Too much reality

"I've abandoned my search for reality and am now looking for a good fantasy."

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you're getting TMR -- too much reality? Like you find yourself emotionally bonding with a character you're reading even though you know (whether they do or not) that they're tied down in the male car of an express train that's heading for the washed-out bridge over the chasm? Metaphorically speaking of course. But can you escape their clutches before they pitch over the edge? Or have you already established that the two of you are too much alike to even pretend their fate could possibly be any different from yours? Better hope the author has a good answer!

Maybe it's better to stick to the unreality genres. If my protagonist who's facing a moral crisis wtih a significant character flaw is a six-armed slime creature named Icwad from the planet Blini, there's much less chance of my taking his/her/its fate to heart. I can still learn something from the situation without having to endure the actual whiplash of the battle.

I mean, if I want fraught reality, I only need to step out of my den and into the real world. Didn't I climb between the covers of this book to get away from all that?