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Thread: Saddest/Most Depressing Novel You've Ever Read

  1. #46
    Ataraxia bazarov's Avatar
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    Sadako Wants To Live. Very sad.
    At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
    During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
    The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.

    To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
    If you need me urgent, send me a PM

  2. #47
    While I ultimately find their description of the human condition as well as the forces (both man-made and other) that destroy it to be uplifting, I would say Emile Zola's novels.

    It is often the most sympathetic charcters that have the worst things happen to them at the end.

    L'Assomir, L'Terre, The Masterpiece, Germinal, and L'Bete Humaine are all examples of this.

    Zola is a great, great, great writer though.

  3. #48
    Let the good times roll. I AM JINX's Avatar
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    Most things I have read by Thomas Hardy was depressing.
    But it his books can put you to sleep, he uses way too many words, when sometimes one word would have exsplain it just as well. XP
    You have to make the change you want to see in the world.
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  4. #49
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    I immediately thought of 3 books and bizarrely they all involve birds…

    Storm boy – Colin Thiele. It’s a kids book so while it is unbelievably sad, it does have a slight ray of hope at the end

    The Snow Goose - Paul Gallico. Some manage to find some hope in the end, I don’t know where

    A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines. This book received the ultimate affirmation of depression- it was made into a film by Ken Loach (Kes).

  5. #50
    The aforementioned miserable stories had been told by others,and I perceive they are literally miserable as I had read some before.
    There is this book,named P.S I love you.
    I wander if anyone read this book's introduction,the introduction had apparently grieved me and I have convulsive spasms.This book is chiefly about grief of losing a loved one.

  6. #51
    VonJuntz vonjuntz's Avatar
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    Remains of the Day sad, tearfully sad and hits a mark agree that McEwan's amst. did not merit.

  7. #52
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    This one isn't a classic, like I usually read, nor did it even make it onto my favorites list, but 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' was really profound; it's weeks later and I'm still dreaming about it.

    If you want a quick read, the original fairy tales by HC Andersen can be found on here, and they're superb, and very tear-worthy. My personal favorites are The Little Match Girl, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Brave Tin Soldier, Story of a Mother and The Happy Family.

    Another really great short story is Barrie's 'The Inconsiderate Waiter' You can find it on here, too. It actually wrenches 2x the tears the second time around!
    Last edited by mercymyqueen; 10-01-2008 at 02:05 AM.

  8. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by wilbur lim View Post
    The aforementioned miserable stories had been told by others,and I perceive they are literally miserable as I had read some before.
    There is this book,named P.S I love you.
    I wander if anyone read this book's introduction,the introduction had apparently grieved me and I have convulsive spasms.This book is chiefly about grief of losing a loved one.
    Who's it by? there are apparently several books by that title

  9. #54
    Asa Nisi Masa mayneverhave's Avatar
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    A Farewell to Arms is probably the most directly depressing novel I have read. The Sound and the Fury also depresses me, but it requires a bit of imagination on my part.


    Speaking of which, in keeping with Hardy - "Drummer Hodge" is also fascinatingly depressing.

  10. #55
    Quote Originally Posted by mercymyqueen View Post
    Who's it by? there are apparently several books by that title
    It is ultimately by Cecelia Ahern.

  11. #56
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    Unhappy saddest books

    a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini- definitely sad

    also jude the obscure by thomas hardy

    both big tearjerkers


  12. #57
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    Vanity Fair. So depressingly imperfect characters who keep sabotaging their own chances at happiness. I still can't think about it without getting angry at the characters, that's how sad/depressing it is.

  13. #58
    unidentified hit record blp's Avatar
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    The ones that spring to mind for me are

    Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
    The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe
    The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal

  14. #59
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wilbur lim View Post
    The aforementioned miserable stories had been told by others,and I perceive they are literally miserable as I had read some before.
    There is this book,named P.S I love you.
    I wander if anyone read this book's introduction,the introduction had apparently grieved me and I have convulsive spasms.This book is chiefly about grief of losing a loved one.
    Interesting. Read this one only two weeks ago and thought it was one of the worst books I had ever read. It was full of cliches, banking highly on readers' feelings of sympathy and the characters were lacking depth. It was a very, very, very poor read for me!
    ~
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  15. #60
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    The Idiot
    The Good Soldier
    The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

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