# What were the most depressing books you've ever read? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801 "2001-05-28T20:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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 28, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/1 "2001-05-28T20:02:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/2 "2001-05-28T21:08:41Z")
_Night_ by Elie Weisel _Jude the Obscure_ by Thomas Hardy “The Dead” from James Joyce’s _Dubliners_ Philip Larkin’s poetry just my opinion ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/3 "2001-05-28T21:11:37Z")
Hunger by Knut Hamsun, kind of the Grandpa of depressing books. The call the realists. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/4 "2001-05-28T22:23:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/5 "2001-05-28T22:47:50Z")
_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. That was a major downer. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/6 "2001-05-28T23:08:14Z")
**Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.** An Indian History of the American West This book will run you through the whole guantlet of emotions. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/7 "2001-05-28T23:09:06Z")
_Fight Club_ by Chuck Palahniuk. That guy just _hates_ the world and everybody in it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/8 "2001-05-28T23:10:32Z")
_A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving ---
**Author:** ![xekul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/838e76/32.png) [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/9 "2001-05-28T23:30:00Z")
_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. ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/10 "2001-05-28T23:37:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/11 "2001-05-28T23:41:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\*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. \*\* 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_. ---
**Author:** ![Phelan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Phelan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phelan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/12 "2001-05-28T23:55:14Z")
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/13 "2001-05-29T00:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reeder \* > **Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.** More powerful than _Custer Died For Your Sins_. 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.” ---
**Author:** ![HalberMensch242](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HalberMensch242](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HalberMensch242)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/14 "2001-05-29T00:25:56Z")
**Of Mice and Men** , by Steinbeck **Notes From the Underground** , by Dostoyevsky **One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich** ,by Alexander Solzhenitsyn ---
**Author:** ![ndorward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@ndorward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ndorward)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/15 "2001-05-29T00:57:52Z")
George Meredith, _The Ordeal of Richard Feverel_. Beats anything by his contemporary Thomas Hardy hands down. --N ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_Nazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Soup\_Nazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_Nazi)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/16 "2001-05-29T01:23:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/17 "2001-05-29T01:38:21Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/18 "2001-05-29T01:42:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/19 "2001-05-29T01:48:15Z")
Count another vote for Steinbeck’s _Grapes of Wrath._ I was depressed already when I read it, and the story didn’t help. Thomas Hardy’s _Tess of the D’Urbervilles_ bored and depressed me. His books have a reputation for doing that. Theodore Dreiser’s _Sister Carrie,_ along with a very similar novel, Edith Wharton’s _The House of Mirth,_ had hopelessness throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801/20 "2001-05-29T02:19:23Z")
**On The Beach** by **Neville Chute** What can I say? The ending is so final, as it were. **The Sand Pebbles** by **Richard McKenna** I’ll put it to you this way, the movie ends a lot happier than the book. **The Good Earth** by **Pearl S. Buck** The famine scene can only wrench your heart. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-depressing-books-youve-ever-read/66801.md?page=2)