What is the saddest book you've ever read?

[ThaBenMan]

A Game of Thrones.

I was waiting for someone to bring up A Song of Ice and Fire. But I dunno what's worse, the end of A Game of Thrones when

Spoiler

Eddard Stark is executed

Or in A Storm of Swords (I think that was the one) when

Spoiler

Robb and Catelyn Stark and a bunch of others are slaughtered at the Red Wedding

.
There are many tragic moments throughout the series, but those are definitely the worst.

I definitely second The Road.

There was this book I read called Strange But True that was pretty depressing -

Spoiler: synopsis

This young couple get into a car wreck on Prom Night. The guy dies and the girl is horribly disfigured. She ends up living by herself in near poverty. She becomes pregnant and she's convinced that through a miracle her dead boyfriend impregnated her somehow, but it was actually her landlord, who has been slipping her rufies every night and raping her.

The dead guy's brother, meanwhile, is emotionally and verbally abused by his mother, who tells him that "the wrong son died" because he's gay. He leaves home to live by himself in New York city. He invites a guy he meets online over to his apartment, who turns out to be a bigot who was trolling for gay guys online just to harass them. He forces his way into the apartment and abuses the guy and lets loose the bird that belongs to the man who's subletting the apartment to him.

And I think some other pretty bad stuff happens, the guy who's been raping the girl ends up killing his wife for some reason (I think she finds out about the rape).

 

[chronobreak]

Nobody's mentioned Charlette's Web? Cah mahn!

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Forever war was incredibly bleak at one part. It literally represented the end of the universe for the character in a sense, the end of....humanity.

Oh, and the Amber Spyglass is seconded. Really did cut me up, that one.

 

[Drakstern]

Doomsday Book.

Every time I read it, I cry like a little girl.

 

[Lukeje]

One Hundred Years of Solitude. I can only say one thing; read it.

 

[Aura Guardian]

A Game of Thrones.
And Watchmen. I nearly cried when the best character met an explodey end.

I agree with the Watchmen

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I cried near the end of Amber Spy Glass when I was a kid. I almost teared up when I reread it resonantly.

 

[Mr Fatherland]

Oh "The Road"definitely seconded,.the ending of that surprised me so much even though everyone who was paying attention knew something bad was going to happen to the man .Damn,Damn and Damn again that ending left me messed up.

 

[djninjah]

The Trial, by Franz Kafka.
It'll make you rethink wanting to enter the legal profession.

I also agree that A Song of Ice and Fire (comprising A Game of Thrones, etc.) can be pretty depressing. But the series is so awesome that it's still a very worthwhile read.

 

[HerrBobo]

Atonment and the Amber Spy Glass

 

[NeedAUserName]

A Boy Named It
Of Mice and Men, (just the ending).

 

[ChristmasChild]

Does the lyrics sheet for "Objects In The Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" count as a book?

 

[Fraught]

Wasn't very depressing, but it kind of made me sad, and I didn't want it to end that way. It was some book series by Lloyd Alexander, about a character named Taran. Basically, he and his girlfriend had a chance to go to a land where they could live for forever, but they stayed in the land where they would die. And pretty much of them left the main character who were big friends with him.

 

[PirateKing]

Hmmm...Harry Potter 7. Y'know, how characters start dropping dead left and right. I got teary when a certain elf died and when Harry used the Resurrection Stone to bring back his mom, dad, Sirius and Lupin and they protected him from the Dementors like patronuses.

Also, Halo: First Strike, a prequel to Halo 2. Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson sacrifice themselves to destroy a Covenant battle station so the chief, Cortana, Johnson and the few surviving Spartans can get away.
Whitcomb tells the chief that they are like the men at the Alamo. Fighting against innumerable enemies, yet still making them hurt.

 

[darthzew]

The original Casino Royale novel is an oddball choice I'll post. But I've read a lot of sad books. Things Fall Apart, 1984, Brave New World, Heart of Darkness, The Things They Carried, The Great Gatsby... How come the best books are always sad?!

 

[sheic99]

A Game of Thrones.
And Watchmen. I nearly cried when the best character met an explodey end.

I agree with the Watchmen

Same for me except I thought...

Spoiler

when Sally Jupiter kisses the photo of the Comedian and you see how much she truly likes him depressed me for awhile.

 

[tomdavi]

Two books that have made me cry are 1984 (not sure why, I guess I got so attached to Winston Smith and I was sad to see him go in the wy he did, having given in to the machine around him before death. The fact that the death was so peaceful almost made it worse, what with the whole sympathetic euthanasia thing they had going on) and Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett. I know it was a comedy but it was just so well written.

 

[JMeganSnow]

But what is the most depressing book you have ever read?

*Depressing* or *sad*? They aren't the same thing, and sadness does not have to depress. The most depressing book I've ever read was probably Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, but the *saddest* was definitely Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.

 

[Najos]

Considering I don't read a lot of "sad books" I can only think of one.

Ethan Frome.

If you've never read it, well, you really should. Not even a proper novel; only about 100 pages.