# The most depressing book you've ever read, but was still a good book (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070 "2012-05-25T15:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/61 "2012-05-26T03:43:28Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > _The Doomsday Book_ by Connie Willis. I had read _To Say Nothing of the Dog_ by the same author, which is light-hearted and funny, so I was surprised that the other book, even though it is set in the same universe is…not. Excellent example. I loved TSNOTD; TDB was relentlessly, brutally sad. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/62 "2012-05-26T03:56:25Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Where the Red Fern Grows was a real downer for me in 5th grade. Old Yeller is supposed to be the standard for a depressing story for kids about that age but WTRFG beats it easily. I had a teacher in grade school who would read us a chapter of WTRFG every Tuesday after lunch. After about 3 chapters, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore, ran to the library and checked out my own copy so I could read the whole thing. I think I cried for an hour. But the real horror was when I came in from recess the next Tuesday and realized that not only was I going to have to relive the entire experience over again, but no one in the class knew what was coming and I couldn’t do anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mann\_Slaughter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/63 "2012-05-26T05:25:50Z")
> [@iftheresaway](#): > > John Irving always seems to do it for me. I love pretty much all of his books, but they almost always leave me in tears. Particularly amazing when he essentially starts the book by telling you that everyone is going to die.\* A Prayer for Owen Meany\* & _The World According to Garp_ are both good examples, but I think _Hotel New Hampshire_ takes the cake. Occasionally the phrase “Sorrow floats” pops into my head, and it never fails to choke me up. I came here to post “A Prayer for Owen Meany”, one of my all-time favorite books! It’s one of the few books I’ve read several times, laughing hysterically one minute, and with tears streaming down my face the next at different points during each read, but in the end, it’s truly heartbreaking. (Damn, that baseball!) I’ve not read any of the others you mentioned, but it looks like I’ll have to buy them on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/64 "2012-05-26T05:51:46Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Johnny Got His Gun This is my choice, too. I read it in high school and it really got to me. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/65 "2012-05-26T05:59:33Z")
“Painted Bird” by Jerzy Kosinski ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/66 "2012-05-26T07:11:16Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Most of _ **Crime and Punishment** _ was really great but really hard to get through because it was so depressing (until the very end). It was affecting my real-world moods. I loved _Crime and Punishment_. I didn’t find it depressing at all. But your reaction to it reminds of _The Enormous Room_ by E. E. Cummings which recounts the time he was a prisoner during World War I. It definitely affected my “real-world moods.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/67 "2012-05-26T07:54:23Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Rohinton Mistry’s _A Fine Balance_. Was that depressing or what? > > In the young adult fiction category, I recommend _I am the cheese_. > > [I Am the Cheese - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Cheese) > > [spoiler]The protagonist believes he is taking a great, adventurous journey to save his family from government baddies. > > It is gradually revealed that the government baddies have in fact already murdered his whole family and are using drugs to make him hallucinate his adventure in the hope he will reveal some useful intel - all of the people he encounters in his alleged adventure are other inmate/prisoners. In the end, realizing the kid knows nothing, they kill him, too. [/spoiler] Re: your last statement, no they don’t, they just contemplate it. You know what the decision was because the last paragraph of the book is the first repeated. That _is_ the ending to another of his books, though. I have to second **Outer Dark**. It’s beautifully written, but I never wanted to punch an author in the face more over an ending. That whole journey and all she struggled through, and for what?? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/68 "2012-05-26T08:43:28Z")
Infinite Jest. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/69 "2012-05-26T14:31:28Z")
I’m very careful, before reading a book, to make sure there are no animals being killed or mistreated in it. (I do better with humans being killed or mistreated :rolleyes:). I am very careful about that. I won’t read Water For Elephants because of elephant abuse. I nominate Jude The Obscure, Of Human Bondage, The Road - enjoyed them all though I cried a bucket of tears. I don’t suppose this counts, but there is one chapter in Sharyn McCrumb’s “The Hangmans Beautiful Daughter”, I think, that was SO SO sad to me when I was a new mother I completely lost it and howled sobbing into my pillow for ten minutes straight. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/70 "2012-05-26T14:31:56Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > “Night” by Elie Wiesel. It’s not just the whole Holacaust horror - it’s seeing someone lose their faith in God, & me having no answer at all for that. so depressing. > and the last lines of that book just haunt me. This book remains to this day the first book to truly gut me to my very core. It is a treasure. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/71 "2012-05-26T16:38:46Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Sticking with Thomas Hardy, there’s _ **The Mayor of Casterbridge** _ +1. I listened to this book on audio and felt all the way through how stark and tragic it was. But in a GOOD way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/72 "2012-05-26T17:17:59Z")
On the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/73 "2012-05-26T17:28:36Z")
In 4th grade I read [My Brother Sam is Dead](http://www.amazon.com/My-Brother-Sam-Is-Dead/dp/0439783607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338053067&sr=8-1) and it had me in tears at the end. Choked me up again when I reread it a few years ago after seeing it had been added to the list of banned books in the county in which I went to elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/74 "2012-05-26T17:51:17Z")
In the last two weeks I’ve re-read _The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby_ and _Of Mice and Men._ I don’t know if any of them alone earns the title of the most depressing book I’ve ever read, but the three of them in succession are pretty damned bleak. And yet I love them all. Since these books are all at least 60 old, I don’t think I’m giving anything away, but… We know from the first page that Holden is heading for a breakdown of some sort. His authentic self, which is naive but sweet, is disappearing underneath the cynicism he feels he has to protect himself with. Most of the people he meets just make things worse - except for the kids, the kids he wants to protect by catching them in the rye. Gatsby did it all for love - but the society he tried to fit into takes what he offers and destroys him for it, and in the end, all the people who came to his parties and enjoyed his home and food and drink can’t even be bothered to come to his funeral. George and Lennie have such a simple dream, a dream that if the universe was fair should have been theirs long before. And just when it seems within their grasp, something that should have been a small problem goes horribly, horribly wrong, and Lennie will never get his rabbits. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/75 "2012-05-26T22:01:53Z")
Do graphic novels count? If not, they should. If yes, then _Maus._ It’s a Holocaust tale told through the eyes of a survivor’s adult son. The Jews are mice, the Germans are cats. It won a special Pullitzer prize. It is a brutal masterpiece. I never cried so hard in my life. ---
**Author:** ![BeeDubU2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BeeDubU2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeDubU2)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/76 "2012-05-26T22:19:16Z")
_A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ for me. Bleak, wonderful. No mentions for _The Giving Tree_? When I read the story as a parent, I literally cried. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/77 "2012-05-27T12:04:41Z")
The Handmaiden’s Tale. Horrifying too. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/78 "2012-05-27T12:53:39Z")
At School: Tess of the d"Urbervilles. As an adult: Joseph Heller’s Something Happened. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/79 "2012-05-27T13:10:58Z")
I quit reading _Rabbit, Run_ when the baby drowned. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070/80 "2012-05-29T21:01:41Z")
Jon Krakauer’s [Under the Banner of Heaven](http://www.amazon.com/Under-Banner-Heaven-Story-Violent/dp/1400032806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338325250&sr=8-1). Religion can sometimes reflect the worst in humans, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-book-youve-ever-read-but-was-still-a-good-book-spoilers/623070.md?page=5)