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/lit/ - Literature

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2698187 No.2698187 [Reply] [Original]

What would you consider the most depressing book ever written, /lit/?

I want to cry the way I did when reading Tom Sawyer and praying to god Tom and Becky didn't die in that cave

>> No.2698237

how would i know? i haven't read every book ever written.

>> No.2698257
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2698257

>>2698237

>> No.2698271
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2698271

I've not read many sad books, OP, but Mice and Men, damn, I've got a real soft spot for lovable retards.

>> No.2698295

Lennie!
Dammit, OP, liek dis if u cry every time. ;_;

>> No.2698296

Give Watership Down a shot.

>> No.2698306

>>2698187
>>2698271
>>2698295
>Of Mice and Men
>Depressing
You people fucking cry at home renovation shows, don't you?

>> No.2698314
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2698314

>>2698306
We're all ears, tough guy. What books have you shed a tear for?

>> No.2698315

No Longer Human.

>> No.2698323

>>2698306
Nah, buddy, honestly, it was just because of Lennie. Lovable retards getting beat down just really gets to me. I have no idea why.

>> No.2698332
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2698332

>>2698323
It reflects your subconscious.

>> No.2698357
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2698357

>>2698332
Low blow.

>> No.2698363
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2698363

>>2698314
Would have been 11, I think.

To be honest, though, I got a little teary-eyed at the end of The Brothers Karamazov - fucking Ilyusha, man.

>> No.2698360

Infinite Jest got me right in the gut.

>> No.2698384

The Road is pretty damn depressing.

>> No.2698397

>>2698384
The Road made me want to be a dad.

Just need to find the right woman who isn't dumb enough to kill herself

>> No.2698405

>>2698397
>First scene in the movie.
>spoilertags

>> No.2698408
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2698408

>>2698405
>Movie

>> No.2698411

"The Road", by Cormac McCarthy. Utterly miserable, vile, and barren reality that underscores the essence and triumph of the human spirit: the will to persevere and to live a noble life even when all hope has been lost. Also a tribute to the powerful, primal instincts of love and self-sacrifice that parents can have for their children.

just writing this paragraph puts a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. this is a life-changing, devastating and unforgettable parable.

>> No.2698429

I always imagine what was going through the Dad's mind when he was dying on the beach. He must have known that his son would be dead for sure. He couldn't look after himself.

Fuck that shit man.

>> No.2698432

>>2698384
>>2698397

shit, beat me to it.

This book should be required reading, it will make the world a better place.

>TFW the allegorical, disturbing content of this book perfectly describes the actual human condition. (that's why it's so motherfucking depressing)

>> No.2698440

Eugene Onegin.

The thing is that to say something is depressing, you have to relate to it. The Road is depressing, but not as overtly to me as it is to people with father issues or aspirations.

>> No.2698451

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

>> No.2698462

Maybe Red Calvary if just for the fact that there isn't any underlying moral of human will or perseverance. Babel gives you a bleak and hopeless look into the brutality of man and the irony of heroism.

I'll always remember the story of Trunov, which starts with him executing Polish prisoners (shoots one guy in the head because his pants are nice enough for an officer) and ends with him and company's resident boot thief getting gunned down by airplanes as they cover a retreat.

>> No.2698469

i think a lot of Richard Yates novels were pretty depressing

>> No.2698532

>>2698440

everyone can relate to "The Road". It's about life, death, and the struggle to survive and look after one's own, and all the things that human beings are capable of doing within this great struggle.

The key here is that it ISNT just about survival - it's about having the willpower and the integrity to survive in the RIGHT WAY. Most people lose the best parts of their nature in trying to survive and get by; that's why the world is such a shitty place.

It's a tough choice to consciously strive to be one of the "good guys". Carry that motherfucking fire.

>> No.2698540

>>2698532
Yawn. If you don't think people who want to be, are or have problems with their fathers relate more to the Road then you're delusional.

>> No.2698542

>>2698540

you're a horrible person. you are not carrying the fire.

>> No.2698554
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2698554

>>2698542

>> No.2698561

>>2698540

also i don't want to be a father, i am not a father, and i have absolutely no problems with my father.

i DO have a problem with the human condition being so shitty, and i do feel a sense of profound sadness when contemplating the difficulty that good parents have in trying to prepare their children for survival in a vile, brutally competitive, and possibly hopeless world while at the same time trying to impress upon them that it is not in fact that way.

It's about survival and integrity, you piece of shit.

>ive been trolled softly.

>> No.2698581

>>2698561
>It's about survival and integrity

I never said it wasn't, Oprah. I'm not trying to say you or anyone didn't relate to the book, I'm saying there's other people with your whiny cunt sensibilities about the human condition who also relate to the book on yet another level via the father aspect.

Dear god, /lit/, grow some fucking brains.

>> No.2698630

>Any year ofter 1999
>Not mentionning Houellebecq's works.
>Constanza.jpg.png.avi

Whatever is pretty much cry-worthy. Atomised as well.

Have to confess I cried reading Coram Boys.

>> No.2698639

It didn't make me cry, but I found the ending of Don Quixote to be pretty depressing. Also, I second what's already been said about Mice and Men, a very beautifully sad tale.

>> No.2698643
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2698643

also this

>> No.2698648

A Farewell to Arms

>> No.2698829
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2698829

>>2698561

>I feel a profound sadness at the degradation of the human spirit etc etc
>geddout of my thread fagit troll XD

Bright Lights, Big City is pretty sad if you're coming down off coke I guess

>> No.2698847

I had to stop reading Saramago's Blindness because the people were so horrible and kept getting worse

>> No.2698879

>>2698648
I didn't care what happened to the characters at the end of that book. It was just a poorly written book in general so when it got to the end, I was almost glad it happened for making me sit through that awful story.

>> No.2698886

Bend Sinister (Nabokov), The Motel Life (Vlautin), and parts of The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway) get me every time.

>> No.2698893

Rifles for Waite
Johnny Tremain

>> No.2698899

>>2698296
Oh to be ten and to cry again. ;_;

>> No.2698904

>>2698363

>11
>released in 2005

>> No.2699062
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2699062

>dat feel when Paul has been dead the whole time

>> No.2700952

The Road

>> No.2700967

Maupassant's Pierre and Jean. I read it in one short sitting and by the last 10 pages I was bawling my fucking eyes out.