# The most depressing novel you ever read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209 "2016-09-06T18:27:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/161 "2016-09-10T10:42:04Z")
Oh, I have one: **The Painted Bird** by Jerzy Kosinski, who also wrote **Being There.** An allegory about his life through WW2 Europe as a Jew, the title refers to an awful practice where kids would trap a bird from a flock, color it, then allow it to return, where it would be destroyed by its flock, no longer recognizable. His fictionalized version of himself’s experiences in the book play out the metaphor. A hard read for a short book. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/162 "2016-09-10T11:01:14Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Several people have mentioned The Road. It is a bummer, for sure, but I’ll take it that you haven’t read McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. It makes The Road seem like Harry Potter. I loved Blood Meridian and I don’t think it has to be super depressing to read, even if it is a fairly dark and violent book. Hard to find much glimmer of hope from the Road though. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/163 "2016-09-10T15:29:24Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > I loved Blood Meridian and I don’t think it has to be super depressing to read, even if it is a fairly dark and violent book. Hard to find much glimmer of hope from the Road though. Well, The Road ends precisely on a glimmer of hope, with the boy taken in by the family. We find no such positivity in Blood Meridian. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/164 "2016-09-10T21:32:28Z")
SF is a huge part of my reading diet, and I just remembered another short classic, **The Cold Equations.** While a lot of the stories I and others have mentioned in these threads usually have terrifying or depressing plots/conclusions, I usually end up adoring them one way or another as long as they’re well written. I suppose my tastes bend toward some bleakness and pathos, over typically happy endings. Not always, but when it lends a better point to the whole story, it can feel pretty poignant. **I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream** is another. Also, **The Jaunt.** ---
**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:** [September 10, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/165 "2016-09-10T22:44:18Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > **The Jaunt.** Yessss. One of King’s creepiest short stories. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/166 "2016-09-10T22:53:09Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Also, **The Jaunt.** “It’s longer than you think, Dad! Longer than you think!” Brrrr ---
**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:** [September 11, 2016, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/167 "2016-09-11T04:37:27Z")
**Rabbit Run**. I don’t think I got that far into it. I gave it up when the baby drowned in the sink. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/168 "2016-09-11T04:45:05Z")
> [@Neverending\_Elbow](#): > > _1984_ > Man, that ending left a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m amazed this wasn’t mentioned until post #80. Thanks to whomever first said “All Summer in a Day”. I remembered watching the short film adaptation in school but couldn’t remember the name. How about Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, another short story? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/169 "2016-09-11T04:57:57Z")
Sorry to repeat but I can’t believe no one was devastated by Of Human Bondage. What a great novel about a young and damaged medical student sociopathically used by a soulless woman. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2016, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/170 "2016-09-11T05:16:19Z")
I haven’t read it, but I am quite certain if I had read it, I would be devastated. That is probably true of all these suggestions. Man I’ve read a lot of depressing books. A lot of these are not only familiar to me, but rank as some of my favorite reads. But I look at something like _Heart of Darkness_ or _Lord of the Flies \* and they don’t depress me too much because there’s a whole point to each tale that could not be told any other way. The meaning is what makes the difference between whether I view a dark book as worthwhile or not. \* Catch-22_ might fit on this list, even though it’s hilarious. **ekedolphin** I have to believe ‘‘The Lottery’’ influenced The Hunger Games. It’s funny, because when I heard The Hunger Games was YA, I picked it up thinking the book would be all about them escaping from ever having to fight each other… but no, it actually features children murdering each other, one kid being eaten alive by wild dogs, torture and brainwashing, a few devastating deaths and the protagonist almost being burned alive. It is however almost completely devoid of teens doing sex things so that’s totally okay. :dubious: For some reason, our 10th grade English textbooks were filled with the most macabre stories. The Birds, The Lottery, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado, and of course All Summer in a Day. There were also some Twilight Zone scripts in there. I dunno who decided to terrorize a bunch of 10th graders but it was better than _Beowulf_ so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/171 "2016-09-11T16:44:10Z")
> [@Parthol](#): > > I vote for **McTeague** by Frank Norris. > > It’s about a dim-witted and brutal dentist around the end of the 19th century, whose life falls apart after his new wife wins a $15k lottery. You can read the incredibly depressing plot summary on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McTeague). > > By the end of the book: > > The titular character, having fled after murdering his wife, is stranded deep in Death Valley handcuffed to a corpse You know, that was a movie, a silent movie, sometimes shown on TCM, called ‘Greed’. The original version was eight HOURS long, and it was cut and cut and cut to the present length. All the footage was lost. … It is a remarkable movie, absolutely mesmerizing, creepy, sad, and the ending is just haunting (it really was made in Death Valley). ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/172 "2016-09-11T18:44:34Z")
\*Hard Times \*by Dickens. Depressing most or all of the way through. Also, the last Adrian Mole book. He gets cancer and loses his job and his wife. Pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/173 "2016-09-11T20:23:07Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Several people have mentioned The Road. It is a bummer, for sure, but I’ll take it that you haven’t read McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. It makes The Road seem like Harry Potter. I haven’t read _Blood Meridian_ but the most depressing book I’ve ever read was one of McCarthy’s, and it too makes _The Road_ seem light-hearted in comparison. _Outer Dark_. It starts with a young woman having just given birth to her brother’s baby. Brother doesn’t want the kid, so against his sister’s wishes, he decides to get rid of it, leaving him in the woods to die. Sister figures out that he lied when he claimed the baby was already dead and buried then goes on a quest to find her baby. It gets worse from there. [spoiler]The baby is found by a guy named Tinker, who takes him while Sis is looking for him. There’s a long wander across the country as she tries to get the baby back. Eventually some bandits get ahold of him and slit his little throat for amusement. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/174 "2016-09-11T22:44:50Z")
_Sister Carrie_ by Theodore Dreiser. I was in a funk for over a week. Then there was a Robin Williams TV special and life had meaning again. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/175 "2016-09-11T23:49:53Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > _Sister Carrie_ by Theodore Dreiser. > > I was in a funk for over a week. Then there was a Robin Williams TV special and life had meaning again. I wondered why Hurstwood didn’t just turn himself in: I would think prison would have been preferable to being a frozen carman or a starving bum. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/176 "2016-09-12T08:03:38Z")
“Those who walk away from Omelas” (it’s a short story but chilling) by Ursula K. Leguin and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, which becomes scarier and more possible every year. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/177 "2016-09-12T16:11:38Z")
I nominate The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow. Such a sad story of a family getting uprooted and her creation turns out not to be who she wanted it to be (hope that isn’t too much of a spoiler) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/178 "2016-09-12T16:43:19Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I have to believe ‘‘The Lottery’’ influenced The Hunger Games. It’s funny, because when I heard The Hunger Games was YA, I picked it up thinking the book would be all about them escaping from ever having to fight each other… but no, it actually features children murdering each other, one kid being eaten alive by wild dogs, torture and brainwashing, a few devastating deaths and the protagonist almost being burned alive. It is however almost completely devoid of teens doing sex things so that’s totally okay. :dubious: This was probably related to the apparent fact that girls in Panem do not menstruate. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/179 "2016-09-12T19:20:55Z")
Several posters have already nominated my candidate, _The Road_. That book literally had me in tears. The fact that I had a son about the same age as the Boy in the book made it so much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209/180 "2016-09-12T19:29:53Z")
I’ll add in the whole of James Ellroy’s \*LA Quartet \*book series, which is a singularly depressing look at police and the power structure of Los Angeles at mid-century. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-depressing-novel-you-ever-read/765209.md?page=10)