# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/41 "2004-05-20T17:32:05Z")
Tess and House of Mirth, check. Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale. Which is more uplifting then Oryx and Crake. Then there is the non-fiction. Holocaust literature. Randy Shilt’s And the Band Played On. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/42 "2004-05-20T17:33:48Z")
Oh, forgotten about Toni Morrison. Beloved is a real joy ride as well. Laughed out loud all the way through that book… ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/43 "2004-05-20T18:00:18Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > IIRC The dog lives. The story ends with the man dying, the dog realising he’s dead and heading off to camp.[/Spoiler] Thanks for the correction…I think I read the story when I was freshman in high school (long long time ago)…I just remember hating the man so much for even **thinking** of killing his dog. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/44 "2004-05-20T18:08:48Z")
> [@Ellen Cherry](#): > > 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. I love this book. Every step of the way, I could say to myself, “Well, yeah, that’s probably what I would have done.” Damn, I wanted it to work out! But I liked the book so much I wouldn’t call it depressing. My picks: Grapes of Wrath 1984 (as **Fugazi** said) Roadwork by Stephen King The Nanny Diaries I felt terrible for days after the Nanny Diaries. I just had to keep saying to myself, “There aren’t really people like that. There aren’t really kids in families like that.” And I know there _are_! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/45 "2004-05-20T18:35:11Z")
Dangit, **Dung Beetle** just beat me to mentioning Steinbeck. I’ll go ahead and nominate all the rest of his books, though, in a lump sum. But he’s not the worst. I used to think so, but then I tried to read Ray Bradbury’s _The Martian Chronicles_. I couldn’t finish. At least in Steinbeck, the worst that ever happens to anybody is that they die. But I should have been expecting that. After all, my copy of _The Martian Chronicles_, I won in an essay contest on Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day”. Set on Venus (before we knew it was Hell), where the rains only stop and the clouds part enough to let a single sunbeam through once a decade. The meteorologists have predicted this, and schoolchildren are given the day off to enjoy the one speck of good weather of their childhood. Except for Margot, the protagonist, who got locked in a closet by her classmates while they ran off and frolicked, and who isn’t found until the next day. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/46 "2004-05-20T18:48:10Z")
Most hard-boiled detective novels are pretty depressing, even when the PI solves the case. At best he doesn’t like the solution; at worst he doesn’t like getting there either. See Dashiell Hammet (In _Red Harvest_, for example, the Op provokes a gang war so the brutal and oppressive owner of a mining town can get back his control.), or anything by Raymond Chandler. For a more recent example, the first half-dozen Matt Scudder books by Lawrence Block show Scudder as an alcoholic PI who hates himself, the criminals, and most of his clients. (He dries out later and has a better life, but still the same sort of cases.) ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/47 "2004-05-20T18:49:32Z")
I’d like to toss in the following: The World According to Garp - John Irving - I know a lot of people on here don’t like Irving. I can take or leave him. This is a good book but overall depressing as hell A Fools Progress: An Honest Novel - Edward Abbey - a semi-autobiographical novel and it’s pretty damn depressing throughout despite a few humorous moments. Still one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/48 "2004-05-20T18:54:49Z")
1.The Book of Sorrows By Kurt Wagner This is a sequel to “The Book of the Dun Cow” if you liked this book my advice to you is avoid “The Book of Sorrows” like the plague. 2.The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant By Stephen Donaldson. The sequel was pretty depressing too. 3.The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series By Tad Williams. 4.(Not really a book but…) Anything written by Tennessee Williams. 5. A Series Of Unfortunate Events By Lemony Snicket. I know he’s trying for black humor here. But in my opinion he’s completely misses the mark. Just plain depressing. Actually, there was one book I read that was even more depressing than “The Book of Sorrows”. I don’t remember the title, but it was a book of short fantasy stories about Native Americans. ---
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/49 "2004-05-20T19:12:45Z")
These would fit somewhere at the top of my list, noting some have already been mentioned: Camille - Alexandre Dumas, fils Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck Mill On The Floss - George Eliot The Plague Dogs - Richard Adams Frankenstein - Mary Shelley ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/50 "2004-05-20T19:30:42Z")
**The Long Walk** by Stephen King (he used his alias, Richard Bachman) A story that takes place in the future (I think it’s supposed to be some Fascist society) where teenage boys participate willingly in a game called the Long Walk. In this game, the boys must walk from Maine to Boston (I can’t recall the exact locations, but it’s about that distance). The winner gets anything he wants for the rest of his life. Seems simple enough? The rules of the game are that they are supposed to walk a certain speed without stopping at all. If they stop at all they get three warnings. After the third warning they are shot dead. If that’s not depressing enough… In the end, the main character wins, but is too insane by this point to enjoy anything he might receive. Since he is the winner, he has seen all of his friends killed. ---
**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, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/51 "2004-05-20T19:30:43Z")
> [@cichlidiot](#): > > Camille - Alexandre Dumas, fils Love that book. Another one that shocks people who’ve seen the movie versions and are expecting a Grand Romance. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/52 "2004-05-20T19:35:34Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I’d nominate \* Boys and Girls Together \* by William Goldman. And most of his other non-thriller novels aren’t too upbeat either. _Thing of It Is_ ends kinda nicely, doesn’t it (two happy people boffing)? _Father’s Day, Color of Light, The Silent Gondoliers_ all turn out okay. . . I’d agree with you, though, that he loves to torment his characters. Would second most of the noir picks, especially Jim Thompson. Criminy, _Savage Night_ ends with all the civility and logic of William Burroughs describing his night sweats. _Mother Night_ just killed me. Can’t actually remember how J.M. Coetzee’s _Life and Times of Michael K._ ended, but the book was so unrelentingly bleak that I think I was numb by the time I got there. I don’t know, **Eve,** sometimes I think depressing books actually just make you feel lousy! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/53 "2004-05-20T19:55:56Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > 1. A Series Of Unfortunate Events By Lemony Snicket. I know he’s trying for black humor here. But in my opinion he’s completely misses the mark. Just plain depressing. Wow, **furryman**. My kids and I love love love these books! The kids actually recite bits out loud. Maybe it’s because we’re listening to the audio version, which is an incredible performance by Tim Curry. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/54 "2004-05-20T20:08:02Z")
Another vote for Thomas Hardy here, as well as the aforementioned Jude and Tess there’s The Woodlanders, in which an ugly poor girl with beautiful hair is in love with the same man as a beautiful rich girl with bad hair. I stopped reading at the point where ugly girl sells her hair which is made into a wig for beautiful girl who then gets the man. Most depressing children’d books – Elyne Mitchell’s Silver Brumby series in which terrible things happen to wild horses, especially the ones you got fond of in previous books. After weeping my way through the all the ones in my local library I have rarely cried over a book since, which is some kind of a result I suppose. ---
**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, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/55 "2004-05-20T20:47:54Z")
_In Cold Blood_ - Truman Capote ---
**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, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/56 "2004-05-20T20:47:56Z")
> [@violacrane](#): > > . . . there’s The Woodlanders, in which an ugly poor girl with beautiful hair is in love with the same man as a beautiful rich girl with bad hair. I stopped reading at the point where ugly girl sells her hair which is made into a wig for beautiful girl who then gets the man. Maybe it’s the mood I’m in—or maybe I’m just _mean_—but I fell out of my chair laughing when I read that. Like when my friend Michael was describing this movie plot that had him crying his eyes out, and when he ended with, " . . . and then his Seeing-Eye Dog got _cancer_," I nearly wet my pants. ---
**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, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/57 "2004-05-20T20:56:16Z")
Oh, and a few assorted fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen. No wonder children were depressed in the 19th century. (I know they’re short tales, and not strictly books, but I have them in a book, so that should count for something.) ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/58 "2004-05-20T21:02:26Z")
**The Elric Saga** by Michael Moorcock. Anyone the main character loves or befriends is dead meat. Sooner rather then later usually and probably in a pretty horrific manner. The ending manages a new level of this His last friend and the only one that’s survived all the books throws himself on Elrics sword in order to feed Elric enough life force to blow some horn. His last words are something like “oh this is worse then I thought” as his soul is sucked from him. Elric then blows the horn his sword transforms into a demon that mocks him while Elric dies in the grass.Just lovely. I wanted to slit my wrists after reading that crap. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/59 "2004-05-20T21:03:31Z")
If we’re going to talk stories for kids… I’ll nominate **Bridge to Terrabithia**. Oh my fricking God, I stayed in a funk for about 3 days after I finished reading that. ---
**Author:** ![jellytoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jellytoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellytoes)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191/60 "2004-05-20T21:21:54Z")
A few that haven’t been mentioned: _Wuthering Heights_, I love this book but it just sickens me how sad the story is. _Blindness_ by Jose Saramago, this book was literally painful to read. The most horrible part about it is that you know the whole time that if the situation were real, we would actually act that way. It took me a long time to read it. I had to keep putting it down and come back to it when the black fog had lifted. I think he won some sort of literary prize for it. _Maus_ by Art Spiegelman, beautiful and horrifying. This book touched me deeply. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-goddam-books-ever/246191.md?page=4)