Saddest books you've ever read

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Saddest books you've ever read

Postby rocklobster » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:39 am

What books either nearly brought you to tears or actually made you cry?
My votes:
Old Yeller
Angela's Ashes
The Kite Runner (such a beautiful ending!)
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Postby Technomancer » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:29 am

Night by Elie Wiesel
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.

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Postby Peanut » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:01 am

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Night by Elie Wiesel
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
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Postby Aileen Kailum » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:21 am

Tilly by Frank Peretti. I always start crying about three pages into the book. *sigh*
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Postby mitsuki lover » Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:03 pm

A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
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Postby bigsleepj » Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:15 pm

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien
Maus by Art Spiegelman
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Postby Scarecrow » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:08 pm

The only book I remember actually almost crying at the end was Stone Fox. I was in 3rd grade I think. I was reading the last chapter and the ending was so sad =(

Watched the movie in School though and that sucked. Not sad in the least. Same ending as the book but I dunno, it just sucked.
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Postby Sheenar » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:24 pm

There's quite a few...
Old Yeller
A Dog Called Kitty
The Crossing
Schindler's List
The Road
Black Beauty
Where the Red Fern Grows --haven't finished it, but I plan to pick it up again --got sidetracked

And though I haven't read this one yet, I saw the movie and it made me cry --The Yearling --I plan to read this book hopefully this summer
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Postby sharien chan » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:59 pm

White Oleander...but thats because it mirrored my life in certain regards
uh

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Postby GeneD » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:41 am

I'm not sure how long ago I read it, but I cried when reading "God's Smuggler" by Borther Andrew. I read it for a book review for school; I think I was about 7th grade. I actually don't remember what happened, I think it was someone who died towards the beginning of the book, but it was very sad and I don't normally cry in books or movies.

Some of my university textbooks make me cry too.
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Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:34 am

The Killing of Mudeye

A schizophrenic teenage boy who has no friends and abusive parents is majorly bullied at school. Then one day he's found in the gym - he's hung himself with a tie. Some people are sad but there isn't the slightest bit of hope.

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Postby Scarecrow » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:12 am

o.O We never got interesting books like that. I kinda wanna read that now.

Just remembered another: Bridge to Terabithia... I was kind of disappointed with the movie though but it was still good.
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Postby sharien chan » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:09 am

Scarecrow (post: 1210938) wrote:o.O We never got interesting books like that. I kinda wanna read that now.

Just remembered another: Bridge to Terabithia... I was kind of disappointed with the movie though but it was still good.

That book is amazing!
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Postby Maledicte » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:48 pm

The Lovely Bones
Hart's Hope (stabbed me, right there.)
Dragonlance Legends (the last book especially--Test of the Twins. Has me bawling every time.)
Frankenstein makes me sad too.
Vampire Tapestry
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Postby AsianBlossom » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:08 pm

Where the Red Fern Grows...oy, what an ending.
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Postby jaems-kun » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:57 pm

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Postby the_wolfs_howl » Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:32 am

Okay, I'm a real crybaby when it comes to emotional books, so I'll pick the ones that made me cry the most

The first book I ever cried for was called something like Flames Across the Susquehana, which I read for school. Basically, it's a story about two drummer boys in the Civil War, and one of them dies T_T
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. I cried buckets at the Shelob's Lair part.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I read the whole book in one day, and cried a lot at the end. (And I really liked the movie, but anyway.)
The High King by Lloyd Alexander. I moped around for a week after reading this, partly because of the bittersweet ending, and partly because my favorite series (at the time) was over.
Several Adventures in Odyssey books made me cry, especially the one where Jimmy becomes a Christian.
The Letters I Never Wrote by Ruth E. Van Reken. This was really emotional for me, because it seemed she was writing about me, especially towards the beginning, the part about her childhood. I was crying for nearly every chapter.
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Postby Hana Ryuuzaki » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:18 pm

[font="palatino Linotype"]Well, I've never cried at a book, but I just read a sad book about a family of Cambodians and some concentration camps.

It's The Clay Marble. Read it.[/font]
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Postby Sheenar » Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:52 am

Another is The Diary of Anne Frank --man, that is really sad because it all really happened...
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Postby rocklobster » Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:45 pm

Try sitting through the movie version of Anne Frank. That's even tougher!
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Postby Sae-chan » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:57 pm

Well, I don't usually cry at the end or during books and movies (I mean, there was this one movies at which I cried, but I don't remember what it was called and besides, I had a fever), but here's one I think I cried at. It was a long time ago.

The Basket of Flowers, by J. H. St. A., translated from French. It's an old book, short too. But that was kind of sad.

I've read the Diary of Anne Frank, and I've never cried through it, though I came close to it. Hmm... I've never seen the movie.
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Postby Slytherine » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:53 pm

-The Diary of Anne Frank
-Night by Elie Wiesel
-Bridge to Terabitha [I was 9 when I read it. I cried for like...days]

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Postby Corkyspaniel » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:20 pm

[font="Times New Roman"][SIZE="2"]The only two I can think of are The Lottery Rose and Where the Red Fern Grows.[/SIZE][/font]
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Postby MomoAdachi » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:09 pm

*Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfeld may seem like an odd choice, but those who've read it will know what I mean...
[spoiler]Poor Zane! I cried, I was such a Tally/Zane(Zally?) shipper![/spoiler]
*There are a few really sad Sweet Valley High books(yes, I am an unapologetic SVH fan!), When Love Dies and On The Edge come to mind
*Elsie Dinsmore and its sequel, Elsie's Holidays At Roselands by Martha Finley
*Several American Girls Collection books have really sad parts, like Meet Kirsten and Changes For Addy

I guess who can tell that I'm not a big classics fan. I have pretty shallow taste in books.

Oh, and if we're counting nonfiction, the silent film actress Clara Bow's biography, Running Wild by David Stenn(sp?) can be a real downer, as can Joan Crawford's life story.
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Postby Doubleshadow » Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:20 pm

Animal Farm by George Orwell. It didn't help that I'm a major horse lover.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque. The point of view of a soldier who deals with killing other human beings, as opposed to the faceless generic enemy, and knows that the end is inevitable.
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Postby Angel Tifa » Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:19 am

Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby were the saddest ones I've ever read thus far.

Also for those of you who have played Resident Evil Code Veronica X, needless to say the book based off of that game was very sad at the end. S.D. Perry is the author of the Resident Evil novels.
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Postby Kkun » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:23 am

The Kite Runner is definitely up there, though the ending is a good deal more hopeful than the rest of the book.

While it's funny and insightful at times, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is up there. I don't want to give too much away, but it's about a boy with Asperger's syndrome who attempts to solve a mystery that winds up unravelling his entire life. The ending is very satisfying but the events that occur to get there are heart rending.

Pat Barker's Regeneration is also high on my list of sad books. It's kind of a fictionalized account of WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon's time spent in the Craiglockhart asylum. He was a conscientious objector to the war and they tossed him in Craiglockhart for it, claiming he was insane. It was just an incredibly depressing book.
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Postby EricTheFred » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:36 am

Kokoro is a wonderful, but very sad book. I've read it in English, and one of my goals for learning written Japanese is to be able to read it in the original language.

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Postby GeneD » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:09 pm

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. It's not actually a sad book, but it got to me. The fact that in real life there are people who write their kids off to a nanny, who ends up actually raising their child for them was just too sad. I felt so sorry for the child, and the nanny who loves the child but can't really ever do anything for him/her.
They made a movie of the book, but I haven't seen it.
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Postby Felix » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:40 pm

I... haven't actually read very many sad books. :| But the saddest amongst the ones I have...?

>.>

<.<

Bridge to Terabithia. I cried, hehehe ^^; And I was 16 when I read it, too. Go ahead, laugh it up. XP
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