Last miserable book you read

[whatausername]

What was the last book you read that left you thinking what a miserable story it was?

For me it was Flaubert's The Three Tales. That left me in need of a glass of wine and some comedy.

I'm coming to the end of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell and have found it relentlessly downbeat. Tbh it's been a struggle to read it. There have been days and days when I've not wanted to pick it up. But likewise haven't wanted to DNF it either. Have already told DH it isn't one he'd like (he often reads my books) and it will be off to find a new home very soon.

@CatOnAHotShedRoof I read that! It gets better IMO. But yes, a really difficult read and the truth about that whole family is just awful

Shuggie Bain for me too. I enjoyed it a lot because I recognised the places and the culture, and some of the characters could have been people I knew when I was younger, but it was a constant roller coaster of getting the reader's hopes up for Shuggie and Agnes and then dashing them.

@MightyFine I've only got 20 pages to go. It's really not going to get better.

I don't know why I talked myself into reading it. Actually I do know - Women's Prize shortlist hype. When will I ever learn?🙄

I didn't like Hamnet and and found the other couple of books of hers that I read a bit flat tbh.

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

@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 😀

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

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

The Coordinates of Loss, cried the whole way through

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

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

Came on just to say Shuggie Bain. Hated it.

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

@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 found Hamnet beautifully written but unrelentingly sad.

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.

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!

Another Ishiguro here — Klara and the Sun.

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. 😊

'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. -

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.

I loved hammet, just wanted to say that!

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

@Worriedmum159 I enjoyed Hamnet!

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!