosses her mother's precious rings into the fire.

She goes to get adopted daughter Cindy and John Amos mouths off about how she's a hellcat and Devil's issue and she snaps and says, "Say that again to my FACE!"

He goes after her with a poker and she kicks him in the ass and he falls on his face.

Of course, she's distracted when Corrine starts ranting about Bart Jr and John Amos knocks her out with the poker, but man, she is made of awesome here.

Edited February 12, 2019 by CountryGirl

[Minneapple]

For me the big "Hell Yeah" moment in Deathly Hallows was when Neville stood up to Voldemort and killed the snake. That was the pinnacle of the book for me. We all knew Harry was going to win, blah blah, defeat Voldemort, blah blah. But when Neville, in the parallel to Sorcerer's Stone when he stood up to the trio, stands up to Voldemort and proves he's a true Gryffindor, I may have stood up and cheered in my living room.

[Haleth]

Neville was my favorite character.  I hoped it would turn out that he was the boy in the prophesy.

[bybrandy]

On 2/14/2019 at 7:32 AM, Haleth said:

Neville was my favorite character.  I hoped it would turn out that he was the boy in the prophesy.

ME TOO!!!!   So Neville coming through the portrait all bad assed up was totally my hell yeah moment in that book.

[Spartan Girl]

As someone who hated the ending of Gone Baby Gone -- the book and the movie -- the novel sequel Moonlight Mile was extremely satisfying when the now-teenage Amanda finally gets to have her say and confronts Patrick over him taking her from the loving family who "kidnapped" her and giving her back to her abusive, neglectful alcoholic mother. I love how she refuses to forgive him and  cut through each of his mealy-mouthed sanctimonious justifications feeble excuses, which all basically amounted to, "Well, your mother had her rights too." Yeah, apparently more than Amanda had the right to be fed, clothed, and loved.

It's frustrating how Patrick keeps doubling down and refused to admit that he ultimately made the wrong choice, even when he sees the evidence right in front of him. But Amanda didn't let him off the hook for it, at least.

Edited June 30, 2019 by Spartan Girl

[peacheslatour]

This part from The Woman In White:

Walter works out from a letter he received from Mrs. Catherick's former employer that Anne was the illegitimate child of Laura's father. On a visit to the Opera with Pesca, he learns that Fosco has betrayed an Italian nationalist society, of which Pesca is a high-ranking member. When Fosco prepares to flee the country, Walter forces a written confession from him in exchange for safe-passage from England. Laura's identity is legally restored, and the inscription on her gravestone replaced by that of Anne Catherick. Fosco escapes, only to be killed by another agent of the society.

[proserpina65]

On ‎06‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 7:58 AM, Spartan Girl said:

As someone who hated the ending of Gone Baby Gone -- the book and the movie -- the novel sequel Moonlight Mile was extremely satisfying when the now-teenage Amanda finally gets to have her say and confronts Patrick over him taking her from the loving family who "kidnapped" her and giving her back to her abusive, neglectful alcoholic mother. I love how she refuses to forgive him and  cut through each of his mealy-mouthed sanctimonious justifications feeble excuses, which all basically amounted to, "Well, your mother had her rights too." Yeah, apparently more than Amanda had the right to be fed, clothed, and loved.

It's frustrating how Patrick keeps doubling down and refused to admit that he ultimately made the wrong choice, even when he sees the evidence right in front of him. But Amanda didn't let him off the hook for it, at least.

He didn't make the wrong choice, in that there really was no choice.  It WAS kidnapping and he felt obligated to report it.  However, he didn't have to be so sanctimonious about it.

[Spartan Girl]

The novel, Frankenstein's Monster, is a sort of sequel to Frankenstein where the monster doesn't wind up killing himself and is instead pursued by Walden, the explorer that Frankenstein briefly met before he died and is now obsessed with killing the monster just because he felt Frankenstein was "his brother of the soul" or some crap like that. Point is, Walden is as crazy as Frankenstein. Anyway, throughout the novel, the monster keeps trying to find some sort of acceptance only to be rejected over and over (or sabatoged by Walden). Walden even murders  people that were kind to the monster.

But at the end of the novel, when Walden and the monster have their final confrontation and the monster is about to kill Walden, he finally has a moment of clarity. Even though his life has been awful and people like Frankenstein and Walden have made him miserable, he's never excused himself for all the terrible things he's done. So he decides to spare Walden with his HY worthy quote:

"For too long, I've been a monster of my own making. From now on, I will be a man of my own making."

This is so awesome, considering the lame villain apologia we get in pop culture lately. @Wiendish Fitch I think you'd love this book just for that moment!

[Spartan Girl]

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha is a fictionalized version of the Latasha Harlins shooting (the African American girl who got shot and killed by a Korean store owner that thought she was shoplifting and wound up getting a slap on the wrist for it). The book imagines what happened to both families all those years later: the daughters of the shooter grow up in ignorance of what their mother did because the family changes their name and moves away. It isn't until their mother is shot that the truth finally comes out. And once the shooting hits the news, the daughters wind up getting scrutinized by the media and online trolls.

Without giving too much away, there's a great scene at the end where the daughters meet with the victim's brother and cousin, but are interrupted by a mob that immediately start harassing the daughters. The victim's brother, finally fed up, yells at them to take their self-righteous rage and actually DO SOMETHING to change the racist system instead of harassing two girls who didn't have anything to do with his sister's death. Bravo.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

It's too detailed to get into here, but the chapter in Lindy West's The Witches Are Coming titled "Ted Bundy Was Not Charming, Are You High?" is just a glorious "HELL YEAH!" from beginning to end.

Even the chapter name is a "HELL YEAH!".

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

It's too detailed to get into here, but the chapter in Lindy West's The Witches Are Coming titled "Ted Bundy Was Not Charming, Are You High?" is just a glorious "HELL YEAH!" from beginning to end.

Even the chapter name is a "HELL YEAH!".

I have that book on hold via OverDrive, and now m even more excited to read it!

[Spartan Girl]

The Ramayana: Sita asking her Mother Earth to take her back instead of enduring another trial by fire, finally proving her chastity to everyone in the kingdom that doubted and smeared her. Rama KNEW she was faithful, and yet he still exiled her because he didn’t want to look weak to his subjects. So yeah, after everything she went through, she definitely deserved an “I choose me” moment.

[Spartan Girl]

Gone Girl: While it’s not the comeuppance that Amy deserves, Nick telling Amy that he feels sorry for her because “every day she has to wake up and be you” is awesome, just because it’s enough to unsettle her with its truth. Because deep down, even though she got away with everything, she knows she’s still (at best) an empty vessel that is stuck living a lie for the rest of her life.