When you’ve finished a book and you suddenly return to the real world, but the real world feels incomplete or surreal because you’re still living in the world of the book.
You’re not quite sure how to cope with reality (after all, you’ve been blissfully ignoring it for the last few days or weeks while your nose was buried in the book).
Perhaps worst of all, you just really miss the characters who have come to feel like friends or family, and you can’t stop thinking about what they would do if another chapter or sequel were written. Even the fictional world they live in seems to beckon to you, even long after the book has run out of pages.
One of the many benefits of reading is that it can teach us to be more empathetic. We get to see life from the perspective of someone else, perhaps someone of a different race, gender, or upbringing from our own. Or, perhaps you’ve found a character who’s just like you, and this discovery finally makes you feel seen or understood.
All of these things can help create bonds between readers and the character(s) in the story. We feel like we really know them, and naturally, we grow attached—but then the cold reality hits as you grow closer to the final page.
One Dutch study showed that when we are “emotionally transported” by a book, we may lose self-awareness and track of time because we perceive the fictional world as real, if only for a while. This leads to the “hangover” effect that keeps our minds stuck in the narrative even after we’ve finished the book.
Credit : TCK Publishing
Picture Credit : Google
