# Whats the saddest book you've ever read?



## beckyj20 (Jun 12, 2010)

I read so many happily ever after books that I like to switch it up sometimes and read something that makes me all out bawl. Any suggestions for a really sad book?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

While most of the book is not sad -- and is often quite funny -- I all out bawled a couple times at the end of _Marley and Me_.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

A Reliable Wife was a sad book.  Scary too, but also sad.  Of course, I'm a big ole wuss and it might not be as scary to some.  It gave me bad dreams.
deb


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

The Missing Piece.


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2011)

The most depressing book you could ever read or that could ever be written is Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. It should come with a warning. Seriously. I felt like I needed pills by the end of it.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Old Yeller. I was in third grade. I sobbed.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

What is it with dog books that they always have to take the story until the very end of the dog's life?

Okay, _Old Yeller_, I understand. Maybe with others, like _Marley and Me_, it's just that there's no real plot, just an accounting of the dog's life, and they do end all too soon. Part of being owned by a dog is that they don't live as long as we humans do.

One of my favorite books, _Flowers for Algernon_ by Daniel Keyes, is pretty gut-wrenching.


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks had me crying for more than one reason in more than one place. A great book.


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

Jan Strnad said:


> One of my favorite books, _Flowers for Algernon_ by Daniel Keyes, is pretty gut-wrenching.


I read "Flowers for Algernon" the short story. I think it might be the most beautiful thing ever written.

I don't want to read the novel, because the story is perfect.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)




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## KatieKlein (Dec 19, 2010)

Nicholas Sparks' books are pretty sad. The first book I really remember crying over was _Their Eyes Were Watching God_.


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Flowers for Algernon
Brian's Song

They both killed me.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I thought _Brian's Song, The Bridges of Madison County,_ and _ Marley & Me_ were all very sad. Having lost my parents, in-laws, and sister (4 of the 5 in the last 6 years), the last thing that I want to do any more is read really sad books. I'm ready for some fun and levity in my life, making my choices of reading material much different than in the past.


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## sbaum4853 (May 3, 2010)

A Day No Pigs Would Die



This is a magical book. Just thinking about it in response to your thread, I'm gonna go download it ($5.03 in the Kindle Store). It's a short, special read that will make you cry.


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## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

Diary of Anne Frank.  It's amazing to think how life can be cut so short because of pure evil.


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## jhendereson (Oct 22, 2010)

Sounder. 
Also there's a country song about a kid who doesn't want the girl to go fishing with him and his dad, then he later dates and falls in love with the same girl; later she's near death having their child...Well, it's pretty sad, yet a great song.


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

I agree with the Thomas Hardy suggestion - Tess of the d'Urbervilles if you want it heartbreaking - even the baby is called Sorrow.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Something for Joey - and I don't especially like football ...


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## ajhunter (Aug 23, 2010)

A Thousand Splendid Suns definitely took me on an emotional roller coaster.  I don't know that sad is the right emotion to describe it, but by the end, i was definitely worn out.


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## Manley (Nov 14, 2010)

The Five People you Meet in Heaven - sad and happy all at once

Tuesdays with Morrie - so sad

Cujo - sorry, another dog book


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## texasmuse (Jan 20, 2011)

"The Last Lecture" was difficult to get through.

I cried all the way through the last few chapters of "Marley and Me"

Off topic a bit, but Joyce Caroll Oates "We were the Mulvaneys" left me sad and depressed for weeks.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

texasmuse said:


> "The Last Lecture" was difficult to get through.
> 
> I cried all the way through the last few chapters of "Marley and Me"
> 
> Off topic a bit, but Joyce Caroll Oates "We were the Mulvaneys" left me sad and depressed for weeks.


I forgot about _The Last Lecture_. I read that shortly after my wonderful sister passed away from cancer, and my heart nearly broke all over again.


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

Manley said:


> The Five People you Meet in Heaven - sad and happy all at once


I couldn't finish this one. I found it sappy and simplistic. But YMMV.


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## beckyj20 (Jun 12, 2010)

jhendereson said:


> Sounder.
> Also there's a country song about a kid who doesn't want the girl to go fishing with him and his dad, then he later dates and falls in love with the same girl; later she's near death having their child...Well, it's pretty sad, yet a great song.


Dont Take the Girl by Tim Mcgraw! Love that song!!!!


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## DonnaBurgess (Jan 1, 2011)

It's probably lame, but I cried over _The Lovely Bones._ The section near the end where Susie watches her family move on without her really got to me. Also, _The Road_. I appreciated how the man loved the boy so much (my boy is around the age of the boy in the book).


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## KendallSwan (May 17, 2010)

The Last Lecture was hard to get through.  

But one that really stayed with me a few years ago was "The Boy Called It".  

Also, heartwrenching and great writing was "Tweaked".  Hard to 'watch' slow descent into meth addiction.  There is also a companion book by his dad about the same time.  Both good writers.  

I tell myself to stay away from these type of books because they make me cry so much but then I keep reading them.  
We're all masochistic in this thread, I guess.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

The Last Lecture
Where the Red Fern Grows ( cried for DAYS-but I was pre-teen when I read it.. emotions very volatile at that age)
Old Yeller


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

NogDog said:


> While most of the book is not sad -- and is often quite funny -- I all out bawled a couple times at the end of _Marley and Me_.


I second this but I figured my reaction was based in part because my service dog looks EXACTLY like Marley with the exception of being female and a brown nose. Either way it was not a pretty cry at ALL. I'd also have to add _My Sister's Keeper_


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

jhendereson said:


> Sounder.
> Also there's a country song about a kid who doesn't want the girl to go fishing with him and his dad, then he later dates and falls in love with the same girl; later she's near death having their child...Well, it's pretty sad, yet a great song.


That would be Tim Mcgraw's "Don't Take The Girl" still an amazing song some 20 years later


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## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

I can't deal with gut-wrenching books... I just can't... I remember reading _Mowgli_ as a kid, I loved it at first, but then Rudyard Kipling started killing off all those dear characters I grew to love. I hated him.


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> The Last Lecture
> Where the Red Fern Grows ( cried for DAYS-but I was pre-teen when I read it.. emotions very volatile at that age)
> Old Yeller


Red Fern is now on Kindle was released at the beginning of the year


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.


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## Manley (Nov 14, 2010)

KendallSwan said:


> But one that really stayed with me a few years ago was "The Boy Called It".


Yep, I had forgotten about that one. Good pick. Now that I'm thinking about it, I remember being very angry in addition to sad.


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## Blanche (Jan 4, 2010)

"The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusack tore me up emotionally.  My lower lip quivered for days whenever I thought back on the book.  Beautiful yet sad.

There are a lot of wonderful books in this list.  I must like to cry because I have read nearly all of them.


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## marshacanham (Jul 30, 2010)

Hands down, Sophie's Choice.  I literally couldn't breathe in parts.

M


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

"The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton is devastating.

"The English Patient" by Michael Ondaatje is also.


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## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

f. scott fitzgerald's short story, 'babylon revisited,' because at the end you know that he knows and sees what he's losing as he's losing it. 'the plague,' by camus, because of ... so many reasons.


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## Joel Arnold (May 3, 2010)

'The Painted Bird' by Jerzy Kozinski (sp?) - sad in a very horrifying way.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Joel Arnold said:


> 'The Painted Bird' by Jerzy Kozinski (sp?) - sad in a very horrifying way.


I was thinking of "The Painted Bird," but more for the "holy crap!" category. With each chapter it's hard to believe what you're reading. It's truly about hearts of darkness. I remember in a high school advanced placement English class we were reading The Bible as literature. And with many of the books in it we were assigned other books, plays, essays to read that somehow relate to the subject at hand. When we got to The Book of Job the teacher actually gave us a choice between "The Painted Bird" and Voltaire's "Candide." The former is a lot longer than the latter. Just looking at the sizes of the books the class decided to read "Candide." So the teacher volunteered to read a few pages from "The Painted Bird." When he was done the class unanimously voted to read the longer book; for purely perverse reasons as we were all teenagers and couldn't believe we were being offered a book that...intense.


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## dltanner99 (Sep 9, 2010)

Anything by Nicholas Sparks. Just don't get too attached to the lovers in his books, 'cause one of 'em's gonna die!


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## CandyTX (Apr 13, 2009)

I haven't read all the responses, but I see someone mentioned Tweaked... I dunno, parts of that angered me more than made me sad (but that's probably because I read the dad's book first). The Dad's book called A Beautiful Boy by David Sheff brought me to tears several times. I felt completely pulled part by that book and it's something I hope to never have to deal with with my own children. It's easily in my top 25 books I've ever read. The author just lays it all out and doesn't hold back. Seriously, it's really good.

Others that made me cry... The Help, The Year of Fog, Thousand Splendid Suns.

Stupid dog books... The Art of Racing in the Rain tore my heart out. I'm gonna stop reading books with dogs in them because I always end up with swollen eyes and a fist full of Kleenex.

There's also a book out there called Dementia Diary, it's an indie book, the author might even be on the forums here, but parts of that are really tear-worthy if you have a loved one with a form of dementia. It was also hard to read because the author so obviously struggled with not letting his own guard down while writing it. It was kind of an odd read for me because I could also feel the author at the same time...


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## peter darbyshire (Jan 22, 2011)

Various Raymond Carver stories have hit me hard at different points in my life. Which probably says more about my life than I should be admitting in public.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

beckyj20 said:


> I read so many happily ever after books that I like to switch it up sometimes and read something that makes me all out bawl. Any suggestions for a really sad book?


I'd like to add a half-vote for OLD YELLER. That was a rough one, and one of the first "non-picture books" I ever read.

However, while this is hardly a novel-length book... you can probably get through it in, like, five minutes...

...upon further review, I think in many ways one of the saddest books of all time (and I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it so far that I've seen) is...

THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein.

(I was going to be snarky and say EVERYONE P--PS!, but I'm being sincere here... THE GIVING TREE is really, really touching.)


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

Mike McIntyre said:


> Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.


Also The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham - another with a cholera theme and love recognized too late.


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## PG4003 (Patricia) (Jan 30, 2010)

The book I remember making me cry more than any other was James Patterson's "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". When I finished that book I just laid down on the couch and bawled.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Patricia, I agree with you on the Patterson book.  I read it years ago and I too spent a great deal of time with a box of tissues by my side.
deb


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## kindleworm (Aug 24, 2010)

I would like to add The Yearling to this list.


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## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> I think in many ways one of the saddest books of all time (and I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it so far that I've seen) is...
> 
> THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein. ... THE GIVING TREE is really, really touching.)


yeah, that's a good vote. i might not say 'touching', though. i'd say that book 'hurts.' that book is _painful_.


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## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

winniethepoe said:


> It's probably lame, but I cried over _The Lovely Bones._ The section near the end where Susie watches her family move on without her really got to me. Also, _The Road_. I appreciated how the man loved the boy so much (my boy is around the age of the boy in the book).


I second The Lovely Bones as one of the saddest books I have ever read. It's not lame to cry winnie, I cried a few times when I read the book and when I watched the movie.

Vianka Van Bokkem


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## Ruth Ann Nordin (Sep 24, 2010)

I was going to say Of Mice and Men, but Flowers for Algernon is more heartbreaking.  Just thinking about it makes me sad.  Both were excellent reads though.


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## rsullivan9597 (Nov 18, 2009)

Flowers for Algernon - always gets me no matter what age I am reading it.


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

Adding my votes for _Where the Red Fern Grows_ and _Of Mice and Men_.

N


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## Belle2Be (Aug 29, 2010)

My Sisters Keeper had me bawling...


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

Last year E. L. Doctorow wrote a book called Homer & Langley: A Novel which was apparently based on a true story about two eccentric brothers in New York. He used their life story as a starting off point to riff on key American events in the 20th century, and there's lots of quirky details about their life together. (Their parents died when they were young, and they spend the rest of their lives in the family mansion, as the one brother obsessively hoards strange bits of salvaged junk that he thinks some day will be useful).

I think what made that book so sad for me was the fact that the book clipped along with a breezy pace. It covers more than 60 years in a little less than 200 pages. So the final paragraph was a major sucker punch - after you'd gotten to know and care about these characters. I thought it changed the whole tone of the book, and should've been edited out to make it more consistent. But maybe I just have a low tolerance for surprisingly tragic endings


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (Ishiguro).  Maybe tied with OLD YELLER


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

Margaret Jean said:


> THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (Ishiguro).


I was just about to write "Never Let Me Go." I might be forgetting others, but this book is quite melancholy, and not just because of the events that occur but also because of the theme (on the human condition). "The Remains of the Day" was more poignant than melancholy, but it's sad for much of the same reasons as "Never Let Me Go."

I don't think most dog books are that sad. They live full lives ("Marley & Me"). Old Yeller (movie - haven't read the book) was still sad, of course - but I saw it ~20 years ago. I'll be sad when my dog passes on, but he is happy and will likely die old (though his sire had an aneurysm at age).


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Toss up between _A Dog's Purpose_ by Bruce Cameron and _The Five People You Meet in Heaven_ by Mitch Albom, but probably the latter. I cried during the TV movie, then read the book and cried again.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Speaking of sad scenes with pets, I cried like a fool when I read about Jack's passing in _On the Shores of Silver Lake_ (number 4 of Laura Ingalls Wilder's series.)

I usually cry at non-fiction books like _Fatal Vision _ because I know it's a true story, and that always affects me more.

One fictional book that made me cry was Thomas Hardy's _Jude the Obscure_. Hardy put his characters through hell, and Jude was no exception.


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## Snowedoff (Jan 25, 2011)

Without a doubt...Little Women.  Gets me every time!


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## Susan Seeming (Jan 25, 2011)

Jan Strnad said:


> One of my favorite books, _Flowers for Algernon_ by Daniel Keyes, is pretty gut-wrenching.


I have to agree. This was the first time I cried reading a book.


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## vermontcathy (Feb 18, 2009)

The Road. Totally hopeless and depressing.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

I think I've mentioned this book more than any other on this board (it seems to be the answer to so many questions!) but "The Grapes of Wrath" reduces me to pudding every time I read it.  And not just the devastatingly beautiful ending, but all through out the book.  Ma makes me cry, Casey makes me cry, the "penny" candy for the kids that's really "nickle" candy, and the truckers who quietly pay for it by leaving a 50 cent tip at the diner...  It's too much.


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## loladark (Jan 24, 2011)

The Kite Runner


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

The book that I am still not quite over; A Dog's Purpose.  I think because I lost my dog and best companion (I am retired) some months before I read it, this book just kills me.  I still miss my girl and still think about this book.  I am tearing up just thinking about it.  It's just all tied together, I guess.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I second We Were the Mulvaneys -- I read this the week after my daughter was born, and when I hit the part where the girl's cat has gone off into the woods to die I started sobbing so hard that I scared my husband!

Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing must be the most relentlessly brutal and soul-killing book I've ever read. It put me off McCarthy for good.


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## Kelly Haven (Jan 20, 2011)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Only book that has ever brought me to tears.


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## scottnicholson (Jan 31, 2010)

Night by Elie Weisel


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## Arthur Slade (Jan 20, 2011)

Pat Barker's World War One Series that starts with *Regeneration*. Beautiful, poetic and moving. All three books are wonderfully depressing. If you're into that sort of thing.


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## Candee15 (Jan 31, 2010)

Cindy416 said:


> I thought _Brian's Song, The Bridges of Madison County,_ and _ Marley & Me_ were all very sad. Having lost my parents, in-laws, and sister (4 of the 5 in the last 6 years), the last thing that I want to do any more is read really sad books. I'm ready for some fun and levity in my life, making my choices of reading material much different than in the past.


Cindy,

I'm in your exact situation...except instead of a sister I had a brother. I try not to read ANY sad books. I hunt for books that elevate my mood and have a happy ending, if possible.


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

For me it was The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow...


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## Zell (Dec 27, 2010)

Where The Red Fern Grows.  I read it as a kid and as an adult and it still tugs at my heart because I grew up with a hunting dog that I loved very much.


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

Where the Red Fern Grows..

I cried like a baby at the ending... a pretty traumatic childhood experience.


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## Emily King (Jun 9, 2009)

PG4003 (Patricia) said:


> The book I remember making me cry more than any other was James Patterson's "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". When I finished that book I just laid down on the couch and bawled.


I read this one (while pregnant, so more hormonal) and remember finishing it, sobbing... and I think I even called my mom to sob about the story to her and made her cry.


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## beckyj20 (Jun 12, 2010)

scottnicholson said:


> Night by Elie Weisel


Amazon doesn't have this one in ebook.  Its been on my TBR list forever!


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

beckyj20 said:


> I read so many happily ever after books that I like to switch it up sometimes and read something that makes me all out bawl. Any suggestions for a really sad book?


This is a very interesting question, especially from an author's point of view. Everybody loves happy endings, but in life--take a close hard look at the terminus--there are no happy endings. My vote today (although I mentioned The Remains of the Day above) would have to go to ANIL'S GHOST (same writer as penned the English Patient.) Compelling story about 2 really good people who risked everything, and lost everything, to help people and make the world a "better" place--and failed. Unforgettable. One of my favorite books.


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## dmspen (Jan 12, 2011)

Jan Strnad said:


> What is it with dog books that they always have to take the story until the very end of the dog's life?


Although it has been literally decades since I first read it, "Where the Red Fern Grows" had me weeping so hard I had to stop reading. 
It's the story of a boy and his 2 **** hounds. Very good, and again, a sad ending.


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## brenwinter (Jun 12, 2009)

When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

Read it as a paperback and couldn't keep reading because I was crying so much -- my husband thought I was nuts!

Brenda


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

I concur with Joyce Carol Oates and any dog book for making me depressed afterward, although I can't help myself and keep reading Oates no matter how unpleasant the book's universe may be since she is such a master storyteller.

_The Hours_ really affected me. I sobbed for two reasons. One, I could relate to the women in it. Two, the prose was so beautiful, I cried knowing I could never write like that.


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

kcrady said:


> For me it was The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow...


I totally agree with this....I've read it several times, and been moved to tears every time.


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

Jane917 said:


> Old Yeller. I was in third grade. I sobbed.


 I sobbed too. And even today when I think of the story a deep sorrow seems to come over me. Quite a feat for a book to create such a lasting impression.


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

foreverjuly said:


> The most depressing book you could ever read or that could ever be written is Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. It should come with a warning. Seriously. I felt like I needed pills by the end of it.


Agree. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy is so tragic and hopeless, it sticks in your gut. Great writers can do this. Arrgh!


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

lacymarankevinmichael said:


> Diary of Anne Frank. It's amazing to think how life can be cut so short because of pure evil.


Agree. And the innocence of the victims makes it almost too heartbreaking to read.


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## charliehill (Jan 26, 2011)

got to agree with the earlier poster who suggested The Road. my word. i was near the end and i had to take my son out in his pushchair - luckily he fell asleep and i could sit down on a quiet bench and finish the thing without too many people pointing at me...
i agree that Jude the Obscure is quite harrowing too. tho' i don't just *how* harrowing. i've been reading it for five years now and still haven't finished the damn thing...


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

marshacanham said:


> Hands down, Sophie's Choice. I literally couldn't breathe in parts.
> 
> M


Amen, on this one too. Interesting observation I just have to make: nearly every book mentioned in this thread was written by a great writer, not some stuttering, one-book flash-in-the pan. Something in the human heart knows that happy endings in life are not the norm. Maybe reading these books helps us come to grips with this and accept it. Idea not new with me, come to think of it. I think Aristotle said it better in his book THE POETICS, which dealt with writing and drama as art.


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

Mike McIntyre said:


> Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.


 Great one. Love Marquez.


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## charliehill (Jan 26, 2011)

vermontcathy said:


> The Road. Totally hopeless and depressing.


it's a heart breaker, but i don't agree that it is hopeless. compared to what went before, the ending is practically a custard pie fight...


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

Thalia the Muse said:


> I second We Were the Mulvaneys -- I read this the week after my daughter was born, and when I hit the part where the girl's cat has gone off into the woods to die I started sobbing so hard that I scared my husband!
> 
> Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing must be the most relentlessly brutal and soul-killing book I've ever read. It put me off McCarthy for good.


 I stopped reading McCarthy for that very reason.


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## CaitLondon (Oct 12, 2010)

Marley & Me. 
But that was because of my love for my own dog, now deceased. I couldn't separate.


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## Ashley Lynn Willis (Jan 27, 2011)

Where The Red Fern Grows.  Of course, I was about ten, so that might have accounted for some of the water works.  I get teary just thinking about it.    I cried reading Marley and Me, too.  There is just something about dog stories that gets me worked up.


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## Maria Hooley (Jul 21, 2009)

The saddest book I ever read was a compilation of short stories by Tadeusz Borowski called This Way to the Gas Ladies and Gentleman.  I'd read several novels about the Holocaust, but this book literally had me weeping at one of the stories.  I was so upset after I finished that story, I put the collection down for six months.


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## kory (May 29, 2009)

My saddest book is White Bim Black Ear by Gavriil Troyepolsky.


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## Ruth Ann Nordin (Sep 24, 2010)

I just remembered one that has me bawling every time I finish it. The Giver by Lois Lowry. Written for middle school children but it takes an adult to truly understand everything that's happening. It's one of the best books I ever read, but it's definitely a tear jerker. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Giver-ebook/dp/B003MC5N28/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1296181695&sr=1-1


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## David McAfee (Apr 15, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> Where the Red Fern Grows ( cried for DAYS-but I was pre-teen when I read it.. emotions very volatile at that age)


this one.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

Probably every dog related book I've ever read.  They always make me cry.

But recently?  The Lost Dogs.  I will never be able to get some of those scenes out of my mind as long as I live.  I heart my pit bull.


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## julieannfelicity (Jun 28, 2010)

Daniel Arenson said:


> I read "Flowers for Algernon" the short story. I think it might be the most beautiful thing ever written.
> 
> I don't want to read the novel, because the story is perfect.


What Dan said.

And A Child Called It.


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I'm not sure of the name but it was about a group of mountebanks who kidnapped a boy and mutilated his face so that he would always be smiling even when his heart was breaking.  The mountebanks exhibited the boy in their traveling carnivals.  The unfortunate boy finally found love with a blind girl who couldn't see what he looked like.  I wept for days over this book which I had sneaked out of a convent library.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Ruth Ann Nordin said:


> I just remembered one that has me bawling every time I finish it. The Giver by Lois Lowry. Written for middle school children but it takes an adult to truly understand everything that's happening. It's one of the best books I ever read, but it's definitely a tear jerker. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Giver-ebook/dp/B003MC5N28/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1296181695&sr=1-1


Couldn't agree more--this book is deceptively simple to read for such a thought-provoking book.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Several books mentioned touched me but the one that made me cry for days every time I thought of it was Ian McEwan's _Atonement_. In fact, I still tear up when I think about it.

Edit: And he was robbed for the Booker. He should have been awarded it for that.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

tsilver said:


> I'm not sure of the name but it was about a group of mountebanks who kidnapped a boy and mutilated his face so that he would always be smiling even when his heart was breaking. The mountebanks exhibited the boy in their traveling carnivals. The unfortunate boy finally found love with a blind girl who couldn't see what he looked like. I wept for days over this book which I had sneaked out of a convent library.


It sounds like you might be talking about Victor Hugo's _The Man Who Laughs_.


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## Miriam Minger (Nov 27, 2010)

Anna Karenina.


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## billie hinton (Jan 30, 2011)

Near the end of The Lovely Bones I had to sit in the bathroom with a hand towel - the tears were flowing so fast. I didn't want to alarm my two children! I don't remember crying like that with any other book.


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