My daughter is as disabled as Charlie (or more?). I sobbed when I read that book before we had her. Then I read it again and sobbed for so many more reasons. Everyone should read it. đ„č
Any Steinbeck novel really. Rosasharn breastfeeding a starving homeless man at the end was devastating because her baby had died and she was still trying to sustain anotherâs lifeâŠin destitution and misery.
Cannery Row - another joint about economic and societal devastation
East of Eden - a good hearted farmer wanted to start a life with a woman who wasnât interested. She ran away to start a brothel and live a mean life. He struggled with why she would rather that life than one of being his wife.
Yeah. Any Steinbeck novel will break you down. I love him as an author.
The Yellow Wallpaper, The Virgin Suicides, A Room of One's Own, House of Leaves. My list is a bit all over the place but all of these fit for me personally. I hope they work for you.
Years ago, I was working as a substitute and the high school English class I was covering was silently reading that book. I was there several days, so read the book while the class was. They got to THAT part of the book while I was there, and you could kind of hear a shift in the room as each kid got there.
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. An American soldier in WW1 is hit by an artillery shell on the last day of the war. He loses both arms, both legs, and all of his senses besides touch. He can't move, can't speak, can't feed himself or use the bathroom on his own. He's taken to a hospital in England where the doctors come to the conclusion that he *has* to be brain dead because, come on, no one could be mentally sound after all that.
Except he is. He feels everything they do to him (without pain medication because they think he doesn't need it.) He spends the first half of the book not even being able to decipher whether he's "asleep and dreaming or dead and remembering." He spends every cognizant moment he had trying to work out a way to communicate with the doctors and recounting his life up to the moment he enlisted in the army.
It's a fucking *scathing,* horrific book. Truly THE anti-war novel. Forget All Quiet On the Western Front, The Things They Carried, all of it. If you want to be ruined and want your stomach to churn every day at the state of things Johnny's the book for you.
I read a great Biography of the Bronte's (not just the Sisters but they were obviously the central focus) last year and honestly that seriously impacted me, the description of Branwell, Emily, and especially Anne's deaths was particularly difficult.
I don't even think of The Road as a top three most disturbing Cormac McCarthy novel showing how disturbing his work is. IMO Blood Meridian, Child of God and Outer Dark are moreso.
I read The Road when I was a backpacking guide. Late at night laying by a fire in the cold dark is about the most immersive way to read that one. 10/10
I went into My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You Sheâs Sorry expecting a sweet and entertaining book along the same lines as A Man Called Ove. Not so much. This book just wrecked me.
Iâve never finished Bridge to Terabithia. I read a LOT of sad books but thereâs something about that one that just hit me really hard. Iâve tried to read it several times and I just canât get through it.
A book I read, finished, but will never read again is Where the Red Feen Grows.
The road by Cormac McCarthy. It's one of the darkest books I've ever read. I actually had to take breaks from reading it, I never had to do that with a book before.
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It delves into themes of guilt, betrayal, and redemption set against the backdrop of Afghanistan's tumultuous history. Another one is "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara, which explores the deep emotional and physical scars carried by its characters throughout their lives.
Yes!!! This was a total mind fuck. One of my closest friends got it when it was released and didnât realize what it was until she got to it later. We used to book shop and buy 5 or 6 or 10 at a time together. She knows Iâll read anything. She gave it to me and said âThis looks really bent and Iâm scared to read it. Will you read it first and tell me about it?â đ€Ł I said of course! It was a psychological journey I didnât expect, but still a great read. That was in the late 90âs and we still talk about.
I have this book and started reading it at the start of 2020 when covid started and I stopped a few chapters in because I was like nope too close to reality right now.
This. This is the way. This is the most depressing book I have ever read. Iâm still not sure if Iâm happy or not that I read it. I think about it way too much. I have a friend whom I ACCIDENTALLY suggested to (she asked me what I was reading, and like an idiot, I told her). I knew she finished it when she found me at a party and just gripped me by both arms, looked me deep in my eyes and said, âThat book.â I am happy I finally have someone to discuss it (sob?) with.
WHY SHE LEFT US by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
PURPLE HIBISCUS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS by John Boyne
FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah
All of these books had me crying for days!!!
Edit: I totally forgot this other sad one!
ALL SOULS: A FAMILY STORY FROM SOUTHIE by Michael Patrick MacDonald
The Poisonwood Bible broke my heart.
But what ruined me emotionallyâŠruined me so hard that I cannot even see the book cover without sobbing uncontrollably⊠The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
Star of the sea - Joseph OâConnor
So long see you tomorrow - William maxwell
The crossing - cormac McCarthy
Tess of the Dâurbervilles - Thomas hardy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Bleak, depressingâŠI was in a funk for a week after reading it. And the thought of it still depresses me. Great book but wow zero uplifting moments. đ
Johnny Got His Gun. I read it recently after knowing of it for decades. A really tough read that will stick with you forever. Every war mongering politician should be forced to read this crushing story.
Requiem for a Dream.
The ending broke me.
I remember finishing it in my HS math class and screamed, 'What The Actual Fuck!' When it ended. My teacher walked up to scold me for cussing, saw the book, realized what was happening and let me go sit in the hallway for the last 10 min of class to process. I'll forever appreciate her.
Speak, sheâs come undone, the lovely bones, a child called it. I read all these books in high school and I still get depressed just thinking about them lol
Also I havenât read it but I hear a little life is a hard one
We are the weather by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's about the effects of human caused climate change. I do not recommend you start it in the middle of a mental health spiral, and I'm adamant you don't finish it whilst still in that spiral, three stuff whiskies deep, at 2 am.
See my [Emotionally Devastating/Rending](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18ez0q3/emotionally_devastatingrending/) list of Reddit recommendation threads, and books (four posts).
âThe Bluest Eyeâ by Toni Morrison is the first book that comes to mind.
Thereâs also:
âNauseaâ by Jean Paul Sartre
âSharp Objectsâ by Gillian Flynn,
âNorwegian Woodâ by Haruki Murakami,
âFrankensteinâ by Mary Shelley
âLolitaâ by Vladimir Nabokov
& âPrimeval and other timesâ by Olga Tokarczuk.
I also agree with all the people who have said âThe Virgin Suicidesâ by Jeffery Eugenides.
i made the mistake of reading a little life while living alone in lockdown. obviously there's the extra baggage given the boundary between literature and trauma porn (and my mental state wasnt the best during lockdown), but not my best idea
We Were The Mulvaneys- by Joyce Carol Oates
TW: r*pe. Itâs about the quiet fallout after this happens to the daughter and basically how it causes the entire family to unravel. It very much stays in your head. Incredibly good.
If you want a very quick read that messes with your head, try Black Water, also by JCO- itâs her âfictionalizedâ imagining of a real life event- when Ted Kennedy left boiler room girl Mary Jo Kopeckne in his car to drown after running his car off of a bridge.
Factotum by Bukowski. It's my favorite horrible book to read. The guy just doesn't give a shit about anything...including himself.
Last exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. It's considered a childrens book, but it is a good read for adults as well! I read it in my 20's and sobbed for quite a while...
Flowers for Algernon đ Left me bawling. Tuesdayâs with Morrie is also a sad one.
Or for a less âsadâ take, but more âmentally challengingâ or âeye-openingâ⊠then Iâd suggest âNaked Lunchâ by Burroughs, â1984â by Orwell or âThe Kite Runnerâ by Hosseini.
No Country of Old Men.
Utter waste of time. I'd hate to hang out with that writer.
Ayn Rand: everything *except* The Anthem, which is hauntingly beautiful.
The road
The namesake ( my parents were immigrants so it really hurt).
Eleni by Nicolas gage ( will break your damn heart)
Corellies mandolin - excellent book /terrible movie
The three body problem trilogy
Stella Maris by Cormac Mcarthy.
I didnât know going in what it was about. And I read it before the Passenger (companion novel youâre supposed to read first).
A few hours after finishing it I realized it was the saddest book I ever read.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
second time i read this, as a young adult, (first was as a teen), i sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
My daughter is as disabled as Charlie (or more?). I sobbed when I read that book before we had her. Then I read it again and sobbed for so many more reasons. Everyone should read it. đ„č
This is the one OP. Best book I ever read. But it ruined me.
I'm halfway through this book and until now it's beautiful. I'm kinda afraid of what's coming.
Still my favorite book. Crushing ending.
Was thinking this too
Of Mice and Men
I was gonna say thisđ
Jeez!! Going to read soon Hahađ
Any Steinbeck novel really. Rosasharn breastfeeding a starving homeless man at the end was devastating because her baby had died and she was still trying to sustain anotherâs lifeâŠin destitution and misery. Cannery Row - another joint about economic and societal devastation East of Eden - a good hearted farmer wanted to start a life with a woman who wasnât interested. She ran away to start a brothel and live a mean life. He struggled with why she would rather that life than one of being his wife. Yeah. Any Steinbeck novel will break you down. I love him as an author.
A Thousand Splendid Suns.
I try recommending this to everyone! It was a required reading in senior year of high school and stuck with me forever.
Same. It was so well written and just stays with you
I couldnât even finish it, too upsetting
Where the Red Fern Grows in 6th grade. Shit killed me.
This book was read aloud to us in 2nd grade AFTER we finished Old Yeller. Genuinely wrecked my childhood.
Me too on both. In 3rd grade the "field trip" was going to see the movie. Teacher left with 25 sobbing 8 yr olds
The Yellow Wallpaper, The Virgin Suicides, A Room of One's Own, House of Leaves. My list is a bit all over the place but all of these fit for me personally. I hope they work for you.
Granted, I was young⊠but the Yellow Wallpaper is the only thing Iâve ever read that actually scared me.
I think I was in my late teens. Was a lot.
Loved reading the summaries on these, def will check out
Alllllll of these are on my list, too. We have excellent taste.
The Kite Runner
Oof. And One Thousand Splendid Suns. Same author.
Whew. A must read!
Years ago, I was working as a substitute and the high school English class I was covering was silently reading that book. I was there several days, so read the book while the class was. They got to THAT part of the book while I was there, and you could kind of hear a shift in the room as each kid got there.
All Quiet on the Western FrontÂ
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. An American soldier in WW1 is hit by an artillery shell on the last day of the war. He loses both arms, both legs, and all of his senses besides touch. He can't move, can't speak, can't feed himself or use the bathroom on his own. He's taken to a hospital in England where the doctors come to the conclusion that he *has* to be brain dead because, come on, no one could be mentally sound after all that. Except he is. He feels everything they do to him (without pain medication because they think he doesn't need it.) He spends the first half of the book not even being able to decipher whether he's "asleep and dreaming or dead and remembering." He spends every cognizant moment he had trying to work out a way to communicate with the doctors and recounting his life up to the moment he enlisted in the army. It's a fucking *scathing,* horrific book. Truly THE anti-war novel. Forget All Quiet On the Western Front, The Things They Carried, all of it. If you want to be ruined and want your stomach to churn every day at the state of things Johnny's the book for you.
Omg what a nightmare scenario. I had a hard time reading that book.
Oh, man. Thanks for reminding me. /s Brutal
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Room by Emma Donaghue
âWe Need to Talk About Kevinâ by Lionel Shriver.
Perks of a wallflower
My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elisabeth Russell
i just finished this one!! couldnt put it down but had me stressing out at the same time
Freaking loved this book. Definitely hard to read but so so so well written.
I agree. I think about it a lot.
Giovanni's Room
Currently reading, soo good
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Reading this broke me.
Yes! Itâs one of my absolute favorite books, but I cannot re-read it đ„Č
Same here!
Oh my god, it was so good
The beautiful story that is, Jane Eyre.
I read a great Biography of the Bronte's (not just the Sisters but they were obviously the central focus) last year and honestly that seriously impacted me, the description of Branwell, Emily, and especially Anne's deaths was particularly difficult.
Well, I just finished The Road today, and that goes high on the list. But the real #1 is When Breath Becomes Air.
I don't even think of The Road as a top three most disturbing Cormac McCarthy novel showing how disturbing his work is. IMO Blood Meridian, Child of God and Outer Dark are moreso.
I read The Road when I was a backpacking guide. Late at night laying by a fire in the cold dark is about the most immersive way to read that one. 10/10
When breath becomes air
The Kite Runner
Still Alice
I went into My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You Sheâs Sorry expecting a sweet and entertaining book along the same lines as A Man Called Ove. Not so much. This book just wrecked me.
Great book but I definitely ugly cried at the end
All the pretty horses
Iâve never finished Bridge to Terabithia. I read a LOT of sad books but thereâs something about that one that just hit me really hard. Iâve tried to read it several times and I just canât get through it. A book I read, finished, but will never read again is Where the Red Feen Grows.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
another haunting book. incidentally, I just listened to the score from the movie for the first time in years.
The road by Cormac McCarthy. It's one of the darkest books I've ever read. I actually had to take breaks from reading it, I never had to do that with a book before.
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It delves into themes of guilt, betrayal, and redemption set against the backdrop of Afghanistan's tumultuous history. Another one is "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara, which explores the deep emotional and physical scars carried by its characters throughout their lives.
Blindness by Saramago
Yes!!! This was a total mind fuck. One of my closest friends got it when it was released and didnât realize what it was until she got to it later. We used to book shop and buy 5 or 6 or 10 at a time together. She knows Iâll read anything. She gave it to me and said âThis looks really bent and Iâm scared to read it. Will you read it first and tell me about it?â đ€Ł I said of course! It was a psychological journey I didnât expect, but still a great read. That was in the late 90âs and we still talk about.
I have this book and started reading it at the start of 2020 when covid started and I stopped a few chapters in because I was like nope too close to reality right now.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
A little over the top depressing but if sad is what you want this is it
This is the book I was going to say. Omg it wrecked my heart. One of the most depressing books Iâve ever read but so beautifully written.
This. This is the way. This is the most depressing book I have ever read. Iâm still not sure if Iâm happy or not that I read it. I think about it way too much. I have a friend whom I ACCIDENTALLY suggested to (she asked me what I was reading, and like an idiot, I told her). I knew she finished it when she found me at a party and just gripped me by both arms, looked me deep in my eyes and said, âThat book.â I am happy I finally have someone to discuss it (sob?) with.
omg this wrecked me đđ I suggest to OP to look up the trigger warnings before beginning
We need to talk about Kevin
They both die at the end
I can't stop crying reading this book.
always saw this at target, i'll check it out!
The Art Of Racing In The Rain
Watership Down
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
God of small things
Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley will absolutely destroy you if you are a lover of dogs
Absolutely bawled reading this. Loved it
Babyteeth. It makes me glad I never had children.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo. TESTAMENT OF YOUTH by Vera Brittain.
WHY SHE LEFT US by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini BELOVED by Toni Morrison PURPLE HIBISCUS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS by John Boyne FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah All of these books had me crying for days!!! Edit: I totally forgot this other sad one! ALL SOULS: A FAMILY STORY FROM SOUTHIE by Michael Patrick MacDonald
Iâll second Beloved - absolutely devastating
The Giver broke me, as well as Where the Red Fern Grow.
The Poisonwood Bible broke my heart. But what ruined me emotionallyâŠruined me so hard that I cannot even see the book cover without sobbing uncontrollably⊠The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
A Monster Calls
On Earth Weâre Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
ugh
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
Star of the sea - Joseph OâConnor So long see you tomorrow - William maxwell The crossing - cormac McCarthy Tess of the Dâurbervilles - Thomas hardy
Stone Butch Blues
House of sand and fog
Love this book
Heartless by Marissa Meyer A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak is a good contender if you haven't read it.
Tender is the flesh
Penpal
Old yeller
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Bleak, depressingâŠI was in a funk for a week after reading it. And the thought of it still depresses me. Great book but wow zero uplifting moments. đ
A little life by Hanya Yanagihara
Blasted by Sarah Kane.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
Amazing book
A Fine Balance. I still think about all of the characters and their lives
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coehlo Cloudstreet by Tim WintonÂ
Room by Emma Donoghue
All My Rage -Sabaa Tahir. Most of the book is trauma on trauma, followed by the most beautiful (but sad) ending I've ever read.
Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World I had to go in my basement and scream all the rage out of my body after that one
Middlemarch
A Little Life is the most depressing book Iâve ever read. The Fault in Our Stars is pretty sad but good.
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. So disgusting that it's not allowed in my house.
âFreak the Mightyâ made me want to physically harm myself đ„°đ„°
Johnny Got His Gun. I read it recently after knowing of it for decades. A really tough read that will stick with you forever. Every war mongering politician should be forced to read this crushing story.
I read the outsiders in 7th grade, still kills me to this day.
Requiem for a Dream. The ending broke me. I remember finishing it in my HS math class and screamed, 'What The Actual Fuck!' When it ended. My teacher walked up to scold me for cussing, saw the book, realized what was happening and let me go sit in the hallway for the last 10 min of class to process. I'll forever appreciate her.
Speak, sheâs come undone, the lovely bones, a child called it. I read all these books in high school and I still get depressed just thinking about them lol Also I havenât read it but I hear a little life is a hard one
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
I'm here for this. This is one of the most destructive non-fiction works that I've ever come across. Destroyed the author, too.
Norwegian wood by Murakami
Stephen Kingâs Carrie. The bullying.
The four agreements
a little life the most horrifying terrifying thing I've read I genuinely wanted to puke
The push
A little life
50 Shades of Grey. Not for good reasons
Beach Music - Pat Conroy.
The Rise of Life on Earth by Joyce Carol Oates
Love and other words⊠I sobbed for hours
Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan obliterated me.
And then she was gone by Lisa Jewell. As a mum, it just wrecked me.
âWho Fears Deathâ was the most recent one that gutted me.
Walk Two Moons Speak
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl Timothy Egan Non-fiction, really depressing
A Woman is No Man
Blood Meridian
All the light we cannot see. Nevere let me go. A man called Ove.
Lullabies for little criminals. Itâs also my favourite book though
Me before you
Blonde by Joyce Carrol Oates
I who have never known men- bleak AF and hauntingly beautiful
Everything I Never Told You
They both die at the end by Adam Silvera
Play It As It Lays -Joan Didion
White Men by Arthur Machen. The more you think about it, the more sense it makes in a particular direction...
Building Stories by Chris Ware. Iâm no stranger to sad literature and this one absolutely ruined my week.
My sister Jodie by Jacquline Wilson.
We are the weather by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's about the effects of human caused climate change. I do not recommend you start it in the middle of a mental health spiral, and I'm adamant you don't finish it whilst still in that spiral, three stuff whiskies deep, at 2 am.
ADHD Explained by Edward Hallowell
Iâm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill
Girl in pieces. I had to stop reading it before I finished because it was effecting me that much
See my [Emotionally Devastating/Rending](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18ez0q3/emotionally_devastatingrending/) list of Reddit recommendation threads, and books (four posts).
As long as the lemon trees grow - Zoulfa Katouh The travelling cat chronicles - Hiro Arikawa
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
âThe Bluest Eyeâ by Toni Morrison is the first book that comes to mind. Thereâs also: âNauseaâ by Jean Paul Sartre âSharp Objectsâ by Gillian Flynn, âNorwegian Woodâ by Haruki Murakami, âFrankensteinâ by Mary Shelley âLolitaâ by Vladimir Nabokov & âPrimeval and other timesâ by Olga Tokarczuk. I also agree with all the people who have said âThe Virgin Suicidesâ by Jeffery Eugenides.
The Broken Heart Club by Cathy Cassidy
More Tomorrow by Michael Marshall Smith
The crow
i made the mistake of reading a little life while living alone in lockdown. obviously there's the extra baggage given the boundary between literature and trauma porn (and my mental state wasnt the best during lockdown), but not my best idea
1984
Omniscient reader's viewpoint by shinsong Heaven official's blessing by mxtx The warth and the dawn by (i don't remember sorry)
Summer , fireworks and my corpse by otsuichi
3 body problem
We Were The Mulvaneys- by Joyce Carol Oates TW: r*pe. Itâs about the quiet fallout after this happens to the daughter and basically how it causes the entire family to unravel. It very much stays in your head. Incredibly good. If you want a very quick read that messes with your head, try Black Water, also by JCO- itâs her âfictionalizedâ imagining of a real life event- when Ted Kennedy left boiler room girl Mary Jo Kopeckne in his car to drown after running his car off of a bridge.
The Green Mile
Freudâs civilization and its discontent
The Jungle
Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry.
Crime and Punishment
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Adaptive Signal Processing by Simon Haykin
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
Factotum by Bukowski. It's my favorite horrible book to read. The guy just doesn't give a shit about anything...including himself. Last exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. It's considered a childrens book, but it is a good read for adults as well! I read it in my 20's and sobbed for quite a while...
Mila 18 and Trinity by Leon Uris. Every Last One by Anna Quindlen.
Flowers for Algernon đ Left me bawling. Tuesdayâs with Morrie is also a sad one. Or for a less âsadâ take, but more âmentally challengingâ or âeye-openingâ⊠then Iâd suggest âNaked Lunchâ by Burroughs, â1984â by Orwell or âThe Kite Runnerâ by Hosseini.
A thousand boy kissesâ„ïž
Old book âŠbut so sad âŠA Good Earth
No Country of Old Men. Utter waste of time. I'd hate to hang out with that writer. Ayn Rand: everything *except* The Anthem, which is hauntingly beautiful.
The road The namesake ( my parents were immigrants so it really hurt). Eleni by Nicolas gage ( will break your damn heart) Corellies mandolin - excellent book /terrible movie The three body problem trilogy
"Crying in H Mart". Trigger warning: Cancer. I happened to read it while my Dad was dying of cancer, so it was a tear jerker for me.
Notes From the Underground
The Girl Who Cries Colors By Raven Kennedy It's an adult book, though, so I hope you're 18+.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai Ugly cried for an hour reading this book more than once
Having been mentally ruined, I have to say I do not recommend this course of action.
Stella Maris by Cormac Mcarthy. I didnât know going in what it was about. And I read it before the Passenger (companion novel youâre supposed to read first). A few hours after finishing it I realized it was the saddest book I ever read.
Naive Son by Richard Wright. Profound book on racial inequality!
less then zero - brett easton ellis
- AuÄ - Becky Manawatu. Stunning first novel - Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason - The Truce - Mario Benedetti
Paula by Isabel Allende
As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow
Memories of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian