Last miserable book you read

Just wanted to add that although I found Tartt's The Little Friend the most miserable and unredemptive novel I have ever read, I didn't find it a bad book of course. The opposite. It is amazing. There did seem t be something absent from it -- we need the forward movement of psychological resolution just as we need other kinds of forward movements in novels (finding out whodunnit etc). But the absence of what we need from a novel does create a certain kind of fascination in it. Not sure I could go through that again, though.
I might read The Goldfinch again, to get more of a handle on the very small crums of resolution that she gives us there.

A thousand splendid suns is one of my favourites!

I also found "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro to have a sad and kind of hopeless atmosphere running through it

Call me a philistine but I abandoned that a third of the way through after waiting for some thing - anything - to happen.

I loved this book!

Anyone else read Elmet? I got to the penultimate chapter while waiting to donate blood and they actually came over to ask if I was ok! It's sad in that you can tell what's happening and it builds and builds - I've a theory about the very end too but it'd spoil it. Quite a shocking book.

I refuse to read any Cormac McCarthy because we went to see the road at the cinema while I was pregnant with ds1 - not forgiven husband for suggesting that one!

@Worriedmum159 I enjoyed Hamnet!

I hated that one, and time travellers wife and pride and prejudice

I loved hammet, just wanted to say that!

The Bunker Diary. It’s written for young adults and it is utter misery from start to finish. Why anyone would want to write a book like this is beyond my comprehension. It’s even been made into a play. What is wrong with people?
Not miserable but full of unpleasant people doing poverty tourism is On the Road the Jack Kerouac classic. Not dissimilar but with extra drugs is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thomson. Boring and full of nasty people.

'Beloved.- I thought it was savage and moving and unforgettable. The first page when the little ghost is there and as time goes by.it grows too and continues haunting. A wonderful book. -

Oh god I love so many books on this thread!! Shuggie Bain, A Little Life (although I do agree this did become a bit gratuitous), What I Loved, Hamnet, The Goldfinch, The Secret History, Beloved, The Poisonwood Bible and A Fine Balance.... Actually A Fine Balance, Beloved and The Poisonwood Bible are in my top 10 of all time. I must LOVE miserable books.

I also loved - and found utterly miserable: 'Never Let Me Go' Kazuo Ishiguro, 'On The Beach' Nevil Shute, 'The Underground Railroad' by Colson Whitehead and 'Incendiary' by Chris Cleave.

So given that, I will be bookmarking for misery recommendations. 😊

Another Ishiguro here — Klara and the Sun.

This.
It wasn't just the misery porn aspect, it was the manipulative oneupmanship, like you think that was terrible? Wait'll you see what's coming up!

Hated everything about A Little Life. It was a favourite of the book group person who picked it so none of us felt we could be honest.

MIL loves Hardy but I find them all so hopeless and miserable, I don't get it.

I found Hamnet beautifully written but unrelentingly sad.

@KStockHERO (I admit I skimmed over some of the high brow art analysis) but Siri Hustvedt's "What I Loved" is one of my favourite books of all time. So much sadness but so beautifully written.

My Dark Vanessa's subject matter is tough going but I thought very cleverly written. With both books there were parts that I felt stomach churning, visceral reactions too and both stayed with me long after I finished them.

I also found "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro to have a sad and kind of hopeless atmosphere running through it.

I enjoyed "The Remains of the Day"... i guess I found the hopelessness relatable. I found Ishiguro's "Never Let me Go" quite upsetting though. I'd never read anything quite like it and it stayed with me for a long time.

I didn't mind the wallowing in Sorrow and Bliss!

Did anyone read The Lovely Bones? I had to give up on that one

Came on just to say Shuggie Bain. Hated it.

@TitusMoan I hated Under the Volcano too. Found it unreadable.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is probably the grimmest and most depressing book I have ever read. Though Jude the Obscure comes pretty close.

The Coordinates of Loss, cried the whole way through

That's interesting. I couldn't get into Beloved at all, I didn't understandwhat it was meant to be about. I gave up. I didn't find it miserable though - maybe that's because I didn't have a clue what was happening in it

I loved Hamnet, not met anyone else on here who enjoyed it!!

@MightyFine I've finished. An intriguing ending, which I did like. And, like you, I think I'll be disappearing down a few rabbit holes reading up about the various families.

Definitely going to need something lighter and modern next 😀

Let me know what you think when you finish it @CatOnAHotShedRoof! I got a bit obsessed with looking up all the De Medicis.

I loved Hamnet as well, but neither of them are jolly reads. I cried at Hamnet