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Name a book that’s so sad and devastating, you could never go back and read it again.

Name a book that’s so sad and devastating, you could never go back and read it again.

Jessie #recommend

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135 Answers

Renee

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

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Jennifer

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

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Danee

Yes! ?

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Kimberly

Yes! But it’s amazing and heartbreaking.

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Suzana

@Jennifer yes!!!

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Lauren

The light between oceans

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Devine

The Nightingale. Once was enough

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Jennifer

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

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Chelsea

@Jennifer I second this with A Thousand Splendid Suns also by Khaled.

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Cher

🙁

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Valérie

That’s also what I was about to say!

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Adrienne

@Jennifer So so good. I keep thinking I want to reread it, but I just can’t.

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Jessica

I can’t remember the name but it was a Nicholas Sparks book with the Great Dane in it

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Lauren

@Jessica the guardian? It is on my TBR list!

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Jessica

@Lauren yesssss! I read it as a teenager and my hormonal heart couldn’t take it. I loved it.. but haven’t read it since

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Ashley

Old Yeller

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Natalie

A Little Life

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Hattie

@Natalie I second that!

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Caroline

Beautiful Joe

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Angela

Where the Red Fern Grows

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Kayla

THIS, so much! I read it once in fifth grade and once again on high school and bawled my eyes out both times!

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Angela

@Kayla, I read it when I was about 9 and I still vividly remember that we were driving and my mom had to pull over and get me some tissue because I was crying so hard.

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Emily

We read it in 3rd grade and as if that wasn’t enough, we had to watch the movie after. I’m still traumatized 25 years later!

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Angela

@Emily, that’s awful. I don’t think I could even watch the movie now as an adult.

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Lindsey

I had a hard time with The Lovely Bones

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Charlotte

@Lindsey second this

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Lizzie

Agree

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Krystal

Yes! And for some reason I watched the movie too, which was also absolutely devastating.

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Cher

Bastard out of Carolina

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Tara

I saw the lifetime movie, I didn’t know it was a book. But the movie was traumatizing

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Amy

Bridge to Terabithia

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Tara

This one

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Chi

@Amy I left it out on my last book hoard. Should I read it or nah? How devastated will I be at the end?

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Cat

Where the Red Fern Grows, my 6th grade teacher read it to the class and I never got over it.

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Alison

I can’t read Kite Runner or anything else by that author. I truly am glad I read it, but it was so hard to get through.

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Emma

@Alison did you read a thousand splendid suns? I think its his best book. Heartbreaking but so damn good

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Emma

tw: rape&abuse

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Alison

@Emma I just won’t.

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Temi

Rosie Colored Glasses
Tell the Wolves I’m Home

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Kaitlin

A Little Life

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Mackenzie

Before We Were Yours

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Lizzie

All the Light we Cannot See, The Lovely Bones, Black Beauty, the list goes on. I’m a wimp!

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Abby

honestly, Tuesday’s with Morrie. i had to read it for a class and it ruined me. i don’t think i stopped bawling that evening.

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Morgan

50 Shades of grey

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Angelique

P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

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Patrycja

Marley and me

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Therese

Mischling

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Celeste

The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas

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Sara

I know they’ve both been said but I second: “Where the Red Fern Grows” — This is the first book I recall having an emotional reaction to. I cried my eyes out when Old Dan….. well…. you know. This book MADE me a reader. But I’ll never read it again.

Second one: Bridge to Terabithia — BECAUSE I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. I was young and naive… and still believed most books had happy-ish endings.

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Jennifer

BtoT was THE WORST!!! Ugh. That ending.

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Christine

@Sara it was the first book I ever cried over. I didn’t know books could DO that before.

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Sarah

Kite runner

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Chi

@Sarah i will never ever read that book again.

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Sarah

@Chi Same and it’s been over a decade since I read it. It broke my heart.

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Chi

@Sarah and I have just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns. Should I go for And the Mountains Echoed?

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Rehana

@Sarah yep!

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Sarah

@Chi After I read A Thousand Splendid Suns. I didn’t read the next one. Let me know? I have been tempted to. But I didn’t.

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Chi

@Sarah I’m reluctant to ? It’s def heart-breaking.

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Sarah

@Chi I think so too. I cried so much for both Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Suns. It haunts me. Maybe when you are in need of a good cry?

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Chi

@Sarah I’m still haunted by the Kite Runner. Yeah, maybe only then. Thanks a lot!

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Julia

I showed up to this thread to say Kite Runner, too! AMAZING book, but not one I can get through again I don’t think. I have similar feelings about A Thousand Splendid Suns even though it’s one of my favorite books of all time!

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Sarah

@Julia Yes!

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Felicitas

A little life

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Maria

It’s weird that the first thing I do is save this post to read the books?

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Kate

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Pia

We Need To Talk About Kevin. The Book Thief

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Krystal

The final in the Divergent series. Though, it was less sad and devastating and more awful and rage inducing. But I will NEVER read it again.

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Emma

@Krystal it ruined the entire series and the first two were soooo good

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Jenny

@Krystal it went from a great book to the WORST TRILOGY EVER all because of that book. That third one made me SO ANGRY A

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Krystal

@Emma exactly!!

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Krystal

@Jenny SAME ?. I’m still not over it ?

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Kelsey

Its the only book I’ve ever considered lighting on fire…

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Emma

@Kelsey same but mine was an ebook :///

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Haniya

Bridge to Teribithia. I refused to watch the movie in class after having read the book.

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Anna

The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. Tore my heart out and threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

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Dani

@Anna have you read This is How You Lose Her?

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Anna

@Dani oh good that’s sad too

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Dani

@Anna it is! It’s one of my favorite books though.

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Tatiana

A little life ❤️

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Jessica

Marley and Me

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Jasmine

The boy in the striped pajamas

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Jasmine

a child called it

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Dani

When Breath Becomes Air. I loved it, but I don’t think I could take it again.

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Kate

@Dani I SOBBED

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Kyle

My Sister Lives On the Mantelpiece
Also Holding the Man, but I’d love to read it again.

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Destinee

Tuck Everlasting. The ending broke my grade school heart. ?

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Kathryn

My Sister’s Keeper. It devastated me so much, I pretty much refuse to read any other Jodi Piccoult Books.

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Dani

@Kathryn Handle With Care is ???

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Kelly

@Kathryn omg! Me too!!! I threw it against the wall and never read another book of hers.

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Kerri

@Kathryn THAT ENDING ?

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Ashley

@Dani Handle with Care made me so angry that I stopped reading her. I just could not with her and her endings.

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Hillary

You’re missing out she is amazing <3

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Amanda

The Giving Tree.. it put me out for weeks when I was little ?? every time I read it I sob. Other than that there aren’t any I can remember that I couldn’t pick up again

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Christine

Amanda Nicole Sierra -I never understood how this was a children’s book. It’s honestly heartbreaking.

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Michell

I’ve never finished “The Art of Racing in the Rain”

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Courtney

Where the red Fern grows broke my 8 year old heart I will never read it again

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Julia

I still remember Where the Red Fern Grows so vividly and I haven’t read it since 3rd grade because of how much it hit me in the feels!

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Cele

Marley & Me

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Jenny

The Day No Pigs Would Die killed me in 6th grade

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Amanda

A Child Called It

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Michelle

I can’t read anything about dogs. If something happens to the dog, I’d be devastated.

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Natasha

Nothing about animals.

The Kite Runner devastated me and broke my heart. But I would read it again, a thousand times over (bonus points if you catch the reference)

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Hussein

A thousand splendid suns I thought was much sadder than the kite runner

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Emma

@Hussein agreed. But the child rape in kite runner stuck with me much more than the female raped mostly due to the ages of those involved. In thousand splendid suns it was “expected” but still sucky

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Hussein

@Emma i agree. Just finished the kite runner yesterday. I thought both were good but a thousand splendid suns was more beautifully written. Can’t wait to start and the mountains echoed.

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Bethany

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison absolutely destroyed my heart. I think it’s an important book for people to read, but I don’t know that I could go back and read it again because it’s so sad.

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Ilyssa

Tuesdays with Morrie

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Anastasia

Go Ask Alice

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Katie

A Little Life

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Anna

Romeo is homeless

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Julie

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. That book was so depressing that it put me into a deep funk.

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Cassandra

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, I was not expecting that ending

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Marine

Grave of the Fireflies, as sad as the movie

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Jessika

@Marine It killed me too! ?

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Mia

@Marine It’s a book?? OMG I thought it was only a movie. ??

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Marine

@Mia It’s a novella by Nosaka Akiyuki, who’s a famous Japanese writer, a very great book, the writing is beautiful 🙂

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Pina

Five Smooth Stones. I read it years ago and that feeling has always stayed me. I’ve recently bought the book so I can read again though and see if those feelings still remain.

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Steph

Following

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Amanda

Lily and the Octopus made me ugly cry.

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Zakiyyah

F

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Mia

Me before you

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Ananda

The Nightingale

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Kati

In the Woods by Tana French

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Kati

All the Bright Places as well. That was actually very triggering for me

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Lieke

Night by Elie Wiesel, and Escape from Camp 14.

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Hope

Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, The Yearling, Charlotte’s Web, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

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Kristen

The Green Mile for sure.

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Christine

Tell the Wolves I’m Home

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Madison

Letting Ana Go

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Veronica

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Jacklyn

All The Light We Cannot See. The ending destroyed me and I’ll never read it again. It’s my most recommended book at the moment

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Sara

Cheater. Faker. Troublemaker. ??

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Jessica

Jacob have i loved.

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Jenny

@Jessica omg this book

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Jacklyn

All the Light We Cannot See. I finished it months ago and I’m still not recovered.

0
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