What's the most depressing book you've ever read? I'm talking soul-motherfucking-crushing. The kind where you curl into a ball for days and stop eating because, "what's the point?"
my diary desu lad
No Longer Human was the most depressing I ever read, probably.
But the one that made me curl into a ball and think "what's even the point of this" was Molloy
>>7959673
Stoner
A Little Life
my diary desu senpai
Richard Yates in general is great sadcore. He seems to really understand how disappointing life can be, and does it in a very sympathetic, but precise way.
Not an entire book, but the Sol chapter in Hyperion. Call me a pleb, but if you have children, that seems like one of the most harrowing scenarios you can go through.
>>7960323
This
Requiem for a Dream
>>7960323
a third vote for this followed by Oblomov
I don't know why but infinite jest made me laugh and bummed me out at the same time.
The Idiot
>>7960500
People don't give this book enough credit for being THE book about drug abuse, manipulation, and addiction both illegal, over the counter, via electromagnetic wave, and prescribed.
>>7960546
I shill for this book every chance I get. It's so fucking criminally underrated. I blame reddit and YouTube faggots for making people think it's some porno or a symphony.
>>7959673
Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre had this effect on me when I first read it in high school. It was also my first exposure to existential philosophy so it's effect on me was two-fold in a way.
>>7960558
It is a symphony of America and the American Dream. But it also shows you what the American Dream actually was.
Stepping on everyone beneath you and doing everything against he notion of what a good American is. It's a book that says, "This whole American thing is disgusting, stop trying to be it. It's fucking awful."
This is why we need socialism. We must destroy the ultra-bourgeoisie.
>>7960323
Couldn't take this book seriously after flipping to the back and reading that bit about unmarried women. I get that it was tongue-in-cheek but fuck it was awful.
>>7960323
this is far from depressing 2bh
Some Chekhov stories hit really close home, but in the good way.
Hard mode: Books that don't involve sexuality.
>>7960599
i'm not sure what you mean by this. if a book examines someone's life in detail, their sexuality is going to come up, even if it's asexual
There's a reason this book pretty much single handedly redefined vampires. Fuck the 80s. What about that decade made people so cynical under the neon veneer?Not a single character gets through unscathed and they didn't even accomplish anything important in the end.
>>7959675
lol same
>>7960513
Wouldn't say Oblomov was depressing
>>7960527
The satire is too real at times
MALIGNANTLY
>>7959673
Not a book, but Tolstoy has a short story called "The Death of Ivan Illyich" that made me stay in my room for a week straight.
>>7960765
Whoops, I mean "Alyosha the Pot"
>>7959710
Did you read Malone Dies and Unnamable from the same trilogy? They only get more depressing
The very last "interview" fucked me up for like a month. I stopped going to school and failed all my classes that semester, legit just laid in bed for days at a time listening to sports talk radio to try to normalize my thoughts again, only getting up to eat and go to the bathroom
>>7960750
USELESS
nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to be, and no one to know.
>>7960800
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLaJCRyX84k
if anyone is interested, John Krasinski tried to make a film adaptation of the book. This is him reading the part that fucked my shit right up
The last bit of the life of pi really messed me up
>>7960811
This really affected me, but I can't say it was at all depressing. Depression is emotional numbness, forgetting the ability to recall what it was like to be happy. That was intense.I couldn't imagine how a strawman tumblr feminist would react to that.
>>7960800
>irregardless
Fucking shit author, dropped.
The long walk - Stephen king
>>7959710
>No Longer Human
isnt there a novel and manga? which did you read?
>>7960574
Post the excerpt
Manga wise Homunculus and ShindoL: Emergence
(by the guy that wrote Ichi the killer)
>>7959673
Flowers for Algernon
Something with how he loses himself, and is only faintly aware he lost anything to begin with, resonates deeply with my darkest fears. Watching him come to understand himself, just to lose it, shook me pretty good
>>7959673
Johnny Got His Gun
>>7960775
I have, but I still think Molloy is the one that breaks it for me. Maybe because it's the first, I don't know. I just remember reading that part where Moran's legs fail and he lays on his back using his hand to crawl around, close the book and think "well that's it, life meaningless, nothing is worthwhile, I'm killing myself"
It was particularly the 2nd part of the book with Moran which made me feel like this
>>7963026
>chinese drawings
lol
The Magicians, it gave me insomnia for two weeks after I finished it.
my old chatlogs with her
>>7963499
durísimo
The Bible.
Grendel
Hamlet
Sorrows of Young Werther
Great Gatsby
>>7963499
gross, end yourself
>>7960800
how do i experience it the best? I got anally ravaged with tears at the end of GON, Do i read all the short stories?
1984 when I was 11.
>>7959724
Baby's first sads
>>7960599
Blood Meridian.
>>7962966
why does everything on this site always come back to "those damn sjws!!!" i really really truly hate it
>>7963719
>t. Pheobe Crystal (aka @BritneySpearsLover91)
>>7963719
Groupthink. It's like how in almost every reddit thread, no matter what the subject, there's always or two people saying how Trump sucks.
Something of Paulo Coelho, when I have to read him for school I wish to kill myself
>>7963724
>t.
call me newfag or whatever, but what?
>>7963736
It;s Finnish (I think) for 'regards' It's a spicy meme.
>>7963743
thank you.
>>7963435
>chinese drawings
>lol
Where do you think you are?
>>7960793
Edgy.
>>7964088
on a literature board
where do YOU think you are?
>>7964104
>mainstream political rivalry is edgy
You've lived a very sheltered life, haven't you?
>>7959675
iktfb
my dairy desu familia
>>7963719
I used the term strawman for a reason.
>>7963729
>Paulo Coelho
>read him for school
Wow, sucks to be you.
>>7959673
Absolutely spirit crushing.
>>7959675
first post=best post
>>7959673
ham on rye is kinda depressing, knowing its about his own shit and just how sad it was. its a great book, even if i think the guy was pretty nuts
>>7960811
that movie was waaaay underappreciated.
>>7960659
I know its funny but it also felt very depressing to me. I knew things wouldnt go that well for Oblomov from the start, maybe that influenced my feelings
>>7959710
>No Longer Human
I related to this book a lot more than I should have. It was kind of horrifying seeing how accurate a Japanese man from 70 years ago was able to perfectly describe my life.
Literally stopped eating for several months until they had to take me to a hospital. I just lay on my bed in my own shit and urine, refusing to get up to go to the bathroom, until I didn't even have anything in my body to come out as shit and urine. I became a literal fucking statue. I couldn't even sleep. I am still suffering from the adverse neurological and physiological effects.
Can poetry collections be considered?
Anne Sexton really bummed me out.
>>7959673
Le Chaos et la Nuit
It's a good book but I mean Jesus Christ
>>7965528
what happened?
>>7965528
The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.
Devastating material
>>7965528
Too wet to go out
And too cold to play ball.
So we sat in the house.
We did nothing at all.
The bonechilling tragedy continues
>>7965528
“I know it is wet
And the sun is not sunny.
But we can have
Lots of good fun that is funny!”
Crippling pathology made all the more toxic by the false chance of hope
So Long, See You Tomorrow
Mrs. Dalloway
>>7965528
But our fish said, “No! No!
Make that cat go away!
Tell that Cat in the Hat
You do NOT want to play.
He should not be here.
He should not be about.
He should not be here
When your mother is out!”
I'm afraid I can't keep reading. Why did you ever bring this existential bile to light
>>7960568
Really, so what's the difference between Infinite Jest and Requiem for a Dream?
The Blind Owl was pretty depressing, especially knowing that the author went on to kill himself, by gassing himself of all ways
>>7959675
Shit man, my diary is the most depressing thing I've read too.
>>7960811
What is this? Wasn't damaging at all, get this shit out of here senpai. In no way was this soul shattering, literal boo hoo "she wuz so connected and fought her rape with luv" and "I never luv befo".
>>7959755
Mein Freund! Richard Yates is best desu.
>>7965141
I found it way too over the top to really take seriously
I still get depressed if I think too long about this book. Like, can't-get-out-of-bed-for-anything depressed.
it was in 7th grade english class and we had free time
i saw this on the bookshelf in the back, and thought it was about a robot kid. A typical scifi novel. The stories of child abuse in it made me sob quietly as i read it. I remember I was mentally questioning the meaning of life and the existence of God and morality, melting in my desk, shaking , with tears streaming down my face absolutely terrified.I felt so relieved when the bell rang and i could go to math ,because that book was scaring me more than anything id ever experienced. I never picked it up again
very weird looking back on it now
>>7966222
its fake
>>7959673
"Journey to the end of the night"
"The worst part is wondering how you’ll find the strength tomorrow
to go on doing what you did today and have been doing for much
too long, where you’ll find the strength for all that stupid running around, those projects that come to nothing, those attempts to escape from crushing necessity, which always founder and serve only to convince you one more time that destiny is implacable, that every night will find you down and out, crushed by the dread of more and more sordid and insecure tomorrows. And maybe it’s treacherous old age coming on, threatening the worst. Not much music left inside us for life to dance to. Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth. And where, I ask you, can a man escape to, when he hasn’t enough madness left inside him? The truth is an endless death agony. The truth is death. You have to choose: death or lies. I’ve never been able to kill myself.”
>>7966159
This is mine. I was only depressed after reading it though. And not can't-get-out-of-bed, more of a satisfying depression. Satisfying because it resonated with me a lot, in ways nothing else had before. Could have to do with the fact I read it when I was 14 or 15. At the time it was my favourite book. Ishiguro is a genius imo; always good at toying with my emotions. Shame about his latest...
>>7966376
I had to read it in English class, about 14. I had to read the damn last chapter. Aloud. In class. Because I was the best at reading "with emotion".
God damn lots of emotion when you start sobbing at the top of the last page.
I think it's mostly because I do get depressive episodes, and it's no longer satisfying imo to have sudden memory of this book and start tearing up like legos went through your foot
>tfw you femanon and can't relate to Kathy or Ruth but you f e e l for Tommy
>>7966419
I'm not sure I could relate to any of the characters, especially at first, but I think that maybe that was intentional. The characters become more fleshed out while you simultaneously gradually learnthey're just harvested for their flesh. It got me into the rest of his work though, I liked Remains of the Day but I actually really liked The Unconsoled despite it being so slow. It put me in a kind of trance...
Have you seen the movie with Keira Knightley?
>>7966372
This.
>>7963418
Underrated desu. The ending had me in tears.
>>7966431
I haven't had the chance to read many more of his works, I tried to stay away seeing the state NLMG put me in.
Nah man, Tommy was relatable from the start. Maybe that's just me. But I could NOT understand Kathy's pacifism through the whole thing- there's no spirit there!
No, actually, I haven't. I don't usually watch adaptations of books I like.
>inb4 snob, I just want my memories to be kept well if I don't like the movie
Also. Where tf is Old Yeller or is that just too obvious?
Hunger by Knut Hamsun.
The protagonist gets the definition of a soul-crushing.
>>7966257
Go on? I too read this when I was 12 and was forever mentally impacted by it, but I was under the impression it was all true.
R scott bakker. Nothing more depressing than that.
>>7965196
It's like an after school special for adults.
>>7965528
> stopped eating for several months
> lay in a bed of his own shit
HOW DO YOU SHIT IF YOU DON'T EAT
>>7966159
are you a girl
>>7967486
It's a major plot hole.
>>7967486
b r a v o
r
a
v
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n o l a n
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>>7967486
the more she drank the more she shat
>>7960811
This is really good, I'll have to read the rest of them later if they're all that good. Though I agree with >>7962966
That it isn't what I would call depressing.
There's a terrible sense of frustration I get out of it, that modern hyper self-awareness has removed so much of the ability for genuine expression to be seriously regarded
>>7959807
I just finished Hyperion a couple of days ago and damn were some parts depressing.
>>7959724
>Stoner
>depressing
wtf r u doing
Make fun of me if you want, but I felt like shit the rest of the day after finishing 1984.
Now all literary descriptions of misfortune fill me with a perverse glee. Not sure if that is an improvement.
moby-dick. i must have spent half an hour trying to accept the reality of what had just happened. while staring emptily at the last page.
also, >>7968641
>>7967789
That the Borderlands book?
My own biography.
>>7959673
The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea.
This book and the ending made legitimately mad and sad.
Standard depressing novels tend to cheer me up, but this one hurt to read becuase I really didn't want what happened, to happen.
>>7959673
johnny got his gun
>>7963418
this
It's even worse if you have a family member that's mentally handicapped.
My other pick would be The Lottery Rose, the only book I ever had to read for school or college where the entire time I wanted to throw it away. The main character's life only marginally improves as far as his mental state over the entire book, and the real development happens the second time he almost dies.
>>7960527
I think at the end it has a positive message as opposed to a depressing one. It has some of the saddest passages I've read, but it also made me cry with joy.
>>7963418
Ouch, read the short story version after seeing your post.
Tess of the D'urbervilles
Seriously what the actual fuck?!
>She's raped by her cousin
>gets pregneant from it
>baby is still born
>told baby is in Hell
Then marries guy she actually liked
>kill her rapist cousinthen she hangs for it
fucking british lit class, fuck you and everything you care for.
>>7967486
You'll have 2 or 3 shits after you stop eating just from stuff that was already in the pipeline, so to speak.
source: My dad works for nintendo
>>7959673
The other side, by Kevin Maccolley. Emotionally brutalizing civil war story with a last page that is somehow harsher in it's banality.
>>7969528
Actually that reminds me of a contender from college English, it was about the Magdalene laundries, real fucked up shit. We watched a movie about it and I think there was a written story first, and we had to write a report type thing. I asked the teacher why he was assigning this stuff and driving home how awful it was when it doesn't happen any more and I forget the exact answer. It was not mostly about historical significance, it was something more feelsy. He was very much that type, a male feminist by his own words, supposedly gay, assigned us a bunch of creative writing things and only one research paper while most teachers would assign more than one so you could actually get practice writing them, and one of the required books for the class-- which he wrote-- cited Chomsky a lot. I spent a lot of that semester proofreading that book because I was bored and his writing bugged me, and by the time I gave it to him at the end it had a lot of marks in it.
>>7959807
Man i literally just finished that section a few days ago. Priest's story pretty sad too desu
Dino Buzzati's "The Tartar Steppe". The ending crushed my soul since I can very well see myself ending just as the protagonist in my own way.
