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#1
10-15-1999, 05:06 PM
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Yeah, another "best/worst/favorite" type of thread. Sorry. The thread about "sucks to your assmar" got me thinking about depressing books. Not necessarily good or bad books, but just depressing. Three that come to mind are:
1) "Ethan Frome" 2) "Lord Of The Flies" 3) "Of Mice And Men" I think Ethan Frome is by far the winner here. How they can make highschool kids read this in school (like I did) is mind boggling. Excellent, excellent book, but it just does not let up. What do you all think? 
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#2
10-15-1999, 05:09 PM
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i don't know about Ethan Frome, but 'where the red firn grows' is pretty sad. is 'bryan's song' a book also
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#3
10-15-1999, 05:16 PM
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Jude the Obscure is a hands-down winner for me. Just about any Thomas Hardy novel will do, however.
------------------ "The inability of science to grasp Quality, as an object of enquiry, makes it impossible for science to provide a scale of values." Robert Pirsig
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#4
10-15-1999, 05:18 PM
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Anything by Dostoyevsky (Crime & Punishment)
Almost anything by Kafka (The Trial) A Thousand Acres by Smiley
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#5
10-15-1999, 05:32 PM
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Ethan Frome was depressing, but it lost a lot of its punch (for me) from the silliness of their sledicide attempt.
"The Red Pony" "the Yearling" "The Biscuit-eater" (short story, anyone else read it?) Actually, all the classic kid-and-animal stories are pretty depressing. Like high school isn't bad enough, they make us read this sort of stuff. ------------------ "Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting." - Bertrand Russell
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#6
10-15-1999, 05:38 PM
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Speaking of kid-and-animal books:
Old Yeller.
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#7
10-15-1999, 05:50 PM
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Worst: Lord of the Flies
Saddest: Old Yeller Best: The Princess Bride (better than the movie!) ------------------ White Wolf "Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense." "Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them."
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#8
10-15-1999, 06:18 PM
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Kathe Koja's Skin has a very depressing ending.
And what is the name of that short story where the little girl on Venus gets locked in a closet during the one hour per seven years that the sun is shining? That's not a real pick-me-up. ------------------ "I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."
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#10
10-15-1999, 08:03 PM
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Another vote for Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller. "Hey, kids, your loving pet is going to save your life some day and DIE."
Diary of Anne Frank. Bless the Beasts and Children. Does anyone understand this book? I don't understand why teachers think seventh graders need to read hideously depressing books. These were ALL during my seventh-grade year, from two different teachers. -- Sylence ------------------ "The problem with reality is the lack of background music." -- Anon
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#11
10-15-1999, 08:18 PM
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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
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#12
10-15-1999, 09:03 PM
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I don't remember the author, but a while back on the AOL board we were discussing a similar topic (possibly "scariest book" so apologies if it's already been mentioned on another thread here) and someone mentioned a book called, I think, "The Brave" about a man so desperate for money for his family he agrees to be killed in a snuff film. Was anyone else compelled to read this after it was suggested on the other board? I went and found it at the library and was sooooooooo bummed out after reading it, you have no idea.
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#13
10-15-1999, 09:12 PM
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Note on why teacher choose depressing books: There are three great issues that literature explores--sex, god, and death. You can only talk about one of these in a public school, guys!
My vote would have to be for Nevil Shute's _On the Beach_. Although I don't think it has quite the same impact anymore, what w/ the end of the cold war and all. Wharton's _House of Mirth_ was also pretty bad, although very well done.
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#17
10-16-1999, 08:27 AM
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The Bible. "Don't do this! Don't do that!" Sheesh, willya?!
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#18
10-16-1999, 08:34 AM
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The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R Donaldson.
Ugh! Hard going with a crap ending. ------------------ "To me, socks are like sex. Tons of it about, and I don't seem to get any." The Legend Of PigeonMan
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#19
10-16-1999, 10:52 AM
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I'm presently reading a Newbury Award Winning book called "Walk Two Moons" to my students. I have a difficult class this year and reading this book must be part of my perverse desire to depress them.
this book has it all...13year old girl whose mother has left and is "not coming back"...her mother was grieving because she lost a baby...meanwhile, the girl on a cross country trip with her ailing grandparents...Let me just say that this book, while very well written, has a lot of death in it. ------------------ Gail "Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend-- Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again...." -Steely Dan
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#20
10-16-1999, 11:06 AM
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The Razors Edge
The Old Man and the Sea Anything by John Knowles
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#21
10-16-1999, 11:15 AM
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Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World were bummers for me.
As far as spirtually uplifting, I dunno. Adam's So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish kinda did that for me, but I don't think that really qualifies. <FONT COLOR="GREEN">ExTank</FONT> <FONT COLOR="RED">"WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE"</FONT>
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#22
10-16-1999, 02:41 PM
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"And what is the name of that short story where the little girl on Venus gets locked in a closet during the one hour per seven years that the sun is shining? That's not a real pick-me-up."
------------------ Jophiel, the story was written by Ray Bradbury and was on TV a while back. (Ray Bradbury Theater?) Really sad. Two other depressing stories: "The Ox Bow Incident" and "Incident at Owl Creek Bridge." Can't remember the authors though...
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#23
10-16-1999, 03:09 PM
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Jake: Ambrose Bierce wrote "Incident at Owl Creek's Bridge."
The most depressing thing I ever read was not a book, but a story in Harlan Ellison's collection Strang Wine. I cannot remember the title, but it seems Earth is the paradise of the galaxy -- extraterrestials who have done great and noble deeds get to live here for a period because life on Earth is so good compared to everywhere else. Talk about depressing concepts.
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#25
10-17-1999, 01:17 PM
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_Bastard out of Carolina_ had me depressed for weeks.
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#27
10-17-1999, 02:32 PM
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The Cold Equations
Can't remember the author. A girl stows away on an emergency starship to see her brother. Problem is, the ship has x fuel, enough to carry y mass for z distance. x fuel will not carry y+the girl mass z distance. So the pilot is forced to throw her out the airlock, or he, she, and the people who need the medicine he's carrying will die. Moral: Math and physics don't give a damn about people. --John
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#28
10-17-1999, 03:07 PM
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Quote:
Can't believe nobody has mentioned King Lear yet. Just watched the Laurence Olivier movie and it pretty much ruined my weekend (in a good way, though ...) ------------------ Let every student of nature take this as a rule -- that whatever his mind seizes and dwells upon with peculiar satisfaction is to be held in suspicion. - Francis Bacon
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#29
10-17-1999, 03:36 PM
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I heartily endorse "Lord of the Flies", and add Joseph Heller's "Something Happened" to the list.
------------------ Reality is for people who can't handle drugs. -Tom Waits
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#30
10-17-1999, 03:38 PM
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The Seventh Level. A novel where a nuclear war has taken place,and because of the radiation,everyone has to live underground. Some people live at the seventh level,7 floors under. No sun ever.No nature. The main character decides he's rather die than ever see the earth again.
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#31
10-17-1999, 05:35 PM
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I'm guessing you meant The Plague Dogs, Ivick, and not The Plaque Dogs, although a story about two dogs being hunted for improper dental hygene would be a downer. You're right though, that book (and the animated film) is a mighty depressing ride.
------------------ "I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."
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#32
10-17-1999, 05:45 PM
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It's really a drama and not a book per se, but Brian Friel's Translations absolutely ruined my day. It's about the British army in the 18th or 19th century going across Ireland anglicizing all the place names, and the British soldier who doesn't want to do it. I was bawling by the end of it. And I'm sure I need not say it wasn't a happy ending.
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#33
10-17-1999, 06:11 PM
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Dear Ai\ Yue- Ha\n:
Tom Godwin wrote The Cold Equations.
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#34
10-18-1999, 06:06 AM
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A lot of these books y'all mentioned were really depressing. I'd like to add:
"A picture of Dorian Gray" - Oscar Wilde. ------------------ Coldfire ________________________________ "You know how complex women are" - Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
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#35
10-18-1999, 08:31 AM
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You know, I seem to like most depressing books. Several that have been mentioned--Lord of the Flies, On the Beach, Flowers for Algernon--are among my all-time favorites.
BUT, I hated and still hate The Red Pony. Actually, as another poster said, most anything by Steinbeck is depressing. But that book was my first of his read, and its impression was strongest. Blech! ------------------ I used to think the world was against me. Now I know better. Some of the smaller countries are neutral. http://members.aol.com/lrconaway
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#36
10-18-1999, 09:05 AM
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A lot of depressing books buck me up in some odd way...THE GRAPES OF WRATH impressed upon me the essential dignity and humanity of the downtrodden, working poor; FAHRENHEIT 451 celebrates the bravery of a small clique of bookreading nerds in the face of overwheming mediocrity.
Early Knut Hamsun always bugs me: PAN, VICTORIA, MYSTERIES, HUNGER. The utter failure of his characters to communicate, their obstinacy in CONTINUALLY doing the wrong thing to ensure future happiness, never fails to make my skin crawl. I'm always shakin' my fist at the book and yelling. "Go and TALK to the chick, man! Don't let that clerk cut you out...Eat something! No, don't eat so fast, you'll puke...ah, MAAAAAN...Whatever you do, don't shoot your dog and leave it on her doorstep...oh, MAAAAN..." ------------------ Uke
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#37
10-18-1999, 09:59 AM
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Boy, some of my favorite stories on this thread. Bless the Beasts and Children, All Summer in a Day I loved those, I think because of the intensity, and because they touched a chord in me. I could identify with those kids in some ways. Not that they weren't depressing. All Summer in a Daystill comes back to me every rainy November day.
Guanolad, thank you! I have heard a lot about how great the Thomas Covenant books were. I read two and a half of them and couldn't finish the third, it was so awful. Nice to know I'm not alone in that feeling.
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#39
10-19-1999, 12:12 AM
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Burn: What depresses you about Shampoo Planet? Apart from being depressed by it, do you like or dislike it? I love that book, along with Microserfs. Now, that one was a bit depressing, but not overwhelmingly so.
------------------ Remember, I'm pulling for you; we're all in this together. ---Red Green
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#40
10-19-1999, 08:52 AM
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I love Coupland's works but Shampoo Planet depressed me because it hit a little too close to home for me.
I read Microserfs twice before moving to Redmond. ------------------ "She's nothin but a little lyin' ass bitch... I know she says she loves you but you know she don't care..."
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#41
10-19-1999, 08:57 AM
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Anything by Herman Hesse
Ditto for Jude the Obscure Portrait of the artist as a young man (couldn't finish the stupid thing it was so depressing) A Jersey Kasinsky story (sorry I can't spell it correctly) about some peasant family where the man hit the woman so hard her eyeball flew out and rolled on the floor.
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#42
10-19-1999, 11:19 AM
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Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Deadbeat father. Hungry kids. Poverty. Sad.
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. A fictional account of the battle of Gettysburg. I know, I know. What did I expect? The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. I was traumatized by this short story.
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#43
10-20-1999, 08:56 PM
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Burn: Okay, but what about Shampoo Planet hit too close to home? The once-prosperous town disintegrating? The main character going to LA and ending up destitute? The fact of his cheating on his generous, productive, compassionate girlfriend with a self-centered, materialistic snob? The stepfather's abuse of the mother? The acid casualty at the commune? Or just the overall pessimistic tone?
No offense if any of this is too personal. Not trying to start an argument; just curious. ------------------ Remember, I'm pulling for you; we're all in this together. ---Red Green
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#44
10-20-1999, 09:13 PM
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The girlfriend thing, the loss of connection with reality, the disassociation of everyday life, the relationship wiuth the mother and son, the father/mother relationship. Just way too many things.
------------------ You know what Atlas did, with the weight of the world pressing down on his shoulders, his blood running over his chest for his efforts and the world continuing to bear down without concern for his efforts? He shrugged.
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#46
10-21-1999, 01:05 PM
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"Ask the Dust" by John Fante. A story of a young writer in Los Angeles.
"The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski. Man's inhumanity to man. "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe caused young Germans in the 18th century to commit suicide. ------------------ J'ai assez vécu pour voir que différence engendre haine. Henri B. Stendhal
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#47
10-21-1999, 01:25 PM
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I read all the way through this thread with the intention of posting Fante's "Ask the Dust," and here it is in the last post.
How depressing. Most people come to Fante via Bukowski. So who is more depressing? My vote goes to Fante. I think he does a better job of capturing what a truly, utterly miserable and hopeless thing it is to be a human being. Cheers! ------------------ "Stop the rope and let me in or I'll go out and get some gin"
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#48
10-21-1999, 01:41 PM
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Good call, boys, on Fante. I don't even think about the guy any more, he's so depressing.
How about Nathanael West? DAY OF THE LOCUST? MISS LONELYHEARTS, especially the letters? Every time I want to get a sinking feeling in my chest, I read the one from the little girl who was born without a nose.
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#49
10-21-1999, 01:58 PM
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Godwin's _The Cold Equations_ (a short story, not a book; those who'd like to read it can find it in _The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. I_, along with _Flowers for Algernon_ by... drat... Dickson, maybe?) isn't really that depressing, though it is ... I don't know, "chilling," maybe. How about Ellison's _I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream_ instead? There's also a short by Piers Anthony about a guy who gets tortured; I can't remember the name of the story but it's in _Anthonology_.
I found Vonnegut's _Cat's Cradle_ to be pretty depressing. I haven't read his _Mother Night_, but the movie is certainly a big downer. And Delany's _Dhalgren_ is also worth considering, though maybe it's too weird to be depressing.
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