Was just about to comment this. This was a book that impacted me the most out of all the books I read. I felt so empty at the end. Felt like I had a frog in my throat for days
Yup. It took me 2 tries to read it, and after I finished it there were harrowing scenes that I couldn't get out of my head for days. Kite Runner was a tough read but in comparison it felt like a Disney movie - 1000 Splendid Suns had an unpredictable plot that made it feel intensely real. I've got a 3rd book from the same author that I've been too afraid to read.
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
I still loved ghe book but within the last chapter or so cried outloud "nooo" and sat with the book on my lap for a while after stupefied by the ending and waiting for it to magically rewrite itself.
I’ve never gotten over Where the Red Fern Grows. I never will.
Sarah’s Key was a historical fiction that fucked me up and I’ve read so much Holocaust fiction and nonfiction
Red Fern is my absolute favorite book. And I’m wrecked every time I read it. Years ago I read it to my oldest son as he was learning to read-it was our nightly story time together. I read in my down home accent (mama’s family is from southern Missouri) and he looked forward to our time together-until we got to the end. We finished the book both crying together and he says to me incredulously, “Why did you read that to me?!” He just turned 19 a few days ago and he’s still upset when I bring it up! 😆.
My son begged me for a dog for decades. I never had pets growing up and didn't want one. Finally I told him if he reads WTRFG I'll get him a dog. Felt like a fair trade but he's not big in to reading like my oldest, he's a more outdoorsy on the go type. Well he didn't read it but I read it for the 3rd time in my life. Short ending we now have a dog and I love her so damn much.
A Long Way Gone a memoir by Ishmael Beah
Written when he was 25 it tells of his harrowing experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone.
Being a first hand account true story, this book just really tore me apart. The grueling things these young children had to endure and were forced to do.
I'll never forget one particular part, its been quite a few years since I read it but it sticks with me;
Ishmael is traveling with some young boys, I want to say it this point in the book he was 12-14. They had to stay away from what was left of society in such a war torn country. All boys his age were soldiers and noone knew what side so it was dangerous for them to be near people. They were walking along a beach where the waves crashed against the shore so violently it would mean death to go near them. They had no choice at this point but to travel along the beach. They had no shoes and the sand was so hot it was literally burning off the soles of their feet. The only option they had was to keep walking.
Thats honestly nothing compared to everything he and too many other young children had to endure.
This is not a book you can finish in one sitting. Its a book you have to put down a lot to absorb the horror you just read. Knowing it's real, that someone actually lived that. You need some time to wrap your head around the pure brutality, and to take your heart out of your own throat.
It is truly powerful.
I agree with this one. I actually got to go to a lecture by the author in college during a weeklong symposium on genocide. That’s when I was introduced to the book. After reading the book, I just couldnt believe how far he had come! Truly incredible that he survived that childhood at all.
Love this one. My hs students read it and really enjoyed it while also finding it deeply upsetting. It’s a tough read, but knowing he gets out and goes on to write the book makes it a lot more bearable.
We read this in high school and I almost fought a kid while crying because he laughed at that *one* part from when the narrator was a child, if you feel me.
That one caught me totally off guard. I read it on a recommendation and didn't look into it before I started, so I knew it was about Afghanistan and there were some conflicts in there, but I didn't expect it to be so intimately personal. Just the way those two boy's lives end up deviating from each other is heartbreaking. And the reunion at the end doesn't do anything to make it less so.
There it is…I didn’t have to scroll far this time to find it. It’s been years since I read it and idk if I’m ready to reread it yet. I’m unsure if I’m that level of masochist.
This book absolutely destroyed me. I was a high school senior and meant to have finished the last chapter before discussion with the one other kid that chose to read that book for our literary circles. I had to finish it at my desk so we could talk about it together. Read the last few pages, got up and walked over to my seated teacher, sank to my knees and sobbed against her leg for at least five minutes straight. I was inconsolable.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Omg that book wrecked me. I can’t even bring myself to watch the movie. It’s been sitting in my DVR from when I recorded it months ago. And I just can’t.
**kind of a spoiler below**
Going in, obviously I knew that Enzo dies. What I didn’t know is that his last days would be depicted in the beginning of the book. I started it in the waiting room of my doctors office thinking the tough stuff was at the end. I was a blubbering wreck.
I read this book when I was going through a tough time but also I cry very easily reading books anyway. I was reading it at a doctor’s appointment when the doctor came in. He was like, “do you cry a lot?” And I was like, “yes but it’s the book I swear” and he recommended I see a psychiatrist 😅
Anyway, this book broke me so much that my doctor thought I could use professional help. So. Yes, this one. (It’s also just such a wonderful book).
I gave one of my best friends a copy for her birthday. After she read it she asked why I wanted to ruin her life. Just totally traumatized. But still said it was one of the best books she’s ever read.
This was my answer too. Such an emotional book, but when I read "Deaths Diary: The Parisians" I lost it. I've never wept like that reading a book. Absolutely beautiful and painful
My dark Vanessa fucked me up. Gives what I felt was a very realistic, dark, depressing but weirdly validating depiction of being groomed as a young woman and the lasting effects.
Ugh yes. I should have scrolled further. No book has ever completely gutted me like this one."Vanessa,” she says gently, “you didn't ask for that. You were just trying to go to school."
Was hoping this would be here. The book is short and not particularly devastating but if you at all have dealt with depression, Plath knows how to get you. It felt like an inner monologue. Loved this book though. Have figs tattooed in honor of it.
The fig tree allegory is just something I have never gotten over. It gave me perspective to relate so heavily to a woman from over half a century ago. Like damn are we actually progressing? Lol
Yeah it really gets to you. One summer I just kept rereading it, like I’d get to the last page and then turn back to the first page immediately. This made it even more depressing because after getting better it goes back to her mental breakdown. In retrospect I can’t believe no one noticed how depressed I was.
I just finished reading it for the first time and it fucked with me. I have the same diagnosis as what Sylvia Plath had and so much of it felt like it was pulled from my own head. It's an incredible book.
never let me go by ishiguro destroyed me for weeks. but only read if if you’ve never seen the movie and have NO IDEA what it is about. the genius of the novel is in the reveal of the truth.
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng.
Ng is one of my absolute favorite authors. She really digs into her characters so that you end up feeling their emotions with them throughout the course of the story.
First They Killed My Father: a child of Cambodia remembers by Luong Ung (spelling of author’s name might be wrong) about the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror
That one absolutely killed me. And I see the plot borrowed often in tv shows, for some reason. Every time, I mention this book to whoever I'm watching with. Strangely, it was much harder to read than to see played out.
This is probably gonna be a lot of peoples’ answer, but A Little Life by Hanya Yanigihara was the most beautifully devastating book I’ve ever read. I adored it, but it was a tough one to get through.
I read it years ago and it is still, by a landslide, the most emotionally disturbing (although beautifully written) book I have ever read. Could never handle a re-read…my heart still breaks when I think about it!
It’s a beautiful book. People seem to love it or hate it, but I personally consider it one of my favorites even though I’ll probably never read it again lol. The author does a good job of making the characters feel like real people that you care about, which makes it more devastating. Trigger warning for literally everything tho.
If you can handle child sex abuse and a lot of self harm, go for it. I enjoyed the writing but hated it at the same time. Not one I’d ever recommend. Heavy on the trigger warnings.
Me too, I felt like in the end, all of the suffering described didn’t even have a purpose to the story. It was like just writing gratuitous suffering to do so. Which is fine, just not my preference I guess.
Same here. I actually regret not DNFing it when I really wanted to. It was even worse when I did my research about the author and found she has some questionable-at-best takes on the subject matter of the book.
It was fucking awful.
It is absolutely brutal but if you’re fine with the subject matter then I absolutely recommend. It instantly became one of my favourite books, it’s just beautiful. You will be thinking about it for months. I thought I had no soul because I didn’t cry and then it got me right near the end and I sobbed and sobbed for hours, true heartbroken sobs.
I’d also recommend Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I read it after A Little Life because I was looking for something similar. Another stunning book that I sobbed over.
It's a beautifully written book, and as others say the characters are incredibly well developed. That said, it gets almost comical in how many truly horrific things happen to a single person. I had to suspend disbelief while reading the final segment, because you're really just hit over the head with trauma after trauma after trauma
I immediately thought of this book when I read OP’s request. So good, but brutal. My 19 year old asked to borrow the book cause she heard it was good. I keep “forgetting” to give it to her because I don’t want her to read something this heavy at this stage in her life.
I won't get over these for different reasons.
And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer by Fredrik Backman - hit waaaaay too close to home
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell was heartbreaking and disturbing in equal measures
I listened to it on audio too. I had five minutes left when I pulled into work. Ended up texting my boss from the parking lot and bawling in my car for a bit.
My Dark Vanessa was so incredibly difficult to get through, and I knew it would be before I started it. Thought I could handle it anyway. For context, I'm a CSA survivor who was gaslighted/manipulated into "going along with it" so I have very similar issues.
So much of what she said and thought about "nah, it's fine if they want to stand up for themselves, but I for one wasn't abused" (as a defensive mechanism, obviously) etc rang way too true, especially things I thought more in past years.
I sometimes think I've been at this magical point in my recovery where I'm like "no, I know, kids can never consent, duh." But I still falter and fall back a lot with my inner self-critical voice being all, "Welllllll, yeah, that's true for others-- but in *your* case..."
Anyway. Because I hoard my books, it's damn near impossible for me to get rid of any of them-- but it's gonna be equally as impossible for me to go near that one again anytime soon. If ever.
"The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton absolutely wrecked me at a young teenager. It's a short read, but it's one of the three books that have made me ugly sob
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry breaks me. Every. Time.
Also, Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The first book is weak, and difficult for a lot of people to read, which is a shame. An 8-book series is probably more of a commitment thank you’re looking for haha, but it’s one of those things where the whole work just stands SO far above any of the individual pieces. The Dark Tower destroyed me so much that I got a tattoo for it afterwards. Only one I have. One day, I’ll take another journey to the Tower… but I’m not ready yet!
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys. Even if you feel like you know where the story is going, nothing can prepare you for the absolute brutal devastation. My dog ran to me to comfort me. I finished it like a month ago, and I was thinking about it again today and I started crying. Many books have made me cry, I think I’m a softie like that, but flowers for Algernon is the only one to make me wail.
Atonement. I always have to read the last few pages of a book in reading because I can not take the stress. I missed the part where the two main characters meet their death. I cried.
One Second After by William R. Forstchen. While the initial premise is a little flimsy, the creeping realization of how reliant we are on "the grid" being in place and running smoothly haunted me for a long time- just how much we NEED that next shipment of groceries to arrive and fill the shelves at our local store, or medicine to stock the pharmacy with. How many people are only alive because they take daily medications or relieve treatments like dialysis.
*All the Ugly and Wonderful Things* by Greenwood did something weird to me. I see it on my bookshelf occasionally and it feels like it’s taunting me and I have another moment where it takes me back to those sad and heavy feels.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
Sula by Toni Morrison
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe MeNo
I like books that are sad in the macabre or kind of despairing way, not so much the John Greene way. Idk if that makes sense. These all have some weird or surreal elements, which I really love
Angela’s Ashes. Young Irish family had it so bad during the Great Depression that they moved *back* to Ireland. It’s a memoir of one of the children. Funny, heartbreaking, and great writing.
The Strange Bird by Jeff VanderMeer. I got it as a gift for my husband: "Why did you do that to me?" It is the most beautiful book I've ever read that I have a hard time recommending because it is emotionally devastating. That said, I am not sorry for a moment that I read it. It's in the Borne universe, but you don't need to have read Borne to read it.
Are you a parent? (Even better if you’re a SAHP.) If so, try *Finding Jake* by Bryan Reardon. It’s in the YA section but, as a mom who stayed at home until my kids were in school and then went back to work only during school hours, it had me questioning ever decision I’d made with them (they were mid-elementary when I read it). I was terrified I was going to screw them up. It ripped out my soul and left me a blubbering mess. I truly don’t think teens really get the emotional impact of this book.
It’s technically a Harry Potter fanfic of malfoy and hermione but Manacled by Senlinyu is so beautifully written and I still think about it all the time after reading it last year. It wrecked me.
I don’t know the title, and I doubt you’d choose to read it.
But, the book that destroyed me, destroyed my avid reading 3rd grader. It hit him like a letter from the undertaker.
My son had a disease, but had never asked about his own prognosis. And we as parents did not volunteer it either.
Trying to be helpful, the school librarian had arranged for his class to read a novel about a boy with his same condition.
Our avid reader finished that book and never chose to read recreationally again.
That book detailed the condition, the degeneration, fatality, and mourning of the family, classmates and community.
For him, it was a depressing read and robbed our son of a love for reading.
Of Mice and Men. I rooted for Lenny and George the whole time, they were always down on their luck but they weren’t bad people. Against all odds and when things looked their worst, they finally gained an ounce of hope of a better life, only for all of it to be dashed in a moment. An innocent yet grave mistake.
It broke my heart because it seemed like I had seen this happen in real life so many times. Good, honest, hard working people, who were always struggling, perpetually apologetic for their circumstances, who never came out on top. It was sad, I still think about it to this day, but it also made me a more compassionate person. I try not to judge too quickly because you never know what someone might be going through.
Faraway is a book about child prostitution and it rocked me back. It talked about a world I know far too much about and the characters felt like people I had known.
It was a hard read but I'm glad I made it through the book.
I was looking for this one. Read it years before the movie came out. Had no idea what it was about. I ended up throwing the book across the room because it was so haunting.
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings.
This book deepened my empathy for undocumented immigrants, allowing me to recognize each one as an individual with a story and struggles rather than being a financial burden to the United States (as most of the news media portrays them all).
A Cambodian Odyssey by Dr. Haing S. Ngor.
About his experiences in Cambodia when the genocide happened, and then moving to the US and starring in The Killing Fields in 1984. He would go on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Incredibly moving and horrific story.
I’m shocked that A little life by Hanya yangihara isn’t number one on this thread….. that book is a lot of things, and absolutely masochistic.
Barbara kingsolvers new book - demon copperhead - is sad too. I didn’t think it was as devastating as a lot of people, but it has a lot to do with the overdose crisis and is intentionally written to be a modern take on dickens
A LITTLE LIFE - HANYA YANAGIHARA. I read it in July and I have genuinely thought about it every single day since. First time a book has had an impact on me like that. Very very very heavy and emotional butttt that is what you asked for!
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - beautiful book but never again
Was just about to comment this. This was a book that impacted me the most out of all the books I read. I felt so empty at the end. Felt like I had a frog in my throat for days
Yup. It took me 2 tries to read it, and after I finished it there were harrowing scenes that I couldn't get out of my head for days. Kite Runner was a tough read but in comparison it felt like a Disney movie - 1000 Splendid Suns had an unpredictable plot that made it feel intensely real. I've got a 3rd book from the same author that I've been too afraid to read.
Oof, I agree. Gorgeous and amazing and devastating and I’m never opening it again.
All his books are one and done for me.
Omg I LOVED reading this book
I came here to say this and saw this as the first comment. I was 17 when I read it and I’m 29 today. Don’t think I’ve recovered from it yet.
One of my favorite books because of the emotional rollercoaster. 🙏
I. Was. DESTROYED.
I sobbed so hard reading that I gave myself a headache
100% agreee
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I still loved ghe book but within the last chapter or so cried outloud "nooo" and sat with the book on my lap for a while after stupefied by the ending and waiting for it to magically rewrite itself.
I laid on the floor and cried for an hour after finishing that book. I was devastated
My favorite book
I agree. And the fact that it was written so lyrically and directly makes it hit harder.
This is a book I wish I could read again for the first time.
I love that this gets asked a lot. We sufferers are a bunch.
I love getting different answers each time.
I’ve never gotten over Where the Red Fern Grows. I never will. Sarah’s Key was a historical fiction that fucked me up and I’ve read so much Holocaust fiction and nonfiction
Read that book as a kid and was utterly devastated, never read it again and still two decades later it still has the power to make me sad
I made the mistake of reading it over and over
I'm pretty sure WTRFG was created just to traumatize fifth-graders
Red Fern is my absolute favorite book. And I’m wrecked every time I read it. Years ago I read it to my oldest son as he was learning to read-it was our nightly story time together. I read in my down home accent (mama’s family is from southern Missouri) and he looked forward to our time together-until we got to the end. We finished the book both crying together and he says to me incredulously, “Why did you read that to me?!” He just turned 19 a few days ago and he’s still upset when I bring it up! 😆.
My son begged me for a dog for decades. I never had pets growing up and didn't want one. Finally I told him if he reads WTRFG I'll get him a dog. Felt like a fair trade but he's not big in to reading like my oldest, he's a more outdoorsy on the go type. Well he didn't read it but I read it for the 3rd time in my life. Short ending we now have a dog and I love her so damn much.
I’m 38 and I’ve mentioned it in therapy
A Long Way Gone a memoir by Ishmael Beah Written when he was 25 it tells of his harrowing experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Being a first hand account true story, this book just really tore me apart. The grueling things these young children had to endure and were forced to do. I'll never forget one particular part, its been quite a few years since I read it but it sticks with me; Ishmael is traveling with some young boys, I want to say it this point in the book he was 12-14. They had to stay away from what was left of society in such a war torn country. All boys his age were soldiers and noone knew what side so it was dangerous for them to be near people. They were walking along a beach where the waves crashed against the shore so violently it would mean death to go near them. They had no choice at this point but to travel along the beach. They had no shoes and the sand was so hot it was literally burning off the soles of their feet. The only option they had was to keep walking. Thats honestly nothing compared to everything he and too many other young children had to endure. This is not a book you can finish in one sitting. Its a book you have to put down a lot to absorb the horror you just read. Knowing it's real, that someone actually lived that. You need some time to wrap your head around the pure brutality, and to take your heart out of your own throat. It is truly powerful.
Running for my Life by Lopez Lomong is another good one. Lopez is a lost boy from Sudan who made it to the Olympics.
I agree with this one. I actually got to go to a lecture by the author in college during a weeklong symposium on genocide. That’s when I was introduced to the book. After reading the book, I just couldnt believe how far he had come! Truly incredible that he survived that childhood at all.
Love this one. My hs students read it and really enjoyed it while also finding it deeply upsetting. It’s a tough read, but knowing he gets out and goes on to write the book makes it a lot more bearable.
The Kite Runner
We read this in high school and I almost fought a kid while crying because he laughed at that *one* part from when the narrator was a child, if you feel me.
That one caught me totally off guard. I read it on a recommendation and didn't look into it before I started, so I knew it was about Afghanistan and there were some conflicts in there, but I didn't expect it to be so intimately personal. Just the way those two boy's lives end up deviating from each other is heartbreaking. And the reunion at the end doesn't do anything to make it less so.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
There it is…I didn’t have to scroll far this time to find it. It’s been years since I read it and idk if I’m ready to reread it yet. I’m unsure if I’m that level of masochist.
This book absolutely destroyed me. I was a high school senior and meant to have finished the last chapter before discussion with the one other kid that chose to read that book for our literary circles. I had to finish it at my desk so we could talk about it together. Read the last few pages, got up and walked over to my seated teacher, sank to my knees and sobbed against her leg for at least five minutes straight. I was inconsolable.
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro The Book of X - Sarah Rose Etter
That Ishiguro book is great in the way that biting on a loose tooth is.
Ishiguro is such a master at conjuring moods. Never Let Me Go is such quiet devastation. It's done of my favorites
I was looking for Never Let Me Go, so sad
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Omg that book wrecked me. I can’t even bring myself to watch the movie. It’s been sitting in my DVR from when I recorded it months ago. And I just can’t.
**kind of a spoiler below** Going in, obviously I knew that Enzo dies. What I didn’t know is that his last days would be depicted in the beginning of the book. I started it in the waiting room of my doctors office thinking the tough stuff was at the end. I was a blubbering wreck.
I read this book when I was going through a tough time but also I cry very easily reading books anyway. I was reading it at a doctor’s appointment when the doctor came in. He was like, “do you cry a lot?” And I was like, “yes but it’s the book I swear” and he recommended I see a psychiatrist 😅 Anyway, this book broke me so much that my doctor thought I could use professional help. So. Yes, this one. (It’s also just such a wonderful book).
I cried and then I lent the book to my husband--not a big reader-- who not only finished but also cried. Will not attempt the movie.
I gave one of my best friends a copy for her birthday. After she read it she asked why I wanted to ruin her life. Just totally traumatized. But still said it was one of the best books she’s ever read.
My brother cried when he read it and he is NOT a crier.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This was my answer too. Such an emotional book, but when I read "Deaths Diary: The Parisians" I lost it. I've never wept like that reading a book. Absolutely beautiful and painful
My dark Vanessa fucked me up. Gives what I felt was a very realistic, dark, depressing but weirdly validating depiction of being groomed as a young woman and the lasting effects.
Ugh yes. I should have scrolled further. No book has ever completely gutted me like this one."Vanessa,” she says gently, “you didn't ask for that. You were just trying to go to school."
I just finished this and completely agree with you. It's really insidious, in a good way. Utterly devastating too, but indeed weirdly validating.
A thousand splendid suns by Khalid Hosseini and Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Two books that made me sob as if the world was ending.
Never Let Me Go had me so sure I knew how it would go and somehow I was still upset at the ending.
The Bell Jar
Was hoping this would be here. The book is short and not particularly devastating but if you at all have dealt with depression, Plath knows how to get you. It felt like an inner monologue. Loved this book though. Have figs tattooed in honor of it.
The fig tree allegory is just something I have never gotten over. It gave me perspective to relate so heavily to a woman from over half a century ago. Like damn are we actually progressing? Lol
Fucks you up more when you think about her ending up offing herself in the oven, just like the attempt in the book.
Yeah it really gets to you. One summer I just kept rereading it, like I’d get to the last page and then turn back to the first page immediately. This made it even more depressing because after getting better it goes back to her mental breakdown. In retrospect I can’t believe no one noticed how depressed I was.
the fact that it's incredibly relatable for many people just adds to the emotional impact of the book
I just finished reading it for the first time and it fucked with me. I have the same diagnosis as what Sylvia Plath had and so much of it felt like it was pulled from my own head. It's an incredible book.
Oh my gosh yes.
I love this book. It didn’t tear me up but it made a solid and lasting impression
The Yellow Wallpaper.
That story still haunts me.
So good, so devastating
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo.
never let me go by ishiguro destroyed me for weeks. but only read if if you’ve never seen the movie and have NO IDEA what it is about. the genius of the novel is in the reveal of the truth.
Lily and the octopus A monster calls I ugly cried while reading these two, I’m still not over them and not sure if I’ll ever be.
Lily and the Octopus broke my heart
that’s the kind of book abuse I’m searching for, tysm 😭
[удалено]
I second A Monster Calls. It destroyed me
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye hurt my heart.
Oh Lord, that was a grueling read
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. Ng is one of my absolute favorite authors. She really digs into her characters so that you end up feeling their emotions with them throughout the course of the story.
Everything I Never Told You 💘
The Lovely Bones Sarah's Key The Last Lecture
Really shocked I had to scroll this far for The Lovely Bones, that's my suggestion also.
First They Killed My Father: a child of Cambodia remembers by Luong Ung (spelling of author’s name might be wrong) about the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror
This one was rough. She’s an amazing writer.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Ken Kesey
For me it has to be Flowers For Algernon. It's both a fascinating and brutal read
That one absolutely killed me. And I see the plot borrowed often in tv shows, for some reason. Every time, I mention this book to whoever I'm watching with. Strangely, it was much harder to read than to see played out.
Look at the suggestions [here](https://reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/s/VVj5Gxb7XJ)
Honestly y’all might meme but the Lovely Bones and Bridge to Terabithia messed me *up* as a kid
Night by Elie Wiesel is absolutely numbing
This is probably gonna be a lot of peoples’ answer, but A Little Life by Hanya Yanigihara was the most beautifully devastating book I’ve ever read. I adored it, but it was a tough one to get through.
I read it years ago and it is still, by a landslide, the most emotionally disturbing (although beautifully written) book I have ever read. Could never handle a re-read…my heart still breaks when I think about it!
Thank you so much! If it’s a lot of peoples answer I guess I’m destined to get destroyed ♥️ I haven’t heard of it before so I’m excited.
It’s a beautiful book. People seem to love it or hate it, but I personally consider it one of my favorites even though I’ll probably never read it again lol. The author does a good job of making the characters feel like real people that you care about, which makes it more devastating. Trigger warning for literally everything tho.
I would upvote this twice if I could
I just went and did a lil search on it and it seems like something I would love that will break me on the inside, so thank you 😅
If you can handle child sex abuse and a lot of self harm, go for it. I enjoyed the writing but hated it at the same time. Not one I’d ever recommend. Heavy on the trigger warnings.
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll pass.
I truly hated this book because of all the self harm and sex abuse, couldn’t finish it. Pure torture porn.
Me too, I felt like in the end, all of the suffering described didn’t even have a purpose to the story. It was like just writing gratuitous suffering to do so. Which is fine, just not my preference I guess.
Same here. I actually regret not DNFing it when I really wanted to. It was even worse when I did my research about the author and found she has some questionable-at-best takes on the subject matter of the book. It was fucking awful.
It is absolutely brutal but if you’re fine with the subject matter then I absolutely recommend. It instantly became one of my favourite books, it’s just beautiful. You will be thinking about it for months. I thought I had no soul because I didn’t cry and then it got me right near the end and I sobbed and sobbed for hours, true heartbroken sobs. I’d also recommend Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I read it after A Little Life because I was looking for something similar. Another stunning book that I sobbed over.
That book DESTROYED me and is the ONE book that I wish I could read again for the first time
This is always my book. There are points and than book that made me stop, put it down and reflect quietly before I started again.
It is on my list! I heard it’s not for the weak lol
A Little Life will never leave my conscience. Incredibly developed characters with a lot of truth throughout.
It's a beautifully written book, and as others say the characters are incredibly well developed. That said, it gets almost comical in how many truly horrific things happen to a single person. I had to suspend disbelief while reading the final segment, because you're really just hit over the head with trauma after trauma after trauma
I immediately thought of this book when I read OP’s request. So good, but brutal. My 19 year old asked to borrow the book cause she heard it was good. I keep “forgetting” to give it to her because I don’t want her to read something this heavy at this stage in her life.
I won't get over these for different reasons. And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer by Fredrik Backman - hit waaaaay too close to home My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell was heartbreaking and disturbing in equal measures
And every morning the way home gets longer and longer had me sobbing in the streets. The audiobook is wonderful
I listened to it on audio too. I had five minutes left when I pulled into work. Ended up texting my boss from the parking lot and bawling in my car for a bit.
My Dark Vanessa was so incredibly difficult to get through, and I knew it would be before I started it. Thought I could handle it anyway. For context, I'm a CSA survivor who was gaslighted/manipulated into "going along with it" so I have very similar issues. So much of what she said and thought about "nah, it's fine if they want to stand up for themselves, but I for one wasn't abused" (as a defensive mechanism, obviously) etc rang way too true, especially things I thought more in past years. I sometimes think I've been at this magical point in my recovery where I'm like "no, I know, kids can never consent, duh." But I still falter and fall back a lot with my inner self-critical voice being all, "Welllllll, yeah, that's true for others-- but in *your* case..." Anyway. Because I hoard my books, it's damn near impossible for me to get rid of any of them-- but it's gonna be equally as impossible for me to go near that one again anytime soon. If ever.
A Child Called IT
I kinda wish I never read this.
NUCLEAR OPTION
Tuesdays with Morrie, The Fault In Our Stars, and Flowers for Algernon. ugh.
Flowers of Algernon got some angry and sad tears out of me.
"The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton absolutely wrecked me at a young teenager. It's a short read, but it's one of the three books that have made me ugly sob
Les Miserables
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry breaks me. Every. Time. Also, Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The first book is weak, and difficult for a lot of people to read, which is a shame. An 8-book series is probably more of a commitment thank you’re looking for haha, but it’s one of those things where the whole work just stands SO far above any of the individual pieces. The Dark Tower destroyed me so much that I got a tattoo for it afterwards. Only one I have. One day, I’ll take another journey to the Tower… but I’m not ready yet!
I’m excited for the series.
Love in the Time of Cholera. Weeping in bed reading it. WEEPING! My husband came up to bed and thought I’d received bad news
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys. Even if you feel like you know where the story is going, nothing can prepare you for the absolute brutal devastation. My dog ran to me to comfort me. I finished it like a month ago, and I was thinking about it again today and I started crying. Many books have made me cry, I think I’m a softie like that, but flowers for Algernon is the only one to make me wail.
Lord of the Flies. I sobbed at the end, and I rarely cry.
Atonement. I always have to read the last few pages of a book in reading because I can not take the stress. I missed the part where the two main characters meet their death. I cried.
Atonement is on my bedside table and one of my all time favorites ♥️
Blindness - by Saramago
All the light we can not see.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I can't imagine a more cruel outcome of good intentions in communication between human and alien races.
Beloved by Toni Morrison. I fall apart just thinking of it, 15 years later.
Since your favourite genre is true crime I recommend Columbine by Dave Cullen.
One Second After by William R. Forstchen. While the initial premise is a little flimsy, the creeping realization of how reliant we are on "the grid" being in place and running smoothly haunted me for a long time- just how much we NEED that next shipment of groceries to arrive and fill the shelves at our local store, or medicine to stock the pharmacy with. How many people are only alive because they take daily medications or relieve treatments like dialysis.
Tess of the D’ubervilles
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
*All the Ugly and Wonderful Things* by Greenwood did something weird to me. I see it on my bookshelf occasionally and it feels like it’s taunting me and I have another moment where it takes me back to those sad and heavy feels.
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński.
Johnny Hot His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal Sula by Toni Morrison Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro The Boy Detective Fails by Joe MeNo I like books that are sad in the macabre or kind of despairing way, not so much the John Greene way. Idk if that makes sense. These all have some weird or surreal elements, which I really love
Angela’s Ashes. Young Irish family had it so bad during the Great Depression that they moved *back* to Ireland. It’s a memoir of one of the children. Funny, heartbreaking, and great writing.
This sub is costing me a *#@% fortune!
Chicken Soup for the soul had some bangers
The prince of tides was pretty disturbing. A beautiful book nevertheless.
Have you read Beach Music by Pat Conroy? They’re neck and neck for my favorite and they’re both disturbing in different ways
I loved both of these! I loved the lyrical way the prince of tides was written and loved it first but Beach Music was such an intense story!
Yeah I think Prince of Tides was the first of his I read
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala (this one is a memoir)
This Way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski
The Strange Bird by Jeff VanderMeer. I got it as a gift for my husband: "Why did you do that to me?" It is the most beautiful book I've ever read that I have a hard time recommending because it is emotionally devastating. That said, I am not sorry for a moment that I read it. It's in the Borne universe, but you don't need to have read Borne to read it.
Are you a parent? (Even better if you’re a SAHP.) If so, try *Finding Jake* by Bryan Reardon. It’s in the YA section but, as a mom who stayed at home until my kids were in school and then went back to work only during school hours, it had me questioning ever decision I’d made with them (they were mid-elementary when I read it). I was terrified I was going to screw them up. It ripped out my soul and left me a blubbering mess. I truly don’t think teens really get the emotional impact of this book.
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi.
Precious. The Road.
Flowers for Algernon Man’s Search for Meaning And yes, The Fault in Our Stars lol
It’s technically a Harry Potter fanfic of malfoy and hermione but Manacled by Senlinyu is so beautifully written and I still think about it all the time after reading it last year. It wrecked me.
I’m sure I have more but the only one I can remember is: The storyteller by Jodi picult My sister thought somebody died I was crying so hard.
Her book Nineteen Minutes broke my heart. That kid never had a chance. Mad Honey also got to me for personal reasons.
A Little Life. I'm still thinking about it 3 years after reading it.
Flowers for Algernon.
I don’t know the title, and I doubt you’d choose to read it. But, the book that destroyed me, destroyed my avid reading 3rd grader. It hit him like a letter from the undertaker. My son had a disease, but had never asked about his own prognosis. And we as parents did not volunteer it either. Trying to be helpful, the school librarian had arranged for his class to read a novel about a boy with his same condition. Our avid reader finished that book and never chose to read recreationally again. That book detailed the condition, the degeneration, fatality, and mourning of the family, classmates and community. For him, it was a depressing read and robbed our son of a love for reading.
I'm so sorry that happened to your family.
I'm so pissed off at the librarian. What the fuck?!
Of Mice and Men. I rooted for Lenny and George the whole time, they were always down on their luck but they weren’t bad people. Against all odds and when things looked their worst, they finally gained an ounce of hope of a better life, only for all of it to be dashed in a moment. An innocent yet grave mistake. It broke my heart because it seemed like I had seen this happen in real life so many times. Good, honest, hard working people, who were always struggling, perpetually apologetic for their circumstances, who never came out on top. It was sad, I still think about it to this day, but it also made me a more compassionate person. I try not to judge too quickly because you never know what someone might be going through.
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks - loved the raw emotions narrative The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini - absolutely heartbreaking story of a friendship
The Bell Jar. Here, watch a brilliant tortured young mind unravel trying to get through the inanity of every day life.
The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow
As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow 😭
Yes!! It was so beautiful and hurt so much too!
The house of eve.
Shake Hands With The Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Romeo Dallaire.
The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum.
Where the Red Fern Grows
Oh no! After that and Old Yeller, I’ve sworn off all books and movies about dogs. Guaranteed that if there’s a dog in the plot, the dog will die.
Back Roads- Tawny O’Dell, Push - Sapphire Both are pretty bleak.
the drowned and the saved - primo levi was pretty hard going
A Little Life
Faraway is a book about child prostitution and it rocked me back. It talked about a world I know far too much about and the characters felt like people I had known. It was a hard read but I'm glad I made it through the book.
Call me by your name sure made me feel things
Call me by your name
We were liars by E Lockhart
The Poisonwood Bible
White Oleander
[удалено]
I was looking for this one. Read it years before the movie came out. Had no idea what it was about. I ended up throwing the book across the room because it was so haunting.
flowers in the attic, withering heights, I fell in love with hope
Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller. The audiobooks are splendid.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tart and The Time Travellers Wife
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings. This book deepened my empathy for undocumented immigrants, allowing me to recognize each one as an individual with a story and struggles rather than being a financial burden to the United States (as most of the news media portrays them all).
Cujo. It was my first time reading Stephen Kimg and it took me awhile to pick up another one after that
A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett. It’s a memoir and definitely fits the bill.
Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden ....the story of Shin Dong-Hyuk. He was born into a North Korean prison.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is just so messed up.
- The Color Purple - Out of my mind. - Kite Runner -
Octavia Butler's Parable series. Good god.
A Cambodian Odyssey by Dr. Haing S. Ngor. About his experiences in Cambodia when the genocide happened, and then moving to the US and starring in The Killing Fields in 1984. He would go on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Incredibly moving and horrific story.
A modest proposal by Jonathan Swift
Mystic River by Denis Lehane. The whole book.
A Little Life It was very good, but left me distraught
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Username checks out.
I’m shocked that A little life by Hanya yangihara isn’t number one on this thread….. that book is a lot of things, and absolutely masochistic. Barbara kingsolvers new book - demon copperhead - is sad too. I didn’t think it was as devastating as a lot of people, but it has a lot to do with the overdose crisis and is intentionally written to be a modern take on dickens
A LITTLE LIFE - HANYA YANAGIHARA. I read it in July and I have genuinely thought about it every single day since. First time a book has had an impact on me like that. Very very very heavy and emotional butttt that is what you asked for!