What are the saddest books you’ve ever read?
What are the saddest books you’ve ever read?
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Jude the Obscure by an enormous margin.
Ugh. Yes.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
Bridge to Terabithia (as a child)
A Child Called It
A Dog’s Purpose
I cried and cried with “the boy named it”.
Me too
The Pecan Man, Boy in the striped pajamas, The Nightingale, Me Before You, The Fault in our stars…oh I’m sure there’s so many more!
I also second A Child Called It. Also, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Definitely A Child Called It.
Boy in striped pyjamas.
I was bored by most of it…BUT the last part? Not afraid to admit I went through a ton of Kleenex!
Danielle Steele’s books have me in tears, so quit reading her books!
The Fault in Our Stars
Haven’t read the book. But I cried over the movie; it was so good.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
I desperately hated Tess of the D’Urbervilles
One of my top ten most hated novels
Oh!!! Why?? It was tragic from beginning to end??
A Child Called It, My Lobotomy ( A Memoir), We Need to Talk About Kevin.
A wak to remember, a monster calls
The Diary of Ann Frank.
If I stay…
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Book Thief
This wsy for the gas ladies and gentlement
I just finished that a few weeks ago, and it was brutal.
The Ugly Duckling.
Cormac McCarthy – The Road
This was sadder than sad. Bleak. Grim. Gut and heart-rending.
It didn’t make me cry. It stunned me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Child Called It
Message in a Bottle.
I saw the movie and it was very sad, so I won’t read the book!
Night, Flowers for Algernon, Ethan Frome
This
Agree!!
My diary
Girl, I feel ya!
❤️❤️
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Sarah’s Key
agree
The Red Pony, Where the Red Fern Grows
Where the Red Fern Grows for sure.
Agreed
hands down where the Red Fern Grows
Bridge to terabithia and a monster calls
We Need To Talk About Kevin, The Fault in our Stars.
A Monster calls and Sarah’s key.
Either Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson or I Swear by Lane Davis. I hate the injustice and how those tortured are antagonized and then lash out by murder. It’s complicated . . .
In third grade…The Yearling….wrecked me for the longest time….lol
Despite being classics, I won’t read The Yearling or Old Yeller.
Lol….the summer following 3rd grade our parents took us to see Old Yeller…that was a long sad year….
I won’t read The Yearling or Old Yeller either. Way too sad!!
Night by Ellie wiesel (I don’t think that’s how it’s spelled) Marley and me
Night had me crying as well
Tuesdays with Morrie! I wept!
This has been on my list for so long. Must read it
The Green Mile favourite sad and one of the saddest!
Tess of the d’urbervilles most hated sad book I ever read. Really wanted to bring back to life and punch Thomas Hardy!
Also one of the saddest!
It’s like the Cold Mountain of novels ?
Cold Mountain is my #1 most hated film
Sarah’s Key
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I was sobbing at the end.
I cried through the last quarter of this book. Haven’t seen the movie. I’m afraid I’d be disappointed.
@Laura I enjoyed the movie, but was surprised by what they left out…and I was glad that I read the book first.
A man called ove
Such an amazing read!
i absolutely loved it❤️❤️
❤️❤️
Never Let Me Go.
Ugh! I cried my eyes out at the film! I can’t imagine!
My big Sister was fighting breast cancer at the time and had just found out she would have to have a complete hysterectomy as well as mastectomy! My nightmares kept mixing the two and I was waking up with panic attacks
50 Shades . . . For several reasons.
Black Beauty and Lord of the Flies certainly affected me the most, both were very sad and disturbing — I imagine because I was young when I read them. However, I think I’d probably feel the same about both today. I know I would about Black Beauty.
Both on my list. I watched BB recently and still felt sad
Old Yeller.
Red Bandana, about a hero during 9-11!
Who wrote this?
Frankenstein
The Dollmaker, and it remains my favorite novel of all time.
Who wrote this?
Sophie’s Choice
The Green Mile, so sad!!!
Definitely a masterpiece as good as any classic novel in my opinion
yep
I was messed up for like a month after The Green Mile
Me too, but longer, I had a field mouse that got in my house and I started calling him Mr Jingles and did not kill him. It was like he was starting to become a pet and not even running and hiding! I had to get a grip on myself and get that mouse out of the house! The insanity of it all!
The Virgin Suicides
The Catcher in the Rye, Thirteen Reasons Why, Go Ask Alice, most bildungsroman are sad for me
bildungsroman?
cpming of age
I seriously hate sad novels and I fight depression as it is, and yet I am taking screenshots of everything I haven’t read! ???
My brain in imponderable ?
This is me. I have depression but must read all the sad things. ?
I have depression too, but figure that if I’m crying over a book, it’s a good way to redirect/release my emotions.
I also have depression but it’s so different than sadness. Books don’t trigger depression for me.
For me I feel like I’m in a constant battle to make myself stay cheerful and stay very physically active and force myself to do things with friends.
I feel like I could just so easily slip into a hole where I’m laying in my bed all weekend sleeping and crying, not eating or drinking and not answering my phone.
My Mother had long bouts of depression when I was growing up
Where she wouldn’t have moved from our bed once while I was at school all day, no food, nothing.
If I don’t eat properly and workout and stay social I find a part myself wanting to shut myself off and shut down in the same horrible way.
My friends all think I’m super sweet supportive and positive but I’m really just constantly treading water
Keep treading Lora; you’re doing everything right. Resist and stay social. I do believe we can inherit a tendency toward depression from a parent. But also remember, there are PLENTY of things going on in this world to be legitimately sad about. It’s hard to stay “up” all the time. I’ve never believed we can or should be ‘happy’ all the time. Rather, I think we have moments of joy and need to appreciate them when they happen.
Thank you! Definitely words of wisdom!
Books are often my way out ❤️
Me too! My Sisters and I got shuffled around a lot and lived with all different family members. By the time we left we had always read and sometimes reread every book in the house! ?
We also used to tell each other stories and write stories.
I don’t think I could have survived childhood (or any really difficult time) without books! ???
My comment was marked as spam? ?
Weird!
The winter Garden by Kristen Hannah ???
A little princess and Frankenstein
Where the Red Fern Grows
and Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Beach Music
I have two copies of Kujo (one in USA and one in Australian home) and have never been able to get past the first few pages for fear of the sadness.
Is it insanely sad or does it get scary?
The.River King
Bright Side by Kim Holden, The Lost and Found series by Lori Otto
The Book Thief
Got to read this one…
It’s brilliant, but heart breaking…
There’s some real sad parts in Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler. And some real mad parts but you didn’t ask about those!
“The Art Of Racing in the Rain”
The New York Times bestselling novel from Garth Stein–a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of a dog’s efforts to hold together his family in the face of a divisive custody battle.
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.
One of the best and saddest books ever. Loved it, but, oh, my.
The Last Lecture-in a good way
Night by Elie Wiesel
A Little Life
Joanie Lavitt Borbely one of my all-time favorites. I tend toward the more tragic stories.
Killer sad
The Time Traveler’s Wife seemed particularly poignant to me
Sophie’s Choice, The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, Art of Racing in the Rain are the ones that come to mind. More I am sure I can’t recall.
Homeless bird by Gloria Whalen
A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini
Still Alice
Oh yes! Terrible tears and then I had to watch the movie.
@Dayna I just finally finished it. Took me awhile. My mother was just diagnosed with dementia and it all is a little close right now.
@Tami I understand. My mother had dementia/Alzheimer’s for several years before she died. It runs in my family.
Bridges if Madison county
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
She’s Come Undone
I really like Wally Lamb, but he is a difficult read for me emotionally. I am about halfway though The Hour I First Believed ( it’s taken a year so far) but because of a bad habit of skipping around in books I think I know what’s coming and I don’t want to go there. Columbine is still painful to think about.
The lovely bones
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
The art of racing in the rain! But still my all time favorite!
A Lesson Before Dying.
Endless Love.
P.s I love you
OMG I was thinking of this the other day, I read it when I was in what?, middle school?, wow……
Oh yes. Tears just ran down my face.
Sophie’s Choice and Jude the Obscure are up there, but Atonement gutted me. It took me about a week to get over it, and I never could watch the film.
I understand. The film is beautifully made, though.
Sophie’s Choice has stayed with me for years. I will never see the movie.
I would never watch the movie either and I didn’t finish the book. Threw it in the garbage after that scene.
The movie is achingly beautiful.
Bastard out of Carolina and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Though both end with hope…
these are the two i’d have said, too
@Susie Great minds!
Bridges of Madison county.
Defending Jacob is gut wrenching to read as a parent.
Me Before You, A Walk To Remember, The Fault In Our Stars, The Nightingale
The Time Traveler’s Wife really made me all twisty-sad for a long time…..refuse to watch the movie! Also, while working my way thru the classics, I was rather depressed after reading “The Yearling”.
Time travel love is always gut wrenching.
The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld; The Divide by Nicholas Evans. I suspect everything Nicholas Evans has written is that way, because the movie The Horse Whisperer was also very sad.
Bridge to Terabithia
OMG, YES…..another tear-jerker from my childhood….
Yes! I remember I was so upset about that one I couldn’t sleep, so my mom brought me my little sister’s book Bunnicula, which really cheered me up. 🙂
Oh yes.
@Mycala what a good mom! I needed Bunnicula afterwards & I was the mom!
Old Yeller in 6th grade, and more recently , Heading Out to Wonderful.
Kite Runner
I don’t normally read books like that however a great tear jerking read ❤
felt the same
Me Before You is the latest
The Light Between Oceans
Charlotte’s Web
A Lesson Before Dying
Angela’s Ashes
Never Let Me Go
Hear, hear
My Sister’s keeper
Ugh. The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Yes!!! This is one I can re-read and still it makes me cry.
Fault in our stars
The Road was tough for me – I read it about a month after my dad passed away unexpectedly.
When Breath Becomes Air and Atonement
Oh, Atonement is wonderful!
The Grapes of Wrath
the orphan’s tale
Red Dog
The Grapes of Wrath
Yes to Fault in Our Stars. Also, The Book Thief. Winter Garden.
Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas
Oh yes! I forgot about that one.
Right! It’s one of my favorite books but so sad….
The only Patterson books I’ve read are Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas and Sam’s Letters to Jennifer.
James Patterson is the best, you must read more!! How was Sam’s Letters to Jennifer?
It’s been years. I liked it. Suzanne’s Diary was better.
Bridge to Teribethia
When I was in 5th grade, our teacher read to us every day after lunch and lunch recess. She read Bridge to Terabithia to us. It left a HUGE impression on me.
Wow I’ve never read it, but you can bet I am going to now….
@Jennifer it’s beautiful and it’s also a lovely movie.
Stone Fox
All Who Are Brave Are Forgiven. And weirdly, Grocery which is an awesome non- fiction book… but talks a lot about a father-son relationship
Sarah’s Key
Flowers For Algernon.
Very sad book.
Bridges of Madison County.
the Art of Racing in the @Leigh.
You have to had dog pass away to truly appreciate this book.. but I agree with you.
Roots by Alex Haley for me. Besides the sad aspects of utter cruelty, its based on history, and my personal history. Its 900 pages of historical heartache.
Never Let Me Go . Blackberry Wine. Time Traveller’s Wife.
You’re right. The Time Traveller’s Wife is my favorite book. But every time I re-read it I skip those last chapters.
I never made it to the end. It was too traumatic – beautifully written though.
Flowers for Algernon
Where the Red Fern Grows
Sarah’s Key
So many have made me cry over the years, but the one that most immediately came to mind was Ride the Wind by Lucia St Clair Robson. It’s about the last days of the Comanche.
Also:
Where the Red Fern Grows
Kite Runner
Marley and Me
I went through a long stretch of several of Robson’s novels in a row a long time ago. Was actually emailing her during it and she responded!
White Oleander
Have you read A Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus and the sequel just came out called the Vengence of Mothers. It is about the Cheyenne.
a boy called it
Fault in our Stars
Year of Magical Thinking.
my sisters keeper
The storyteller by Jodi Picoult…I ugly cried
I ugly cried too. I love almost anything by Jodi Picoult.
firefly lane, the walk to remember
I said a walk to remember too?
Notebook handsdown is my favorite book
“A Child Called It”. I cried and cried.
i read that, i forgot about that one
Indeed
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. 814 pages of tragedy/sadness.
Beautiful book
Yes. 814 pp. of unadulterated pain and agony. I really should start a support group for those of us who read A Little Life. It still haunts me.
A walk to remember, my sisters keeper and now I forgot the title I’ll remember
Has anyone read the book “A piece of cake”?
Yes! Her story is memorizing. It’s amazing all the things she has overcome.
Yes! By Cupcake Brown. ?
@Calli yes so good
@Raquel yes your the first to respond. That was an excellent book because it was so raw and the truth. You know she left nothing out.
Yes was meant yes I’ve read the book, not yes I’m first.
Old Yeller
probably something with a dog dying in it
Sarah’s Key
That one was heartbreaking.
Try The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons.
A Tale of Two Cities. Romeo and Juliette (yes, it’s a play, but I read it like a story) affected me powerfully as a teen. Jane Austen always fixed things up in the end, but Persuasion and Mansfield Park convey the confined and almost hopeless conditions of some women’s lives authentically.
The Bluest Eye
Where the Redfern Grows.
Angelas Ashes
Nurse
A Little Life
I needed to go to sadness rehab after that one. ?
@Dayna same! I think I went through a whole box of tissues in the last 200 pages. I totally would read it again. ?
Ordinary People by JudithGuest.
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
I remember my mom reading that book, and her saying she really enjoyed it, however it also “moved” her.
me before you
“The year of the fog” by Michelle Richmond hands down
I’m not really sure. I know there are books I’ve read where there have been events or sections that really saddened me, however a full book? I can’t think of any.
A Little Life. Light between oceans second saddest
Angela’s ashes
Sophie’s Choice
The Book Thief
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8621462-a-monster-calls
The Bronze Horseman. Not in a sobbing way. In a horrifically sad way.
Wearing the Cape by Marion G Harmon. And of course, Little Women.
Bastard out of Carolina.
The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve.
A Fault in Our Stars made me ugly cry, Jude the Obscure has a really depressing plot start to finish, and Unbearable Lightness of Being gave me such a profound sense of sadness through the writing.
Sophie’s Choice
All Quiet On The Western Front, Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, The English Patient, The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.
Thorn birds, Jane eyre, fault in our star, pll, and one thousand years of solitude.
One Hundred Years of Solitude. But whose counting ?
A book called scarred that I read as a child.
All books by Cathy Glass.
The death of Santini
I’ve shed countless tears over Pat Conroy’s novels. ?
This is not a novel it’s his memoir of his fathers death
@Cathy you are right. I’ve read all of Pat Conroy’s novels, memoirs & cookbooks. They are priceless. His untimely death hit me hard.
The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow
Go Ask Alice
Yep, I had forgotten about this one. I think i read it back in the 90s.
The child called “It”.
or any of dave pelzer’s other books.
Yes, I totally agree!
https://smile.amazon.com/visitor-Gene-Smith/dp/0402140168/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g2609328962?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&ie=UTF8
All over but the shouting by Rick Bragg
My sister’s keeper Jodi Picoult
That one just made me angry.
A child called it! To think a parent would single out 1 of her children and abuse them, is so sad.
A Constellation of Beautiful Phenomena. Anthony Marra. Achingly sad and beautiful
Sarah’s Key
Sarah’s Key
Corellis Mandolin
Night
Definitely Sophie’s Choice. Utterly heartbreaking.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
A perfect book!
uncle tom’s cabin
The first book to ever make me cry was Gone With The Wind about 45 yrs ago. If I read it again I just know I’ll cry again.
Oh and A Tree grows in Brooklyn
Never Let Me Go ?
Had to put it down & just stream the movie!
Sophie’s Choice. Joy Luck Club. Thread of Grace. The Nightingale.
A boy called It
Fine Things
The cat who went to heaven
Me before you by Jojo Moyes.
The Good Wife by Stewart O’Nan. (doesn’t have anything to do with the TV Series)
Marley and Me – reminded me of losing my sweet Lab.
“Tess of the d’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy.
whutering heights, emily bronte
I like that one.
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms – like it was so depressing.
The art of racing in the rain
Believe it or not when I was 10, I read Looking For Mr. Goodbar, to me it was very sad, helpless and hopeless at the end.
Ha! I forgot I actually read that one in the 1980s.
Paula by Isabelle Allende
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, House of Sand and Fog, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
The Last Adventure by José Giovanni. It was turned into a film with Alain Delon
The boy in striped pyjamas.
A Little Life
That book killed something inside me. ??
A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry
Excellent book.
all the light we cannot see
My Sweet Orange Tree, by José Mauro de Vasconcelos ???
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.. brilliant book, well worth a read
That’s one of my favorites. I think I’ll read it again.
The guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Love Story.
Spilled Milk by KL Randis
Kite Runner
Call me Tuesday
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
They Cage the Animals at Night
I’m a dog lover so based on that the saddest book I’ve ever read was A Dog’s Purpose.
If you haven’t already, you should read Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley then…
Giants bread by Mary Westmacott (aka Agatha Christie ) .
Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg
Yep. I forgot about that one. Tears ran down my face.
Zulmat k andhery sa Islam k noor tak
Don’t tell mummy by Tony Maguire ..
The elegance of the Hedgehog. By Muriel Barbers. Beautiful and heartbreaking.
To Live, Schindler’s List, The Book Thief, A Monster Calls, Beloved, Survival in Auschwitz
Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls made me cry and cry. It was a very very good book, but I’m not sure it would be as sad if one hadn’t suffered a catastrophic loss. Also, by Frederik Backman, My Grandmother Asks Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is both sad and funny, and made me flat out cry more than once.
I’m thinking this over as I read hundreds of these comments. I find it interesting that some of these books barely touched me and some got me going so bad I was reading through tears & snot with a box of tissues. All books considered, I think I’ll go with every novel written by the late PAT CONROY.
The Notebook
My Dog Skip- I won’t do dog books ever again.
Bawled my eyes out at the movie!!
The book was better. The father/son relationship was dramatized differently… but I’m not recommending you read it unless you want more bawling. And the Dog’s death was more heartbreaking in the book.
@Kris probably can’t handle it!
I swore off dog books – or any animal books – when I was five and read Old Yeller (the large Golden book version with pictures). Sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I don’t know why mom thought that would be a good choice….
Never Let Me Go
Where the Red Fern Grows hurt my heart
Looking for Alaska, Everything I Never Told You
Both fabulous books!
Black Beauty
Me Before You by @Jojo
This book was sad as hell.
Check out When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23129964
1. A Boy Called It
2. Spilled Milk
Yeah! I’ve read the first one, too
So heartbreaking! I haven’t read it in years, I think I’ll reread it. You should give Spilled Milk by K.L. Randis a read.
I just finished wetting my pillow as a result of “First Love” by James Patterson. My heart can’t take much more for at least a week
I understand. I will be searching for your First Love book tonight.
The Art of Racing in the Rain was an amazing book. But it did bring a few tears.
On my stack. Maybe not today.
Try it via audio…. Good gravy!!! Narrator did an excellent job!
See you at Harrys
The Song of Achilles, All the Light We Cannot See, The Kite Runner
The Light Between Oceans
The Little Way of Ruthie Lemming by Rod Dreher. It’s a true story wonderfully written about the author’s sister & family. Great book, but will never read again…can’t take that painful journey twice.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Purple Hibiscus by @chimamanda
My sister’s keeper. ??
A piece of cake by cupcake brown ??
Amazing what she endured and overcame.
I know! I was crying through out the whole book
I’m sure a lot of what she endured still goes on. Heartbreaking.
Boy snow bird
But it’s so so good, I’d recommend it to anyone.
Lesson before dying
Loved this book!
A Child Called It
Alex, the Life of a Child by Frank Deford
There was a book I read, I’m not naming it it disturbed me so much, about the Rwandan genocide. ?
Watership Down. ?
I’m just finishing Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler. It goes on the heartbreak list. ?
Day for Night by Frederick Reiken, excellent, I cried for the last 30 pages.
The Timekeeper by Mitch Albom
Me Before You