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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:
dot1 · 28/05/2005 21:55

Another vote for Birdsong. I read the last bit on the tube on the way into work and I was sobbing away - couldn't help it..!

colditz · 27/05/2005 23:41

Watership Down.

For goodness sake, I've eaten rabbit, but those rabbits make me howl!

charleepeters · 27/05/2005 23:15

good night mr tom................ god that book gets me every time read it if you havent it a classic

sparklymieow · 27/05/2005 23:00

I want to read that one...... must buy it.....

Ellbell · 27/05/2005 22:58

'Between Two Eternities' by Rosemary Kay
(thanks to SleepyJess for recommending it - or rather, talking about it so much that I just HAD to read it Glad I did, though.)

sparklymieow · 27/05/2005 22:52

is Lovely bones a good book? I picked it up from a car boot and haven't read it yet.....

Prufrock · 27/05/2005 22:47

Oh I got past it - I bravely read on through my tears, and snot

Pollyanna · 27/05/2005 22:00

Sorry meant Angela's Ashes not 'tis.

jodee · 27/05/2005 22:00

Ooh, pruni and prufrock, I'm exactly the same, whizzed through the first two books and never got past the last third of Subtle Knife, too sad.

lilibet · 27/05/2005 21:55

A tale of Two Cities gets me every time "It is a far far better thing I do......

And Watership Down - those bloody rabbits - weep buckets at that

Pollyanna · 27/05/2005 21:54

birdsong, and The Red Tent. also, 'tis. The Grapes of Wrath too.

Pruni · 27/05/2005 21:48

Message withdrawn

Prufrock · 27/05/2005 21:33

His Dark Materials - the last one in the trilogy particularly. I got them all for Xmas and finished the last one in bed on 30th December when dh and dd were away. I started crying about 3/4 of the way through, when you realise what's going to have to happen at the end.

Donbean · 27/05/2005 17:20

ooh yes, i read that and cried allot.
Have any of you read the fat ladies club?

anorak · 27/05/2005 17:19

And talking of Roddy Doyle on the funniest books thread, how about The Woman Who Walked into Doors for this one?

Donbean · 27/05/2005 17:18

Lovely bones,
Angelas Ashes,
fat ladies club
Im alright daddy
Paddy Clarke hahaha

valleygirl · 27/05/2005 17:18

Isabel Allende even

valleygirl · 27/05/2005 17:17

Paula by Isabella Illende - all the more poignant because it is based on the true story of her daughter's fatal illness.

anorak · 27/05/2005 16:48

docket if you liked Birdsong you'll like Charlotte Gray too. It made me cry and haunted me for days.

bran · 27/05/2005 16:45

On the beach by Nevil Shute, very, very depressing.

edodgy · 27/05/2005 16:25

lovely bones by alice seabold, before i say goodbye by justine picardie and my sisters keeper by jodie picoult (apart from the end which i thought was a bit danielle steele!.

huggybear · 27/05/2005 15:22

i think it was called 'red sky at night' about a girl whos brother was born disabled but she learnt to love him before he died. its a teenagers book and i read it years ago. a bitter sweet story

jessicasmummy · 27/05/2005 15:20

another vote for the lovely bones and lucky.... addictive reading but so sad.

beansmum · 27/05/2005 15:16

I don't think I've ever read a truly sad book, I've read some that are upsetting, but not in a 'oh that's sad' way, and some that make me cry because I cry at anything involving babies, pregnant women or people getting married, but nothing sad.

docket · 27/05/2005 15:13

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.

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