Comments on Most Depressing Book of All Time - page 1
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jo
(last edited Jan 09, 2009 05:44PM)
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Jan 09, 2009 05:42PM
a fine balance wins the prize, hands down.
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oh, mike, you put one book there, and, since it's only one book, it climbs right to the top. that's rigging the system, man.
Oooh, good question!
I thought Bridge to Terabithia was a fun childrens book (haven't read it) with all the adventure and stuff. I had no idea that I was so depressing!
Ralph and Sarah,I must know. What is so depressing about the soccer field being empty? Those two guys there on it look like they're doing okay.
After putting up several titles and adding a bunch more, I suddenly realized this list of depressing books was nearly identical to my list of favorite books. Shit.
The way the question is framed, aren't we supposed to pick just one book?
Yes, Lobs, I think you are probably correct, but I can't decide..."Depressing" books are, for some reason, the ones I come to love the most and to re-read...And I am not a gloomy person, just the opposite. I guess the "dark night of the soul" is the greatest adventure, challenge, or some such. Lucky me: I'm a lover, not a sufferer.
It's fine to add several books if you like though if you can pinpoint the most depressing book for you, then do add just one :) If you can't decide however (most books are very different), then it's perfectly okay to add several :)
I voted for two I find equally depressing, though they are certainly very different books.
There is a bottom line to "sad" Beckett's Endgame is so abyssmal it has to be comic.....I remember as a Sophomore being upset with Candide because I had a hard time getting past the "soldiers who ripped the girls' bellies open"....my girlfriend of the time was laughing like hell reading Candide and I just didn't get it. Incidentally, recently saw magnificent production of Bernstein et. al. Candide in the Berkshires. I laughed like hell.
Why isn't Les Miserables by Victor Hugo on this list?! JK, I'm not angry...just...surprised. I mean, it has the word "miserable" in the title. Even if you're not pronouncing it. I don't know, just think about it.
I really thought Plath's the Bell jar would make it on this list!
Mandy wrote: "Why isn't Les Miserables by Victor Hugo on this list?! JK, I'm not angry...just...surprised. I mean, it has the word "miserable" in the title. Even if you're not pronouncing it. I don't know, just ..."Because you didn't add it?
Ally wrote: "I really thought Plath's the Bell jar would make it on this list!"
Odd, I had added it along with 7 other depressing books but then deleted it as I was only supposed to chose one. I still have 2 up. I consider that book too depressing to read again altho I bought myself an old paperback of it for NE quiz questions. No wonder she killed herself!
Odd, I had added it along with 7 other depressing books but then deleted it as I was only supposed to chose one. I still have 2 up. I consider that book too depressing to read again altho I bought myself an old paperback of it for NE quiz questions. No wonder she killed herself!
Canary wrote: Odd, I had added it along with 7 other depressing books but then deleted it as I was only supposed to chose one. ..."I had a very ambitious to read list when I was in school, but after The Bell Jar I decided to rather read books I enjoy and not books other people thought I should read. I agree though, I would not read it again
jo wrote: "a fine balance wins the prize, hands down."Well, I put it second to Angela's Ashes. I read this for a book group and at the end it seemed like nothing, absolutely nothing, had changed. Very depressing!
Ally wrote: "Canary wrote: Odd, I had added it along with 7 other depressing books but then deleted it as I was only supposed to chose one. ..."I had a very ambitious to read list when I was in school, but aft..."
Actually, I think you can post five, but you have to put them in order of depressingness.
Lynn wrote: "jo wrote: "a fine balance wins the prize, hands down."Well, I put it second to Angela's Ashes. I read this for a book group and at the end it seemed like nothing, absolutely nothing,..."
Is "realism" depression ? Doth Reality bite ? I'd like to ask Frank McCourt, but alas ! he's dead--and I find THAT depressing.
the giver, the hunger games, anne frank, and bridge to teribithia are the winners for me. AND WHY THE HECK IS TWILIGHT HERE????
ABSOLUTLY NOT DEPRESSING.
Leila wrote: "I thought Bridge to Terabithia was a fun childrens book (haven't read it) with all the adventure and stuff. I had no idea that I was so depressing! "I havent read it either (i want to) but saw the movie and i was bawling at the end! it is soooo sad! and just to let you know i am a teenage boy.
Whoa... I sure have read a lot of depressing books. When I taught junior high, most every book dealt with a death to either a person, a pet, or a marriage.
My sister once took an adult education class on Modern Women British Writers. She decided it must have been sponsored by Prozac.Mary Ellen wrote: "Whoa... I sure have read a lot of depressing books. When I taught junior high, most every book dealt with a death to either a person, a pet, or a marriage. "
this is actually not a bad list! unlike most of them in goodreads...
hunger games made me cry when someone died(its a spoiler not gonna say!) and im about 14 so yeah, real men do cry.
i wonder y its like way down on the list though.
Adam wrote: "this is actually not a bad list! unlike most of them in goodreads..."I agree. Some of my favorite books are on this list!
Reed wrote: "hunger games made me cry when someone died(its a spoiler not gonna say!) and im about 14 so yeah, real men do cry."
REED U AINT 14! U R 12.
I just realized something...Alot of the books I think are depressing are my favourites, lol that is kinda scaring me.
Why is it that we're taught in school that good = sad?'course I found Candide hilarious, and I thought that The Giver turned its self around so much at the end that I found it uplifting.
If people think The Road and Bridge to Terebithia are depressing, they have some reading to do (unless they want to remain happy people, which I highly recommend for some people). Tess of the d'Urbervilles has to be like five octillion times as depressing as either of those. Personally, I think there's a huge difference between a depressing book and a sad book.I wouldn't call The Road a sad book, though. I can see how some people can think it was depressing, but I didn't come away from it feeling that way, personally.
Yeah, it's hard to argue with Hardy for depressing. (Jude the Obscure was my top choice.)
The hollow is most deffinitally the most boring depressing feel bad book ever! i cant believe i had to add it
Where is "Johnny got his Gun" Hands down most depressing
The form to add books to the list is over at the right-hand side of the page.
The Joy Luck book is the most depressing book i have ever read.
I'm surprised I had to add Giovanni's Room myself! Although I agreed with the other books I've read that made it onto the list. And it was hard to pinpoint the fine line between depressing and intensely sad...
The end of "The Road" made me cry for over 5 minutes. The entire book is pretty bleak.
Go ask Alice never seems to loose relevance in our society.
Bridge to Terabithia? Depressing?I can't believe it.
I feel that there is a vast difference between sad and depressing.
Coralie wrote: "I feel that there is a vast difference between sad and depressing."Yes I agree. That's why Wuthering Heights and The Hunger Games should not be on this list.
i don't think books that have a good character dying all of a sudden in them should be called depressing, they're just momentarily sad. That's why i don't think the vampire academy series should be here, nor the hunger games AnD DeFiNaTeLy NOT twilight, why do i find this abominable saga in every list! also to kill a mocking bird is neither sad nor depressing for me. but wuthering heights yeah, it's gothic and freaky sometimes but it is damned depressing. somehow i find virginia woolf's books depressing too, mrs dalloway and the waves had me sobbing all night.but hey that's just me ^^
Reed wrote: "why are the twilight books on here?"
In New Moon Bella suffers a major depressive episode so bad that her father thinks about putting her in the hospital. She really needs medication but doesn't get any which is good. After 3 or 4 months she pulls out of it due to Jacob Black helping her. I actually enjoy reading about it which is very odd but cannot bear to read about her death when she gives birth to Renesmee.
In New Moon Bella suffers a major depressive episode so bad that her father thinks about putting her in the hospital. She really needs medication but doesn't get any which is good. After 3 or 4 months she pulls out of it due to Jacob Black helping her. I actually enjoy reading about it which is very odd but cannot bear to read about her death when she gives birth to Renesmee.
Most of the books I've voted are in my favourite shelf... I love them, what can I do? =)Many of them are about love... that's my favourite genre ^-^
