# Saddest Stories/Novels You've Read



## Guttersnipe (Sep 25, 2020)

Doesn't have to be speculative (I wasn't sure exactly where to post this). For me it was "The Scarlet Ibis" even though I didn't quite understand it at the time. Parts of White Fang made me feel like canines deserve an apology. 

If not entirely sad, can you point to a story or novel with one or a couple sad moments?


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## nixie (Sep 25, 2020)

Erikson's Malazan series took me through the ringer, every one of the books had me laughing and crying but Memories of Ice broke my heart. 

Flowers of Algernon, its  beautiful and emotional.

I'll have a think about some more.


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## BAYLOR (Sep 27, 2020)

*Earth Abides* by George R Stewart   

*The Eternal  World *by Clark Ashton Smith  and also by him T*he Last Hieroglyph    *


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## JJewel (Sep 27, 2020)

Get Carter by Ted Lewis, not sci-fi but a classic novel never the less, the ending always makes me wanna scream out, dont die!!

I should say 99% is not sad but just the last scene.


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## MikeAnderson (Sep 29, 2020)

*The Sum of All Fears* by Tom Clancy. The chapters involving how the terrorists managed to nuke the East Coast is depressing. The mere fact the plot worked will demoralize you, but Clancy managed to get down the stark, horrific aftermath of an atomic strike and the entropy that ensures is flat out bleak.


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## kythe (Sep 29, 2020)

I second *The Scarlet Ibis*.  I was introduced to it in 7th grade reading class and re-read it periodically.  I cry every time.  That story helped shape my view of humanity.

I also find *Where the Red Fern Grows* tear-jerking.

Off-hand, I can't think of any sci-fi or fantasy which I have reacted to in quite the same way.  I haven't read any of the other stories so far mentioned in this thread.


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## Astro Pen (Sep 29, 2020)

_The Lake of Tuonela  _Keith Roberts  short story. Superficially a story  about a man exploring a canal on another planet  but as it progresses it becomes obvious that it is a story about him sliding across into death with hope of reaching a better place.  Traversing the titular lake, dark and deep underground with no idea what is on the other side is the 'crossing over'.
It is quite beautiful.
I'm in tears now just recalling it.


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## Guttersnipe (Oct 2, 2020)

Astro Pen said:


> _The Lake of Tuonela  _Keith Roberts  short story. Superficially a story  about a man exploring a canal on another planet  but as it progresses it becomes obvious that it is a story about him sliding across into death with hope of reaching a better place.  Traversing the titular lake, dark and deep underground with no idea what is on the other side is the 'crossing over'.
> It is quite beautiful.
> I'm in tears now just recalling it.


Did you know that Tuonela (a.k.a. Manala) is the underworld of Finnish mythology?


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## Guttersnipe (Oct 2, 2020)

I forgot to mention Of Mice and Men, specifically its scenes of the death of a dog and, later, of Lennie. Also, the fifth and sixth books in the Harry Potter series had me down when I was a kid.


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## paeng (Oct 3, 2020)

Hardy's _Jude the Obscure_, Joyce's "The Dead", Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," Wharton's _The Age of Innocence_, Dostoyevsky's _Notes from the Underground_, Turgenev's _Fathers and Sons_, Garcia Marquez's _One Hundred Years of Solitude_, McCarthy's _The Road_, Conrad's _Heart of Darkness_, Mishima's _The Temple of the Golden Pavilion_, Ishiguro's _Remains of the Day._


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## hitmouse (Oct 5, 2020)

All Quiet on the Western Front

and second vote for The Earth Abides


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## Foxbat (Oct 6, 2020)

Leviathan by John Gordon Davis
I read this as a teenager and it filled me with rage and sadness. It still does.


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## K. Riehl (Feb 21, 2021)

What? Nobody listed Flowers for Algernon?


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## nixie (Feb 21, 2021)

K. Riehl said:


> What? Nobody listed Flowers for Algernon?


Yes, me in 2nd post.


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## Wayne Mack (Feb 23, 2021)

It has already been listed twice, but I've got to mention _Flowers for Algernon._ It has been decades since I read it, but it still sticks in my mind.


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## asp3 (Aug 11, 2021)

I find the end of Earth Made Of Glass by John Barnes devastating.


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## AllanR (Aug 11, 2021)

*Lullabies for Little Criminals  *by Heather O'Neill. I couldn't read the last few pages, there was a moment of hope near the end and didn't want to risk dashing it.


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## Ray Zdybrow (Aug 11, 2021)

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. And it gets more melancholic (perhaps because more nostalgic) the older it gets


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## JunkMonkey (Aug 13, 2021)

Tom's Midnight Garden

and the end of The House at Pooh Corner.  First time I read that I cried; not because there was anything tragic or terrible happening on the page just because it was the end and there were no more Pooh and Piglet stories.  I was in my 40s.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 14, 2021)

*Paladin of the Lost Hour* by Harlan Ellison  It's by far one his best stories but , I find the ending very depressing .


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## Vince W (Aug 14, 2021)

*Johnny Got His Gun* by Dalton Trumbo. Horribly depressing novel.


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## Tanith (Aug 14, 2021)

_The Road _by Cormac McCarthy. Bleakest book I've ever read.


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## Jo Zebedee (Aug 14, 2021)

There are a lot of Irish authors who pull the oul heartstrings: 

Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes makes me cry in the best way 
Maeve Binchy does it every time - Echoes, Firefly Summer, Light a penny candle…

A lot of Scott Card’s shorts make me cry in a good way

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - the final scene with Carlo is just … desperate altogether (@Abernovo - have you read it? I think you’d love it)

And the end of the TimeTravellers Wife. I’m a mess….

And The Last Battle

AndFlowers for Algernon. 

It seems I’m the big softy of the Chrons. Who knew?


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## hitmouse (Aug 15, 2021)

I have read plenty of depressing books that have not actually made me feel sad. Nineteen Eighty Four is bleak and depressing, but I didnt feel like shedding a tear at the end in the same way as, for example, All Quiet on the Western Front, or Earth Abides.


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## Jo Zebedee (Aug 15, 2021)

hitmouse said:


> I have read plenty of depressing books that have not actually made me feel sad. Nineteen Eighty Four is bleak and depressing, but I didnt feel like shedding a tear at the end in the same way as, for example, All Quiet on the Western Front, or Earth Abides.


For me it’s not about depressing but if I like the characters and can feel empathy as if they were my friends or me. The setting or premise is separate from that


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## alexvss (Aug 15, 2021)

The protagonist from *The War That Saved my Life* has one of the saddest backstories I've ever came across. But, as the title suggests, her life gets better throughout the book, so it's a worth read. That said, a downright sad story without a single glimpse of hope will likely be a no-no for me. There's a quote from *Family Guy* that I like a lot: "_People of France, a depressed, good-looking guy smoking a cigarette is not a movie!_"


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## BAYLOR (Aug 15, 2021)

*The Ship of Ishtar* by Abraham Merritt


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## elvet (Aug 15, 2021)

Every time I reread the Malazan Book of the Fallen, I have to steel myself for an emotional rollercoaster. *Deadhouse Gates* and *Memories of Ice* have the most tragic moments overall (for me).


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## Abernovo (Aug 15, 2021)

Jo Zebedee said:


> Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - the final scene with Carlo is just … desperate altogether (@Abernovo - have you read it? I think you’d love it)


I have read it. I think we discussed it once, agreeing that the book should have ended slightly differently. That scene was...yeah.

I've read a Maeve Binchy years ago, and it did the emotional twist. On hitmouse's note, I find _1984_ bleak, yes, but the ending is desperately sad, as well.

I always thought that part of Iain Banks' genius was his ability to create bittersweet prose, mixing humour, joy, and sadness. _The Crow Roa_d, in particular, twists the heartstrings.

In the same way as both Banks and Binchy, Sheila Hancock's _Miss Carter's War_ was a mix of emotions. It was both joyous and sad enough to bring me to tears.



Jo Zebedee said:


> For me it’s not about depressing but if I like the characters and can feel empathy as if they were my friends or me. The setting or premise is separate from that


Exactly. I differentiate sadness from depressing. A story could be redemptive, or ultimately uplifting, but have significant sadness in it, where you feel for the characters. It's an oft-commented thing that reading can help build empathy, and this is part of it.

That, for me, is very different from a depressing book, which is relentless, or devoid of hope. In the same way, I don't like 'misery porn', which has become a big selling non-fiction category.

_On the Edge of Gone_, by Corinne Duyvis, and Peadar Ó Guilín's _The Call_ both have pretty bleak scenarios, but they're not depressing. Rather, they have characters I found myself empathising with, sharing highs and lows. McCarthy's _The Road_, however, I found too bleak and depressing, so it wasn't just sad, but left me feeling empty. I couldn't get far into it, despite three attempts, and is a confirmed DNF. And, yes, I know they are from different sub-genres, but the comparison stands.


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## nixie (Aug 15, 2021)

I remember the first time I read Goodnight Mr Tom, tears came freely.


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## nixie (Aug 15, 2021)

elvet said:


> Every time I reread the Malazan Book of the Fallen, I have to steel myself for an emotional rollercoaster. *Deadhouse Gates* and *Memories of Ice* have the most tragic moments overall (for me).


I'm the same, didn't think anything could move me as much as Deadhouse Gates, then I read Memories of Ice.


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## Rodders (Aug 15, 2021)

Of Mice and Men was devastating to me when i first read it.

A second for Flowers for Algernon, although it wasn't his regression that made me sad, but his loneliness throughout.


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## Fiberglass Cyborg (Aug 15, 2021)

"Assassin's Quest" by Robin Hobb. which is the third book of the Farseer trilogy. Don't think I've ever read a fantasy epic where the finale was such a Phyrric victory. I love those books, but she does love torturing poor old Fitz- it takes another three books before he finally catches a break.

"Jude the Obscure." The second and last Hardy book I've read- very good, but the relentless misery was unbearable. 

I wallowed in Graham Greene a lot as a teenager, and he's a master of bleakness. I think "Brighton Rock" is possibly the saddest, just because Rose is far more innocent than the characters Greene usually detroys.


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## Fiberglass Cyborg (Aug 15, 2021)

Abernovo said:


> That, for me, is very different from a depressing book, which is relentless, or devoid of hope. In the same way, I don't like 'misery porn', which has become a big selling non-fiction category.



In the wake of "Angela's Ashes," our local WHSmiths started a new section called "Tragic Life Stories." which I found just hilariously crass. The genre and its readers remind me of a bit in one of Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" books, where the inhabitants of an Enid Blyton story are so starved of strong emotions that they arrange for people to Tragically Die On Their Wedding Day in order to have something to tut and sigh about.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 15, 2021)

*Darkness Weaves* by Karl Edward Wagner . M'Cori the daughter of the king didn't deserve the fate she received.


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## Abernovo (Aug 15, 2021)

Fiberglass Cyborg said:


> where the inhabitants of an Enid Blyton story are so starved of strong emotions that they arrange for people to Tragically Die On Their Wedding Day in order to have something to tut and sigh about.


Yes, that has a ring of truth to it. And no doubt related to the infamous 'Disgusted, from _Royal _Tunbridge Wells'.


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## Dan Jones (Aug 16, 2021)

paeng said:


> Hardy's _Jude the Obscure_, Joyce's "The Dead", Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," Wharton's _The Age of Innocence_, Dostoyevsky's _Notes from the Underground_, Turgenev's _Fathers and Sons_, Garcia Marquez's _One Hundred Years of Solitude_, McCarthy's _The Road_, Conrad's _Heart of Darkness_, Mishima's _The Temple of the Golden Pavilion_, Ishiguro's _Remains of the Day._


Great list. I'd agree with pretty much all of them, but for me _Jude The Obscure _tops the lot - that's as bleak and as tragic as hell, that book.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 16, 2021)

Dan Jones said:


> Great list. I'd agree with pretty much all of them, but for me _Jude The Obscure _tops the lot - that's as bleak and as tragic as hell, that book.



You want bleak and sad? 

*Johnny Got his Gun *by Dalton  Trumbo 
*Shattered Like a Glass Goblin* by Harlan Ellison 
*The Eternal World* by  Clark Ashton Smith 
*A Good Man is Hard to Find * by Flannery O' Connor


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## BAYLOR (Oct 9, 2021)

*A Canticle for Leibowitz  *by Arthur Miller


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## The Big Peat (Oct 10, 2021)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson is the single most depressing novel I've read, and I think it put me in a funk for a solid three days or so.

Bittersweet, I tear up at the ending of Gemmell's Ravenheart and Stormrider, and pretty much every GGK I've read (but A Brightness Long Ago is the winner there). Sutcliff's Knight's Fee did me dirty the other day. But, should I get back there to confirm, I think Sutcliff's Mark of the Horse Lord might be the saddest I've read.


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## worldofmutes (Nov 19, 2021)

I think anything by Kazuo Ishiguro is pretty sad. Especially _When We Were Orphans._


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## BAYLOR (Nov 19, 2021)

worldofmutes said:


> I think anything by Kazuo Ishiguro is pretty sad. Especially _When We Were Orphans._



I have his book *The Buried Giant.*


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## worldofmutes (Nov 19, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> I have his book *The Buried Giant.*


That’s a great one.


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## Eternity_TARO (Nov 20, 2021)

Leaving Las Vegas was a very sad novel they made into a movie :-(

based on a true story...


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## Ray Zdybrow (Nov 24, 2021)

JJewel said:


> Get Carter by Ted Lewis, not sci-fi but a classic novel never the less, the ending always makes me wanna scream out, dont die!!
> 
> I should say 99% is not sad but just the last scene.


Never read it or even seen a copy, but I'm interested as apparently it was set in Scunthorpe and Grimsby, is that right?


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## Ray Zdybrow (Nov 24, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> *A Canticle for Leibowitz  *by Arthur Miller


Ahem... 
Walter M Miller...
Or have I missed some intellectual joke


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## Ray Zdybrow (Nov 24, 2021)

worldofmutes said:


> I think anything by Kazuo Ishiguro is pretty sad. Especially _When We Were Orphans._


I agree except for "The Remains of the Day", Stephens realises what a fool he's been and also realises he doesn't have to remain a fool for the time he has left. Cheered me up no end!


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## Ray Zdybrow (Nov 24, 2021)

"Watchmen" is the saddest story I've read.


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## Ray Zdybrow (Nov 24, 2021)

Ray Zdybrow said:


> "Watchmen" is the saddest story I've read.


Oops just noticed I already posted that! But it is REALLY REALLY sad!


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## BAYLOR (Nov 24, 2021)

Ray Zdybrow said:


> Ahem...
> Walter M Miller...
> Or have I missed some intellectual joke



opps , my bad.


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