What's the most depressing book you've read?

[bif]

Not a copycat thread. Just thought it would be interesting since there's one about depressing movies.

Mine: "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

[Glorfindel]

1. Probably "On the Beach" by Nevil Shute

I was about 13 when I read it. I thought it was depressing and scary.

[petronius]

5. I'll second that. Also "All Quiet on the Western Front"

[cordelia]

6. I'll "third" that.

"On the Beach" gave me nightmares.

I've never been able to bring myself to watch the movie.

[iris27]

42. Ugh...I totally agree.

I just read that one earlier this year. Can't imagine reading it at 13!

[cyberswede]

57. I concur...

Reading it on the city bus in college - I literally blubbered all the way home. Very thought-provoking, though.

[El Supremo]

74. That's the one.

End of the world. You can't get more depressing than that.

[barb162]

90. Yes and also

Tess of the Durbervilles and Anna Karenina.

[leeroysphitz]

95. ditto

[Richardo]

2. "1984"

The last line completely gobsmacked me.

[Maccagirl]

34. I'll add Animal Farm to that

Orwell certainly understood the dark side of human nature.

[darkstar3]

40. I'll third that. n/t

[trackfan]

43. Yep. n/t

[Mad_Dem_X]

69. My choice, as well. n/t

[mnhtnbb]

3. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

Tells how he helped the US cheat poor countries around the world.

[av8rdave]

4. I would also have to go with "The Road" Depressing but compelling

[AngryOldDem]

11. Same here. n/t

[TheMightyFavog]

7. John Grisham's The Appeal

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!




















































After all the tragedy the justice went through when the faulty baseball bat and a mistake by the hospital damn near killed his son, he still let the chemical company get away with murder. And people wonder why I oppose the election of State Supreme Court justices.

[Staph]

63. I listened to The Appeal on CD.

I darn near cried at the end. I'm from West Virginia, and I had heard that it was based on Don Blankenship's (Massey Energy / owner of the Upper Big Branch coal mine where 29 miners died earlier this year) purchase of a state Supreme Court seat for his hand-picked candidate, Brent Benjamin.

In real life the trial turned out a little better. The fact that Benjamin would not recuse himself from a hearing concerning Blankenship and Massey Energy caused the case to be appealed to the US Supreme Court. Benjamin got slammed for his actions and the case was reheard. Unfortunately, the result was the same -- Blankenship won.

I think I need some chocolate. I'm all depressed again.

[Chan790]

8. Both of the Robert Cormier novels I had to read in HS. (Spoilers)

I'm not sure what is academically compelling about torture-porn novels about adolescent boys, but there it is.

After The First Death may be the most disturbing and disgusting book I've ever had to read for class...a book about two teenage terrorists kidnapping a bus full of kids ranging from 8 to 15 and killing most of them, including the narrator.

The Chocolate War as far as I could tell was supposed to be an allegory for the mundane everyday triumph of evil over courage and good.

[IcyPeas]

9. Richard Yates.....

(the author of the recent movie "Revolutionary Road")

Two of his other books that I read were equally depressing:

Easter Parade
and
Disturbing the Peace

For some reason I am drawn to depressing books

[mitchum]

89. Good call on Yates...

I would also include the collection "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness"


On a lighter note, I was so jazzed when I found this out several years ago...
"His daughter Monica once dated Seinfeld co-creator, Larry David and David's first meeting with the writer was the basis for "The Jacket" episode of Seinfeld's second season"

[JCMach1]

10. Vollman, "The Royal Family"... or Wiesel's, "Night"

Bit of a toss-up.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. Holy crap. Before I opened the thread that was the title that first came to mind.

I just finished reading "The Road" a few days ago.

[Bossy Monkey]

13. "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

lived up to the title.

[lunatica]

35. It was a grim ending with pig tails!

[femmocrat]

66. Agree. I couldn't get through it.

And I really enjoyed "Love in the Time of Cholera".

[Forkboy]

14. The Bible

[applegrove]

29. I read read the old testament about 10 years ago. Life was definitely awful way back

then. Makes me feel really sorry for the women of Afghanistan and the middle east these days.

[Forkboy]

30. Both versions are pretty rugged.

The Old Testament is a serious feel good novel, if ever there was one. ;)

The New Testament raises a question though. If the Bible is the word of God, do we really have the right to change it, as we did for the King James version? Is God happy about this? And can God be wrong? If not, isn't the new version an insult, presuming we know better than God did?

These are some of the reasons why Sunday School was so hard for me. :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

33. What do you mean "Change it, as we did for the King James version"?

I'm not a fan of using the KJV any more, but it didn't "change" anything. It was a pretty good and fair translation at the time.

Or do you mean the unavoidable 'change' that is inherent in any kind of translation from one language to another?

And what do you mean by 'new' version? Of the Bible? Or the New King James Version?

[Forkboy]

36. The King James version is most definitely a kinder and gentler take on things.

And I'm going to leave it at that, as religion is among my least favorite things to discuss with people who take it seriously.

[Rabrrrrrr]

38. Kinder and gentler take on what things?

As I said, I'm not a big fan of the KJV - mostly because the language is old, and we've found older and better texts to translate from.

Or are you one of those who think there's been a HUGE FUCKING WORLDWIDE CONSPIRACY to OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! protect the Bible by intentionally mistranslating to make it all "nicey nicey"?

Sorry, but there are too many of us who have learned Biblical Hebrew (and far too many who learned the Greek) for any such "conspiracy" to exist.

[Forkboy]

48. As I said, religion is my least favorite thing to discuss among people who take it seriously.

And you're taking it damn seriously. Have fun with Biblical Hebrew. That must come in handy at parties.

[El Supremo]

75. I need to take you to my church.

We could change your whole life and rid you of your bad past.

[Forkboy]

104. What about my bad future?

I have big plans for that! :)

[mitchum]

15. "Last Exit to Brooklyn"

It is also one of the best books I have ever read. Repeatedly.

[Glorfindel]

20. I had forgotten that book....

very depressing, yet well-written. I could never read it again.

[TZ]

16. The Stranger by Albert Camus

The whole existentialist movement is extremely depressing.
A close second though is "Tess of the D'urbervilles"...

[Chan790]

31. Really?

I find Camus, Sartre and even Kierkegaard extremely liberating and uplifting. It's all about not trying to understand and simply living in the moment. Bad things happen in their books to demonstrate that we cannot, should not, look for reason for the irrationality of life. To exist is enough.

[TZ]

64. The idea that random bad things happen and there's no meaning to anything?

You don't find that heavy and depressing. You are weird but then, thats rather obvious isn't it.....

[mitchum]

85. Exactly (n/t)

[wickerwoman]

97. Me too.

I think Beckett is hilarious.

And Camus and Sartre's whole point is OK, there's no God. But nothing else has really changed. We should still try to be decent people to each other. It actually becomes a bit easier when you don't have to worry about knowing all the answers.

[TZ]

112. So being convicted of murder

Because someone didn't behave like society expected is cheerful? I'm sorry but I think Camus point ( and I took a whole class on existentialism in college if you think it's at all a positive message than you really don't understand it- the Authors whole point was bleakness!) is that even if you do nothing to deserve it very bad things can happen to you- that's the point of the Stranger. Sorry but I find nothing cheering in this basic message- the universe is cold uncaring and justice doesn't exist. And as I said none of these authors wanted their point to be anything but sobering if not bleak and depressing.

[wickerwoman]

122. Read The Plague.

Where Camus lays out his theory of secular sainthood. The universe is pointless, yes, but we can still find ways to live in it and even to be virtuous. And in a way, there's a lot more liberation and hope in being honest about the bleakness of the universe than there is in lying to ourselves about it all having a "purpose".

"The early 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, posthumously regarded as the father of existentialism, maintained that the individual is solely responsible for giving his or her own life meaning and ***for living that life passionately and sincerely***, in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism


There's something very positive and liberating about the freedom that comes from not having a destiny to fulfill. Camus and Beckett have a brilliant sense of humor. Why not give them another look?

(And BTW I have a Masters degree in English Lit and my subject area was modernism... not that I'm not impressed by a whole class in existentialism).

[Glassunion]

17. This one...

[Mad_Dem_X]

70. Dear Lord! There's no way I could ever read that.

"The First Great Leader of the 21st Century"? :crazy:

[Glassunion]

92. Why wouldn't you read it? You don't like comedies?

[rug]

18. Hunger by Knut Hamsun.

"If one only had something to eat, just a little, on such a clear day! The mood of the gay morning overwhelmed me, I became unusually serene, and started to hum for pure joy and for no particular reason. In front of a butcher's shop there was a woman with a basket on her arm, debating about some sausage for dinner; as I went past, she looked up at me. She had only a single tooth in the lower jaw. In the nervous and excitable state I was on, her face made an instant and revolting impression on me - the long yellow tooth looked like a finger sticking out of her jaw, and as she turned toward me, her eyes wee full of sausage. I lost my appetite instantly, and felt nauseated."

[The Magistrate]

109. That, Sir, Is One Hell Of a Book

[PassingFair]

19. Jude the Obscure.

Also, "The Jungle"

[Ilsa]

27. I told my parents to hide the rope after reading Jude. nt

[LeftishBrit]

102. I admit that I have never been able to bring myself to read that book or see the film...

because I *know* it would depress me. I'm OK with Hardy's other books; but I don't think I'd deal with what I know happens to the children in 'Jude'.

[blueamy66]

68. Oh My Gosh

I just read the plot summary.

How freaking awful!

[Tindalos]

21. Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

It was a class assignment and I couldn't finish it because it was too depressing.

[Xipe Totec]

32. Try Titus Andronicus nt

[WinkyDink]

53. Not a book. Perhaps you should have finished it. ;-)

[MicaelS]

22. This Is the Way the World Ends

By James Morrow. Even more depressing than "On the Beach".

http://www.amazon.com/This-World-Ends-James-Morrow/dp/0156002086

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Morrow

[Mike 03]

23. Definitely "Outer Dark" by Cormac McCarthy.

It is one of his early works, even more depressing than "Blood Meridian" or "Child of God."

Incest, infanticide, you name it, it is in this book.

[mitchum]

60. Good call on "Outer Dark"

And even though his "Suttree" is a bit of a mess, it has some incredibly bleak passages.

[mitchum]

61. "A Childhood: The Biography of a Place" and "A Feast of Snakes"...

by Harry Crews

[pokerfan]

24. The Black Shrike by Alistair MacLean

(the guy who brought us The Guns of Navarone and Ice Station Zebra.) For a while there in the sixties and seventies, MacLean seemed to be writing nothing but Hollywood screenplays.



Let's just say the protagonist is no James Bond and must decide between sacrificing everything or completing his mission.

[MorningGlow]

25. I'd vote for The Road

:scared:

Also The Handmaid's Tale. I often feel the urge to reread it, but then realize I can't stomach it again. So I don't.

[Ineeda]

26. Johnny Got His Gun n/t

[Frank Cannon]

99. Hell, yes. Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

Although, IMHO, it should be required reading in high schools.

[Jade Fox]

28. Cold Mountain....

Because Inman's death in the end is just UNACCEPTABLE.

[AsahinaKimi]

37. Hiroshima by John Hersey

It was a required book in High School, and haunted me for a long time.

[InternalDialogue]

46. I love Hersey, but haven't read that yet.

I loved The Wall and Blues, both two of my all-time favorites.

[lunatica]

39. Anything Kafka wrote. Same for William Faulkner

Ugh!

[donheld]

41. I Know This Much Is True - Wally Lamb

[murielm99]

45. I was reading this thread to see if anyone would post that title.

I am not quite sure why I finished that book. I found nothing redeeming or uplifting in all the tragedy. It made no sense to me.

[donheld]

98. The book is an emotional train wreck, but

It goes to great lengths to show the effects of mental illness on a couple of brothers, as well as the effects of parents behaviors and treatments of their children. Sorry If I'm not the best at explaining myself, but the book is one of the best I've read. It was not an uplifting joyous book, but I was very glad I finished it.

[mitchum]

81. Okay, now I'm gonna read it

For some reason, I have alway assumed Lamb was a "genteel writer"
and, for that reason, have always avoided his work.
Thanks :)

[MiddleFingerMom]

44. "Last Exit to Brooklyn" by Hubert Selby and "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood...

.
.
.
...both already mentioned in this thread and both well-written, but UBERbleak.
.
.
.
.
Both film versions of "The Handmaid's Tale" sucked, IMneverHO.
.
.
.

[XemaSab]

47. Into the Wild

Especially the parts about other people who went into the woods and ate it. :(

[Posteritatis]

49. Whatever the last Stephen Baxter novel I picked up happens to be. (nt)

[Adsos Letter]

50. "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair n/t

[PassingFair]

72. Just when you think things couldn't POSSIBLY get any worse....

they DO.

Just turn the page....

This was my second pick after "Jude the Obscure".

[GoCubsGo]

93. Agreed

"Native Son" was also a huge bummer.

[Curmudgeoness]

94. My choice too. But god I love that book.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers is also pretty depressing.

[mitchum]

96. All of McCullers is depressing...

one of the reasons that I love her work

[Curmudgeoness]

103. Ah, you are another one like me, I seem to feed on depressing books.

Lead a book club on Lonely Hunter and everyone but me just hated it. I related. It felt like how I often feel.

[mitchum]

105. We are kindred spirits

I'm a pretty upbeat person who laughs and jokes a lot, but when it comes to lit or movies...
give me the bleak!

[Bertha Venation]

51. The Well of Loneliness

[WinkyDink]

52. "A Bell for Adano." "Of Mice and Men."

Of course, then there are all those JFK-assassination books.....

[KurtNYC]

54. Great Expectations n/t

[greendog]

55. Constantine's Sword by James Carroll n/t

[ceile]

56. "Angela's Ashes" n/t

[Joey Liberal]

58. The Bible for sure

It's a load of crap.

[mitchum]

59. Another great bummer novel is Henry Roth's "None Call It Sleep"

[hippywife]

84. Call it Sleep was the first one that came to my mind.

I've no idea how I made it through the whole thing except that I had nothing else to read at the time.

:hi:

[mitchum]

86. I asked Ms mitchum and it was also the first one that came to her mind

It is beautifully bleak

[hippywife]

87. "Beautifully bleak"

Excellent and spot on description. :D

[mitchum]

88. That kind of literature is like catnip to me

I even prefer humorous work to be tragicomic :)

[fishwax]

116. have you ever read Tom Kromer's Waiting for Nothing?

I saw upthread you're a fan of "Last Exit to Brooklyn," and that with "Call It Sleep" made me think of Waiting for Nothing. Not that it's particularly similar--of the two it's closer to Brooklyn, though it doesn't have the same fierce momentum. It's got a kind of storytelling style, I suppose, as Brooklyn does, but much more internal. It's about the wanderings of a hobo in the 30s, but without all the glamour and romance of Bound for Glory. :)

[mitchum]

118. No, I have not...

but thanks for the tip.
It sounds as if it is right up my shadowed alley :)

[realisticphish]

62. The Grapes of Wrath is pretty bad

but 1984 is definitely up there for me as well

[mcollins]

65. Yes, the Road was a real downer. NT

[WillParkinson]

67. The Front Runner

By Patricia Nell Warren.

I was not ready for it when I was a kid.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

71. Things Fall Apart.

[mitchum]

73. That's another one I reread every year or so

Bleak literature is like catnip to me

[Starbucks Anarchist]

78. I remember my reaction every time something bad happened:

"Oh, come on!"

Of course, "Roots" has been sitting on my shelf for something like 15 years, so when I finally get around to it, it may be more depressing.

[mitchum]

79. But it is so beautifully written...

the "sequel" No Longer At Ease is equally depressing, but it doesn't give me the same aesthetic kick as Things Fall Apart

[Callalily]

76. The Book of Ruth

by Jane Hamilton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Ruth_(novel)

[sakabatou]

77. The Bridge to Terebithia

[Frank Cannon]

100. I saw the movie expecting it to be like "Chronicles of Narnia"

It wasn't.

[old mark]

80. "R.L.'s Dream", by Walter Mosley. Really sad book on the end of the life

of an old blues musician, a friend of R.L. (Robert L. Johnson) who dies on a sidewalk...

Mosley is a great writer, and this is a really wrenching book.

mark

[Deep13]

82. In all honesty it was the Bible. nt

[era veteran]

83. The Jungle

The Sheep Look Up/ John Brunner close 2nd.

[barb162]

91. And let's not forget "Pigs at the Trough"

[LeftishBrit]

101. Two that I found really depressing...

were Irving's 'The World According to Garp' and Hugh Scott's 'Why Weeps the Brogan?' The latter is one of the hardest-hitting books about the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust; supposedly for older children/ teenagers, but I read it as an adult and found it strong stuff!

I have read plenty of books that were *sad*; but to me depressing means more than sad - it means that it leaves me in a negative gloomy mood about the world at large.

[BlueIris]

106. "In a Country of Mothers," by A.M. Homes.

What pure misogyny looks like.

[XemaSab]

107. The SADDEST was Where the Red Fern Grows

God that book was a downer.

[struggle4progress]

108. I've got several shelves of books on Nazi-era Germany: memoirs

of concentration camp survivors, compilations of documents on the extermination programs, discussions of political issues in various sectors of society ...

It's all pretty depressing :(

[Kablooie]

110. 120 Days of Sodom

[Rhiannon12866]

111. Angela's Ashes

By Frank McCourt. And it was a true story. ;(

[OffWithTheirHeads]

113. The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I couldn't finish it. Way too depressing.

[Orsino]

114. Stephen Baxter's Titan (spoilers)

In an early twenty-first not so different from our own, falling to pieces amid political and religious extremism, a bunch of NASA employees and dreamers conceive of a one-shot and one-way manned mission to Saturn's eponymous moon. They know they're going off to die, but their vision helps sustain the beginning of this depressing novel. They leave family and friends as it becomes clearer that there will never be any more such flights.

The whole goddmaned book is a downer, and before it's done the author gratuitously destroys (apparently) the Earth as the main characters watch helplessly. Lest you think it's all fun and games, they get to watch each other die, too, or help each other along. The ray of "hope" at the end will not exactly put a smile on your face.

Jesus H. Christ, what a depressing book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28Stephen_Baxter_novel%29

[Patiod]

115. "Ironweed" ruined one of my vacations

depressing, depressing, depressing

[fishwax]

117. Edit Summers Kelly's Weeds is pretty depressing

About a woman growing up in Kentucky tobacco country in the early 20th century. It's a great novel, but very bleak.

[Heidi]

119. "War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create A Master Race."

Depressing because it's true, and because our campaign against the weak continues today.

http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/

[Iggo]

120. Series of books about a guy named Thomas Covenant.

Leper. Outcast. Unclean.

[Odin2005]

121. Of Mice and Men.

LENNY!!! :cry: