# Most Depressing Goddam Books EVER. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191 "2004-05-20T14:43:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/1 "2004-05-20T14:43:29Z")
When you’re wallowing in bitterness and self-pity, there’s no pick-me-up like a good, depressing book. I was lucky enough to find a copy of **The Lost Weekend** (Charles Jackson, 1944) and am thoroughly enjoying it—it makes the movie version look like a two-reel comedy (and yes, there is a gay subplot). Other favorite slit-your-wrist reads (both well-written, by masters): **Predestined: A Novel of New York Life** (Stephen French Whitman, 1910, reissued 1974), the story of a man who fails, repeatedly, at everything he attempts in life. **Back Street** (Fannie Hurst, 1931)—again, if you’ve seen either of the movies, you won’t be prepared for this grimly realistic book about a woman’s doomed affair with a married man and how her life is slowly ruined. What books make _you_ want to turn on the gas? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/2 "2004-05-20T14:55:30Z")
No book has ever devestated me more than **Something Happened** by Joseph Heller. Some beautiful passages, but as a whole, it really made me fearful of the life that might lie in store for me (I read it in high school). ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/3 "2004-05-20T15:01:53Z")
_Last Exit to Brooklyn_ by Hubert Selby, Jr. isn’t exactly a book I would recommend to a depressed person. I could totally see it sending someone right over the edge. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/4 "2004-05-20T15:04:28Z")
_The Cruel Sea_ War, suicide, abuse, endless death. ☹ A great read. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/5 "2004-05-20T15:06:13Z")
I went through a period where I read a slew of Jim Thompson books. Yikes! Check out these brief synopses: **The Grifters** : A grifter’s near-Oedipal relationship with his grifter mother affects his shallow relationship with his grifter girlfriend. Even the people who survive this book are not going to live happily ever after. **A Hell of a Woman** : A man kills for a woman, then goes slowly insane. This does not end on an upbeat note. There are no upbeat notes in this chilling book. **The Getaway** : Unlike either of the movie adaptations of this novel, the protagonists (who are, in fact, hardened criminals) get away from the law, but end up trapped in a living hell that makes prison seem comparitively attractive. The list goes on, but you get the idea. Despite the fact that few characters in any Thompson book have redeeming qualities, many are depicted in a way that makes them seem real. You could even identify with them, which makes the ending of each book that much harder to deal with. There are no happy endings. I highly recommend these books. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/6 "2004-05-20T15:09:50Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > I went through a period where I read a slew of Jim Thompson books. Yikes! Check out these brief synopses: > > **The Grifters** : A grifter’s near-Oedipal relationship with his grifter mother affects his shallow relationship with his grifter girlfriend. Even the people who survive this book are not going to live happily ever after. **Annette Benning** in The Grifters…grrrrrwwwwllllll. Sorry for the hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/7 "2004-05-20T15:20:04Z")
**Keep the Aspidistra Flying** by George (chuckles) Orwell. A dirt poor bad poet is determined to be an artist and not to give in to “the system”. Of course he does in the end. Horribly accurate descriptions of all sorts of English middle class mediocrity. The most miserable happy ending ever. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/8 "2004-05-20T15:21:28Z")
A good pulp _noir_ novel can usually make you reach for the scotch and sleeping pills … _They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?_ and _The Postman Always Rings Twice_ are terribly engrossing, and depressing, reads. Sometimes it’s fun to wallow in it. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/9 "2004-05-20T15:22:07Z")
I’m not really into depressing books, so I haven’t read many (like 1) but I did read Orwell’s 1984. Jeez, what a bring down that book was. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/10 "2004-05-20T15:22:30Z")
It’s probably not as depressing as those already mentioned, but I found _A Simple Plan_ by Scott B. Smith to be an enthralling look at how greed can warp ordinary morality and rationality. The book is gripping, too, in how the reader is forced to feel guilty as the conspirators! (At least _I_ felt guilty!) I just felt sick and responsible the whole time I was reading it. Fabulous book. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/11 "2004-05-20T15:28:36Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > **Keep the Aspidistra Flying** by George (chuckles) Orwell. Damn you for making me laugh out loud in this thread! **Nonsuch** , I have a collection of such bitter noir novelists as James Cain and Tiffany Thayer—best read in satin lounging pyjamas, with a tea & Vicodin cocktail at one’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/12 "2004-05-20T15:33:08Z")
_House of Mirth_ by Edith Wharton. It’s downhill for Lily Bart all the way. Actually, just about any Edith Wharton novel is a tad on the depressing side. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/13 "2004-05-20T15:34:28Z")
Satan- His Psychotherapy And Cure By Dr Sy Kasller JSPS With a title like that, I expected comedy. Instead, in the first ten pages Sy manages to enrage his father to the point of cardiac trauma. Sy was simply trying to finally get to know his dad. It goes on like that for the whole book. Every time something good happens to Kassler, it’s followed by something horrific. I can’t give examples without spoiling the book. But (and none of these events happen in the story.) it goes something like this- 'Hmm. I’m homeless, jobless and unloved. I may as well spend my last dollar on this lottery ticket. I won a hundred million dollars! And look, it’s Sarah, the girl I’ve secretly loved for years but never had the guts to approach. Sarah, will you marry me? Yes! Great, let’s walk to city hall. . . . What? Hospital? Car accident? Sarah took the ticket? And she’s marrying you, doctor? Why? You amputated my penis and attached it to your own? ’ It’s a well-written book and there are numerous references to Dante’s Inferno (I’ve considered finally reading Inferno just to get more insight into this book). But it’s massively depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/14 "2004-05-20T15:36:06Z")
I nominate most of the apocalyptic sci-fi novels. Most of the good ones have their hopeful moments, but god the basic premise is soooo depressing. For non-sci-fi, I suggest: **McTeague** , by Frank Norris (1899). A stupid great clod of a self-taught San Francisco dentist is caught practicing without a license or degree, having learned his trade only by apprenticeship to an itinerant tooth-puller. This was the time requirements for the professions were becoming formalized. Once he’s turned in, he moves through successively more menial jobs, and his standard of living declines accordingly. The story was immortalized in film by Von Stroheim’s classic _Greed_. **Joie de Vivre** , by Emile Zola. The title was ironic, right? **It Can’t Happen Here** , by Sinclair Lewis. Fascists win the 1936 presidential election. It’s not considered one of Lewis’ best novels, but the idea that such a thing could happen here is definitely scary. The regime breaks down in the end, but it’s still depressing…and gripping. **Fatherland** , by Robert Harris. It’s 1964, and Germany has won WWII, and directly controls all of Eurasia to the Urals. The rest of Europe is mostly subservient to them, with an SS training academy in Oxford. Edward VIII and Queen Wallis reign in England. The Germans are preparing for a state visit from President Kennedy…that’s Joseph P., not John F. Pretty grim, but still gripping reading. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/15 "2004-05-20T15:37:55Z")
I don’t want to get all classy on y’all – but how about Edith Wharton’s **House of Mirth**? Lily Bart, beautiful, well-connected, but poor, ends up with neither her wealthy suitor nor her true love – after her reputation is sullied\*, she ends up killing herself. \*Verb provided by Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, whence I retreated because I can never remember whether this or **Custom of the Country** is the one with the lovely Lily Bart. “Sullied.” What a great freakin’ word – and one I don’t manage to work into as many conversations as I’d like. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/16 "2004-05-20T15:39:33Z")
Damn, should have known **Miss Mapp** would beat me to the punch on Wharton… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/17 "2004-05-20T15:41:24Z")
**A Fan’s Notes** by Frederick Exely. A man drinks a lot and watches a lot of football. You don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy the book. Well enjoy may not be the best word. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/18 "2004-05-20T15:41:34Z")
I’d nominate \* Boys and Girls Together \* by William Goldman. And most of his other non-thriller novels aren’t too upbeat either. Goldman has pretty much mastered the technique of making you care about his characters and then doing horrible things to them. ---
**Author:** ![Glassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/19 "2004-05-20T15:48:42Z")
From what I recall \*Tess of the D’Urbervilles \* was relentlessly depressing. Fresh, innocent young maiden is (1) raped; (2) dumped by the man she loves on her wedding night because she is not a virgin [see 1]; (3) forced to become the mistress of the man who raped her; (4) kills him and is hanged; (5) her beloved husband marries her sister, who is like the innocent, un-raped version of herself. Hated it. (It’s entirely possible that this is a totally inaccurate picture of the book. It really was twenty years ago that I read it as a sullen teenager. It’s more than possible that I missed some nuances.) ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/20 "2004-05-20T15:52:24Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I’d nominate \* Boys and Girls Together \* by William Goldman. And most of his other non-thriller novels aren’t too upbeat either. > > Goldman has pretty much mastered the technique of making you care about his characters and then doing horrible things to them. Damn you. I came in here to nominate that book. But since it’s do depressing, I think it’s appropriate to nominate it again. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191.md?page=2)