Saddest books you've read?

[Elife3]

These are the Saddest books I've read:

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes: I read the novelette version in 8th grade. The main thing that got me was the part where (spoilers ahead) Charlie finds out that his increased intelligence is temporary and will go back to his old intelligence. Also, Algernon died. The other moving part was where Charlie "moves away" because everyone feel so sorry for him. This made me feel like he was really going to the afterlife. That part got me, too. I almost cried during these parts, but I was in class, so I decided to keep it to myself.

1984 by George Orwell: This didn't make me cry, but the ending put me in a low mood because Winston became "one of them", making things seem very hopeless.

There might be others I've read, but that's what I can remember.

 

[kittycat7]

I agree with you about Flowers for Algernon and 1984... another really sad book would be Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Like 1984, the ending was pretty depressing.

 

[keith99]

Much can depend on how you view a book. Some of Heinleins stuff is pretty sad. 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' often impacts me. Rather strange as a 12 year old girl dies and I feel nothing, but I 'morn' the death of a non-human.

I find 'Brave New World' much sadder than 1984. Like many books 'Brave New World' gets its title from a line of dialog in the book. Something like 'What a brave new world with such beautiful people in it'. To me the fall from such hope is much sadder than the grim world of 1984.

 

[Orange_County_Chopper]

The Celestine Prophecy. Biggest bunch of hooey I ever read.

 

[xxsilverkisses]

Marley and Me
and
Wintergirls

 

[Isambard]

On the Beach - The realization of the couple that their baby will die, along with the last remains of humanity

A Scanner Darkly - Bob being sacrificed by the woman he loved without ever knowing it or why.

Eisenhorn (Trilogy) - Gregor Eisenhorn becoming everything he hated and as a result, losing everything he ever held dear.

 

[bslaughlin]

atonement Child by francine rivers is very sad but good. It really points out the faithfulness of God even in circumstances that we dont understand

 

[WaltonM]

Book of Sorrows by Walter Wangerin. Its the sequel to Book of the Dun Cow. Sad, sad, sad...I started crying in the middle of the book and didn't stop until the end.

 

[keith99]

Of Mice and Men.

 

[The4thrider]

I am legend
The Road

 

[DMMullinax]

I'd say 'Lord of the Flies' and 'Brave New World' are the saddest I've read so far.

 

[soblessed53]

Walks The Fire by Stephanie Grace Whitson- Beautiful,but tear-jerking love story!

 

[TheOliveSeed]

"A Lesson Before Dying." -Ernest J. Gaines.

 

[.Iona.]

I read a lot of First World War literature at college and they all were very sad books. It gets you thinking to, and because it's true, it affects you even more.

 

[inconsequential]

The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke. The epilogue is particularly sad as Loren views the messages sent to his ship by his lover and their son while he was frozen and watches them grow old before his eyes and realizing they both died long before he awoke.

 

[MsSpongebob]

alex: the life of a child

Marley and Me

 

[Margil]

The Kite Runner. That book was killer.

 

[Themistocles]

Can we count plays? If so, I'll go with King Lear. Thomas Hardy wrote some pretty excellent tragedies too but late in his career, when he was at his best writing-wise, he became bleak and bitter (very hostile to Christianity) to the point where character development was sacrificed to make way for his tragic vision. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a genuinely sad book before he sort of lost it.

 

[pilgrimgal]

Read it so very long ago when I was a teenager; but hands down..the saddest story..yet a classic I will never forget.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

 

[finaplix]

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