What's the saddest book you've read?

Writing.Geek. · #1 08-05-2010, 10:18 AM

Hey.

I'll start this off, the saddest book I've read is A Walk To Remember. I cried so much when I read it. It was just so sad.

HoiLei · #2 08-05-2010, 10:30 AM

I bawled over Bridge to Terabithia. I don't think I could read it again.

Reddy Dean · #3 08-05-2010, 10:52 AM

The Dark Tower books altogether were very sad, but I think the ending of the final book is the saddest thing I've read in a book.

Firefly · #4 08-05-2010, 10:57 AM

The Lovely Bones. I can't bring myself to watch the movie of it yet, because the book is my favorite.

Reddy Dean · #5 08-05-2010, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Firefly

The Lovely Bones. I can't bring myself to watch the movie of it yet, because the book is my favorite.

When I go on my book spending spree next Friday (MY FIRST PAYCHECK!) I was thinking of getting that book. So you'd recommend it?

Redlorry · #6 08-05-2010, 11:13 AM

I try to avoid all romatic, deep slushy stuff. I prefer hot sex and violence. That said the book I'm reading now. Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell (there's a very good reason it's taking me so long to read), is about vikings. But there are parts of it which have seen me welling up. I couldn't belive it.

I'm a very emotional person, which is why I try to avoid having my water works provoked.

HoiLei · #7 08-05-2010, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Redlorry

I'm a very emotional person, which is why I try to avoid having my water works provoked.

I'm the same way. If I know a movie will be intense, I have to psyche myself up for it. Once, my sister went to rent some videos, and she came home with "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Dr. Zhivago". I love them both... but egad! Either one will have me on an emotional ride for a week at least. Both in a short time frame would be way too much.

Redlorry · #8 08-05-2010, 11:25 AM

Carousel does that to me, even more so probably because my dad died while I was young. I get very overwhelmed, sometimes by the silliest things.

Firefly · #9 08-05-2010, 11:32 AM

Yeah, Reddy. The Lovely Bones or anything written by Richard Matheson.

Writing.Geek. · #10 08-05-2010, 11:40 AM

Oh, this is off topic, but the two saddest movies I've ever seen are definitely:

Remember Me (I bawled at the end of that movie)
Charlie St. Cloud. (I didn't bawl, but I cried. It was just such a emotional movie.)

I don't think I could see either movie again soon, but I still love both movies.

Redlorry · #11 08-05-2010, 11:43 AM

Remember Me!!

Sorry WG,but I felt that film was nothing but a Rob Pattinson ego trip. Nearly three hours of my life wasted.
LOL... So not my taste.

Writing.Geek. · #12 08-05-2010, 11:48 AM

Hey, everyone has their own taste.

I'm not a big fan of Nanny McPhee (the movie) or Chronicles of Narnia (the book and movie). Something about both of them I can't get into.

Redlorry · #13 08-05-2010, 11:54 AM

See Narnia is, especially Prince Caspian, I love. There is a lot of sword play though

That said, it's very sad at the end and I always cry, even if I only catch the last 5 - 10 minutes of the film. The song 'The Call' by Regina Spektor always sets me off too. I got it on my iPod, I love it.

Writing.Geek. · #14 08-05-2010, 01:45 PM

I'll have to look that song up.

Redlorry · #15 08-05-2010, 02:21 PM

Regina Spektor - The Call Here you go WG!

Winterbite · #16 08-05-2010, 04:03 PM

Les Mis, mostly because of Fantine.

Netti · #17 08-06-2010, 04:29 AM

I'm not one to really cry over books or movies. The first time I read Bridge to Terabithia nothing; but every time after that I just cry. The second time I read it I was crying even before the worst part just because I knew what was coming.

Morechoiriel · #18 08-06-2010, 03:22 PM

The saddest book I have read was The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. It's also one of my favorite books.

RaineDrop · #19 08-06-2010, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Redlorry

I try to avoid all romatic, deep slushy stuff. I prefer hot sex and violence. That said the book I'm reading now. Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell (there's a very good reason it's taking me so long to read), is about vikings. But there are parts of it which have seen me welling up. I couldn't belive it.

I'm a very emotional person, which is why I try to avoid having my water works provoked.

Omg me too. In the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer the episode where Joyce (her mom) dies is called The Body, and I've never once watched it all the way through. I can't. I usually skip the one following as well because I bawl the whole time. And I've rerun the series many, many times!

I don't like to make myself cry

And I've never read Nicholas Sparks, though I've tried to read A Walk to Remember and The Notebook. They were both super boring. I only liked AWTR the movie because I like Mandy Moore.

I've never read a sad book but I did cry during a part of one before. Briefly.

JBStone · #20 08-06-2010, 05:11 PM

I think most good books have moments that pull at your heart strings, and I can say that the final Dark Tower novel was one of the saddest I've ever read, for reasons those who have read it will understand. But I don't know if that's the saddest...there were some heartbreaking scenes in A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin (Red Wedding, anyone?). Oh, and the Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer left me more than a little weepy.

Night Wanderer · #21 08-06-2010, 08:09 PM

A couple years ago I teared up at one part in The Outsiders. Other than that, I really can't think of any. A Walk To Remember nearly bored me to tears if that counts

Though it's possible I'm just emotionally dead. :P

Reddy Dean · #22 08-07-2010, 05:06 AM

Originally Posted by JBStone

and I can say that the final Dark Tower novel was one of the saddest I've ever read, for reasons those who have read it will understand.

Indeed.

At the end I was like, "Woooooow."

Blithe · #23 08-07-2010, 12:08 PM

Bridge to Terabithia has me crying every time, even the movie. I bawled in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows nearly the entire way through.

Now for movies, I cried a lot at the end of Remember Me. I didn't want to watch it because I figured it would just be Robert Pattinson looking ugly the entire time, but the end really got to me. I bawled in the preview for Dear John, but didn't cry in the actual movie. I cried in Armageddon, first movie I ever cried in.

Ollzie · #24 08-07-2010, 01:44 PM

Where The Redfern Grows was really sad at the...well, one part.
Anne of Green Gables was also really sad when Mathew died.

Q Wands · #25 08-07-2010, 02:14 PM

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck. Or maybe, The Rose Grower by Michelle de Kretser. Different sorrows but both deeply touching.

SyntaxError · #26 08-07-2010, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Reddy Dean

Indeed.

At the end I was like, "Daaaaamn."

SPOILER but if you ain't read it then tough.

You know what, I was alright up until the point he killed Oy. I mean I knew he was going to do it, everytime Oy was in danger I'd think 'oh here we go' and he strung it out right to the bitter end. And I was like, why Oy? Why not Suzannah? Lol.

Seriously though, I didn't cry but I was in a really pissy mood for about three days after reading it. Party it was probably that a series I'd been reading since about 1987 or something had come to an end and partly just, well he killed Oyyyyy!

I did like the very end though. A few days after I read it I just suddenly burst out laughing thinking of all the pissed off mail that King was going to get and when I thought about it, it was very clever and totally unexpected.

SyntaxError · #27 08-07-2010, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by Q Wands

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck. Or maybe, The Rose Grower by Michelle de Kretser. Different sorrows but both deeply touching.

Yea, I agree with you on Steinbeck. Most of his books have this kind of subtle sorrow I think. He just has a lovely way of making you care, not in any melodramatic, fall on the floor wailing, kind of thing, but you like his characters, you can't dislike them. Cannery Row is one of my favorites and you don't get much sadder than Grapes of Wrath. But 'Winter', yeah, thinking about it that was probably one of his more miserable ones...

Lagrange · #28 08-07-2010, 05:42 PM

There's a scene in Ian Mckewans "Atonement":

It's set during WW2; A French solider with a severe head injury is lying in his hospital bed talking to a nurses aide...but he's so messed up he hallucinates that this nurses aide is his girlfriend, like come to visit him...

So he starts talking to her about the first time they met, this pastry shop they use to visit, how much he loves her, etc.

The nurses aide knows this soldier is dying and knows that he wants to say all this, so she plays along, pretending to be the girlfriend...

It is some heavy, heavy shit!
In the movie adaptation this scene was crap. They cut the scene down so much and didn't even bother trying to capture the intensity that was there in the book.

Lagrange · #29 08-07-2010, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by Ollzie

Where The Redfern Grows was really sad at the...well, one part.

Oh hell yeah! As a teen that made my cry. I grew up in Alabama, with hunting dogs...

I had to go hug my dogs after reading the sad scene in that book.

EpicMoose · #30 08-07-2010, 07:25 PM

The saddest book I've ever read would have to be Looking for Alaska by John Green. It's the closest I've ever come to crying from reading a book. It's truly an amazing book.