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Saddest/Most Depressing Novel You've Ever Read

  • Thread starter Deleted member 6550
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Isabel Allende's "Eva Luna" presented a depressing imagery for me.
Irish Murdoch's "The Unicorn"
Alice Hoffman's "Here on Earth"
 
LoeMa said:
"Anna Karenina" made me really really sad for about one month after reading.
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That's what I was going to suggest. I read it in HS (dinosur days ago) and it never left me!
For that matter, any Russian writer might have the same result you're looking for:lol:
 
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.

Wasted young lives in the drug culture of Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
 
I guess I just don't finish books that are depressing to me, although I gave 2666 a valiant effort. :) I read 500-some odd pages of it, and was in such a depressed state, I put it aside. Probably will never finish it.
 
Eleanor Rigby - Douglas Coupland. I read this yesterday, not a Coupland fan usually but this surprised me somewhat. The narrator is a thirty something single woman, she is lonely, very much so. Until the son she gave up for adoption comes back into her life, and then everything changes.
My insubstantial summary makes it sound like a dreary teary movie of the week type of book, which it is definitely not. The central character is very well realized and is the kind you'll remember long after, the achy breaky thread of sadness that runs throughout is very touching. Thankfully there is a healthy dose of humour and wit too.
 
For me, definitely Requiem For A Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. I wish I had not read it. I know I could have stopped any time, but pushed through to the end anyway.
 
I read Go Ask Alice by Anonymous for a class assignment many years ago. It wasn't a tear jearker, but the depths of sadness and struggle stuck with me to this day.
 
1984 by George Orwell is the most depressing book i have ever read. It is also one of my favorites.
 
Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck still gets me to this day. Maybe because my cousin is autistic and I can relate to Lennie. The mentally disabled are truly innocent souls.
 
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