What were the most depressing books you’ve ever read?
I’m not talking about books with sad endings like “Shane”, I’m talking about thoroughly depressing books.
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
3.The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series By Tad Williams.
4.(Not really a book but…) Anything written by Tennessee Williams.
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.
Just restricting my list to books I’ve read recently, I’d have to say “Drowning Ruth” was up there. Nicely written, but the overall sense of foreboding made the book feel like it weighed 40 lbs.
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood still depresses me just thinking about it. It’s an all-too-accurate depiction of how cruel children can be. I hardly remember any details of the book (I read it a long time ago) but I just get this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking about it.
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns.
This book contains the depression inventory my doctor wanted me to take a few weeks ago after I answered “Yes” to his question “Have you thought about taking your life?” Until I took that inventory, I thought of myself as somewhat depressed. Afterward, I knew I was severely depressed.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (more of a long short story), and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The first two are among my favourite books, and all of them made me cry.
I read this book called “Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous when I was in seventh grade. It is the diary of a girl with a drug problem. It was got to me even though I was only twelve. Also In fifth grade we read “Bridge to Teribithia”. That book had the saddest ending. I was only ten when I read it and couldn’t believe that the author(I am sorry I can’t remember the name) Was aloud to publish a book with such a sad ending.
I know that feeling when I read that book. It’s a good book, but the undertones in it…
Honestly, I don’t even have a copy in my apartment-I check it out of the library when I want to be depressed.
Recently I read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn and The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham. Both of which I found depressing, but not nearly as much as Cat’s Eye.
Anything by Albert Camus.
I studied French just to read The Stranger.
Count of Monte Cristo,
most depressing yet uplifting.
But then the most depressing thing ever is the daily newspaper.
I have to take Wally Cox’s advice and leave them for three weeks.
Then I can say, “Thank God this isn’t happening now.”
The most depressing book I’ve ever read is The Grapes Of Wrath by Steinbeck. Pretty sad how all those families had to go out west to nothing but discrimination and heartache.
Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin (not so much a book as a punch in the gut)
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood (also scariest book I ever read)
The World According to Garp, by John Irving (only book that ever made me cry)
Deathbird, by Harlan Ellison (only short story that ever made me cry, although I made the mistake of reading it the night I had to put my dog down)
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck (see comments to previous)
This is the Way the World Ends, by James Morrow (oddly, despite killing off the entire human race, he manages to end this book on an up-note.)
Well, William Goldman, a writer I greatly admire, has developed to a great degree the ability to make you care about his characters, after which he does terrible things to them.
Boys and Girls Together, Magic, and the Color of Light are all very well written, but none of them are going to leave you with a song in your heart. Brothers (the sequel to Marathon Man) was so depressing that I’ve chosen to pretty much pretend I never read it.