(Don't) Surprise Me!

I have nothing against surprises. As long as they’re good surprises. That said, I really don’t like surprises when it comes to my preferred forms of entertainment. If my husband says “Want to watch this movie with me?” I automatically reply “What’s it about?”. To which he most often says “I don’t know.”

*cringe*. 

I can’t. I can not just sit down and watch a movie, not knowing how it’s going to make me feel. So, much to his dismay, my husband has to wait the five minutes it takes for me to Google the title and watch the movie trailer on YouTube before I can give him a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 

And yes, it drives him crazy.

But what he doesn’t understand is that my poor psyche just doesn’t let go of books and movies as easily as his does. After watching The Sixth Sense, I saw dead people for weeks. And I pondered alternate endings for Revolutionary Road every night before bed for the longest time, because the real ending totally depressed the hell out of me.

So I have to know. How will the movie make me feel and do I really feel like feeling that way right now? :) The same thing when it comes to books. I always, always read the back cover, and if it’s an internet order, I’ll also read a few reviews before plopping it in my basket. And when, despite all of that, a book still manages to surprise me in a bad way, well, let's just say if I were 'Joey' from Friends, it would end up in my freezer.

This summer my husband brought home a copy of Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. I read the back cover, and it seemed harmless enough. So I took it with us on our camping trip and quickly read through the pages of Mamah Cheney’s love affair with a married Frank Wright.  

Until the ending when, out of nowhere, *spoiler alert for people who are like me and don't know their history.*, she and her kids get axed and burned, literally, by one of the servants.

Hold on. Wait, WHAT?! I frantically Wikipedia-ed the true-life story of Mamah Cheney and literally threw the book on the floor like it was alive and biting. Son of a ….! This wasn’t on the BACK!!! *hyperventilates*

Damn book nearly ruined my vacation.

How about you? Do you guys pick stories that fit your mood or just go with the flow? Do you find it easy to let go once the book/movie is over or does the bad/depressing/scary stuff haunt you for awhile?