Vhagar Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Adding the authors to mine: Beloved - Toni Morrison Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy A Night in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch - Alexander Solzhenitsyn Night - Elie Wiesel I also thought of Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak And yes, Jude the Obscure is pretty damn sad. The whole thing is sad. I don't think I forgot that one, I think I blocked it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lundy Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 "Tristan and Isolde" Have to get back to you on the author of the particular paperback version that I read. Plus I read it well over 10 years ago... will have to search my archives for the author, when I get home from work. *peeks over shoulder to make sure the boss isn't looking this way* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Definitely The Giving Tree as far as sheerly depressing books. For making me cry, I'd go with Songmaster by Orson Scott Card and The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks, which both can make me cry buckets for like an hour after I finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheep the Evicted Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Only two that i found disturbing. Evil for Evil. There was a character in it that i like whose personality got murdered by a very horrible man. Deadhouse Gates. Only one of the Malazan books to make me even feel remotely emotional. But that was a long time ago and i am more cynical now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteQueen Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 The Atonement by Ian McEwan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera Bracelet of Garnets by A. Kuprin -- this story is 100 years old and just breaks my heart. And Quiet Flows the Don by M. Sholokhov. Nana by Emile Zola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthem Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 The God of Small Things? I forced myself to finish that and I didn't find it sad, or affecting, or moving at all. Probably because most of it went straight over my head. Maybe I'm too young to appreciate it I thought Captain Corelli's Mandolin was heartbreaking at parts, and the end is so bittersweet it brought a tear to my eye. Doctor Zhivago was sad too. Didn't make me cry, but it hurt to read about the characters' fates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 The Lord of the Rings has the melancholy ending but The Silmarillion was far more tragic. Some elements of the Malazan novels are pretty tragic as well (especially Memories of Ice). The ending of The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke really affected me when I read it when I was very young: SPOILER: TSoDEOne of the crewmen on the sleeper ship has an affair with a woman on a planet they visit and he leaves her pregnant. I could care less about the love affair, which was written with Clarke's typically poor attempts at romance, but the crewmen waking up centuries later and seeing his son's entire life story, from birth to death, unfold in messages beamed to the ship over the course of his life, seemed like a terribly sad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liffguard Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 To be honest, I can't think of a single book that's ever had enough of an emotional impact on me to describe it as "sad." I've read plenty of sad stories but I've only ever recognised the tragedy on an intellectual level, not an emotional one. That said, the closest I can think of are the short stories Million Dollar Baby (on which the film is about two-thirds based) and Rope Burns, both by F X Toole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolf Maid Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Is it disturbing all the saddest book in my list are YA books? The Velveteen Rabbit (yes, I knew there was a 'happy' ending but still, when the rabbit was taken away from the boy...I cried). Charlotte's Webb. 'Nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandsnake Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 The Kite Runner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Mamba of Dorne Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Troy: Fall of Kings, because it was Gemmell's last. :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suffix Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I havent read alot of books but the book i have read so far that hit me the most was "Deadhouse Gates" by Steven Erikson (not trying to be a rigning endorsment here) but man the ending got me and i dont like happy endings so yea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mord Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Should also have mentioned, The Awakening by Kate Chopin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of Oop North Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 For me, all I can think about is looking into that fire in The Road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 The end of Hobb's Fool's Errand was like a punch in the gut. I had problems with that throughout the following two books. I'm pretty sure she has a voodoo doll with pins stuck in my lacrimal glads - bitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I guess I get affected a lot by books, I can't honestly say which one was the saddest. I've teared up over a lot of books. I'd second (third, whatever) All quiet on the Eastern front. Also Anna Karenina. There was a greek writer I adored growing up, Penelope Delta, and she wrote history novels, and I always cried reading those because the people were so fine and heroic and most of them died at the end or were denied happiness. It was strong emotional stuff written with great skill and I still remember those books with love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koudoulis Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Tigana by G.G. Kay i actually dont remember what happened in the end but i was crying like a baby(exaggeration*) and havent been eager to reread it since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theadrick Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Probably The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and All Quiet on the Western Front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigoTheCarpathian Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Of Mice and Men and The Red Pony by Steinbeck both make me depressed. Lonesome Dove is a sad book, and still one of my favorites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theadrick Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Lonesome Dove is a sad book, and still one of my favorites. I must agree with you there... McMurtry is a master. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.