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Intelligent tearjerker - any recommendations?

77 replies

Paddingtonblue · 07/01/2014 09:35

I need to read a "tearjerker" of my choice for bookclub. I would rather pull all my hair out than read a Jodi Piccoult or similar, but can anyone make any recommendations? I just read Life after Life and adored it.

OP posts:
MrsMcEnroe · 08/01/2014 18:49

A Tale of Two Cities. Gah.

AgathaHannigan · 08/01/2014 19:01

Oh, the fault in our stars, bawled like a baby.

Doshusallie · 08/01/2014 19:59

YY to the jojo moyse books.

HmmAnOxfordComma · 08/01/2014 20:45

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell?

HarpyFishwifeTwat · 08/01/2014 23:56

YY to Me Before You - made me sob and truly think about the issues involved.

Revolutionary Road has some very sad parts - the first few pages had me upset.

CustardLover · 09/01/2014 00:06

I second the Fault in our Stars. It made my soul hurt.

Also The Other Hand by Chris Cleave. Oh godohgodohgod, I've started again just thinking about it.

OneHolyCow · 10/01/2014 13:27

Timbuktu by Paul Auster. I guess not for people who hate dogs but utterly jerking of tears for those who do. Sobbed. Welling up just thinking of it. Beautiful book.

tinierclanger · 10/01/2014 13:41

Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett? Or My Dear I Wanted To Tell You?

I love books that make me cry, will take some notes from this thread!

eslteacher · 10/01/2014 23:27

The Paris Wife. One of the best books I read last year and definitely the saddest. The prologue tells you directly that the relationship will fail, then you are thrown into a story of beautiful, optimistic young love that you just cant bear to believe will founder. Heartbreaking but wonderful.

squoosh · 10/01/2014 23:35

Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. A stunning book, a heartbreaking book. Quite a depressing book.

squoosh · 10/01/2014 23:36

The Secret Scripture. Beautifully bleak.

Lurleene · 10/01/2014 23:38

A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale had me in bits.

CheckpointCharlie · 10/01/2014 23:44

Also YY to Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

The Lovely Bones made me cry and was heartbreaking, properly.

I half want to watch this thread, but half don't!!

Oh this book made me cry a lot.

DangoDays · 10/01/2014 23:50

The Road by Cormac Mcarthy and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Both the parent child relationship that gets me with these.

PeasandCucumbers · 11/01/2014 07:28

Another vote for Wonder, I think it is the first book I have ever read in 24 hours & it has really stayed with me.

Gremlingirl · 11/01/2014 07:35

Another vote for My Dear I Wanted To Tell You. Fab book and made me sob like a baby.

Caitlin17 · 11/01/2014 14:58

Ann-Marie McDonald's Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies but be warned , she's a brilliant writer but they are seriously sad , not the "have a good greet (Scottish sense of that word) that Kate Atkinson does.

Or The Grapes of Wrath.
Atonement had me howling too.

sprout44 · 11/01/2014 17:39

I was so looking forward to reading fall on your knees and Th way the crow flies as it got great reviews but OMG fall on your knees was just awful for me, I hated the main character I did not want to see how she would end up I never finished it. Generally I love canadin authors.
Loved the secret scripture. I will always remember it all of Sebastain Barry's books are depressing but beautiful writing.

Glitterfeet · 12/01/2014 16:08

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, it's a children's / young adult book but intelligent and will have you bawling.

Cleanthatroomnow · 12/01/2014 16:15

Room is heartbreaking but also quite uplifting in a strange sort of way. The innocence of the child is so moving.

Ladyflip · 12/01/2014 16:20

YY to Bel Canto, I sobbed at that book.

And Charlotte Gray made me cry, not so much Charlotte herself but Andre and Jacob.

CheckpointCharlie · 12/01/2014 18:57

Ooh glitterfeet someone gave me the first Patrick Ness book over the summer and I have just ordered both the next two. I will get the tissues ready!

Glitterfeet · 12/01/2014 19:23

CheckPoint I enjoyed his trilogy :)

A Monster calls is a very different book. It's a bit confusing because one of the books in the trilogy is called Monsters of Men!

timtam23 · 12/01/2014 22:34

Cold Mountain (Charles Frasier) made me cry a lot, also The hand that first held mine (Maggie O'Farrell)

nessus · 12/01/2014 22:40

Any by Audrey Niffenegger should tick this box nicely.