Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

The saddest book you've ever read . . .

308 replies

expatinscotland · 27/05/2005 13:51

or didn't finish b/c it was just too depressing?

'White Oleander' by Janet Fitch

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
KaraToytown · 21/07/2011 10:07

I've been trying to re read Diary of Anne Frank for ages (first read it as a teenager) and I can't get past the first couple of pages without getting upset.

Fefeffion · 17/07/2011 11:44

Strangers byTaichi Yamada - about a man (orphaned as a young child) who meets his long dead father during a trip to a theatre. Its about how he builds a relationship with his parents again all the while knowing that he is going to lose them again and there is nothing he can do to prevent it - I was shattered after reading this book.

Rosemallow · 12/07/2011 23:05

The snow goose - Paul gallico

pointydog · 12/07/2011 23:03

Bet ya blub Grin

FetchezLaVache · 12/07/2011 23:00

No, but I might give it a try!

pointydog · 12/07/2011 22:59

Have you read All quiet?

FetchezLaVache · 12/07/2011 22:56

I think I must be a hard-hearted cow- I have read many of these completely dry-eyed, notably To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice & Men, Jude, Tess, various Dave Peltzer, Birdsong, Time Traveler's Wife, etc. The only two books that have made me weep dementedly are The Trumpet Major by Thomas Hardy and PS I Love You.

pointydog · 12/07/2011 17:19

Yes to All Quiet on the Western Front

McDreamy · 12/07/2011 17:05

I am David

The Boy in the Striped Pjamas

My Sister's Keeper

Jude the Obscure

limitedperiodonly · 12/07/2011 17:05

Madondogs Never read All Quiet on the Western Front but saw the film the other day. Incredibly sad and still modern for a film made in 1929

limitedperiodonly · 12/07/2011 17:03

After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell. I had sad dreams about it afterwards.
Cold Mountain Charles Frazer
Possession AS Byatt - well, one of the strands.

SecretSpi · 07/07/2011 21:14

The final chapter of "The House at Pooh Corner" - sorry!

Madondogs · 07/07/2011 19:33

All quiet on the Western Front. Incredibly sad, the loss of a whole generation. Beautifully written.

acsec · 06/07/2011 22:38

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

First they Killed my Father by Loung Ung - about the genocide in Cambodia. I sobbed my way around Cambodia reading it!

ThisMomentusDay · 06/07/2011 22:33

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

Read this before i had DS and honestly don't think i could read it now that i'm a mother! Just thinking bout it brings a lump to my throat, wonderful wonderful book!!

Lara2 · 04/07/2011 21:40

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Sophie's Choice

The end of A Tale of Two Cities.

Ruthie32 · 01/07/2011 18:49

The Book Thief - I was bawling my eyes out for the last 30 pages or so

Nefret · 30/06/2011 22:06

"Remember Me" by Lesley Pearce made me cry so much. I have also just finished "The Greek for Love" by James Chatto and I creid at that too.

IHeartKingThistle · 26/06/2011 23:09

When I was doing Tess of the d'Urbervilles for GCSE our teacher told us not to read Jude the Obscure until we were a bit older. What did I go and do? It destroyed me. Seriously, it made me realise things about the world that I just wasn't ready for.

Dammit, Mr Young was right.

Scootergrrrl · 26/06/2011 22:41

Family Life by Elisabeth Luard. It's her memoir and her description of her miscarriages and still births are heartbreaking. And I made the mistake of reading the final chapters, where her beloved daughter dies, just before the school run. Cried like a baby for 10 minutes then had to pick the children up wearing sunglasses..... In February. Lots of uplifting bits too but the ending is so beautifully written and devastatingly sad Sad

Popbiscuit · 26/06/2011 22:22

The Bridges of Madison County and Sarah's Key (wish I could unread the part about the little brother in the cupboard). Angela's Ashes...when one of the twins dies and his brother is looking out the window for him Sad

wildkittydeer · 26/06/2011 22:13

I think Gone with the Wind is pretty sad really, full of loss opportunity.

Spudulika · 11/04/2011 11:41

War and Peace.

The bit where whassisnames' brother dies of TB.

I sobbed for hours.

Birdsong. Used and excerpt from it for my GCSE retake boys. Always had a problem reading it without my voice going wobbly......

cilldara · 10/04/2011 22:18

We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates broke my heart.

daimbardiva · 06/04/2011 16:21

After You'd Gone, by Maggie O'Farrell. Can barely think of it without welling up