Depressing Novels, Depressing Authors

[sampaguita]

I'm in the middle of "The Shipping News" by Annie Proulx. It's about a middle-aged man, born to failure who tries to pick up the pieces by moving to Newfoundland. Constant theme I noticed so far: depression. It's supposed to be a dark comedy. Reading between the lines, it really is. But the fog of depression is too thick to make room for anything else. It won the a Pulitzer Prize award though.

I also was reading through Earnest Hemmingway's "The Sun Also Rises". Again, pretty depressing. About some Vietnam-War- Veteran who comes to terms with life after the war, his love for a drunkard married woman, and his impotentcy.

I guess it must be something dark within these authors' minds that motivates them to write such slow, dark, and thought-provoking novels. I'm not saying that they're bad. By all means, they're good reads. Given an open mind and patience, they actually have really interesting messages hidden within.

What books or authors have you noticed worked within this depressing theme? Did you love it or hate it? Why?

Please feel free to share. :)

[This message has been edited by sampaguita (edited 04-04-2000).]

[Angeli]

some books of sidney sheldon are depressing.

[batang uliran]

Tess by Thomas Hardy.

[§ínned™]

Or you say Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

§inned™

[Ira]

Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, Michael Crichton, David Baldacci, John Grisham are all depressing authors with depressingly bad novels.

[kingofpain]

How about "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath, a semi-autobigraphical account of a young woman who goes through a harrowing breakdown. Of course, Plath would later on kill herself by sticking her head in an oven. Sample quote: "To the person inside the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is a bad dream." Or something like that.

[Jennifer]

Danielle Steele's...and this book entitled THE THORNBIRDS... :(

[This message has been edited by Jennifer (edited 04-05-2000).]

[sampaguita]

kingofpain:
Ouch! That sounds more painful than depressing, but that sure runs second. Remind me not to pick that one up. :p

Come to think of it, Hemmingway wrote quite a lot of depressing novels. I think this is related to his actual life: married 3 or 4 times, war-experienced, suicide. *kiligs*

Has anyone tried Anne Rice? Her works are more morbid but they're so dark, they're depressing.

[kingofpain]

sampaguita:
Well actually, "The Bell Jar" is a good book so I'm not going to tell you not to pick it up.

Hemingway and Plath are only two of many famous self-destructive artists. I read an article in Discover magazine once exploring the possible link between artistic talent and bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder). Many superb writers and other artists seem to have been manic-depressive, even suicidal. So it shouldn't be surprising that a significant number of excellent literary works are quite depressing. Maybe the writers were using words in an attempt to exorcise their personal demons.

[acridmouth]

Danielle Steel. I love her, but I admit, her works are way so depressing. In a certain novel, she allowed one of the main characters to die, and I was like, "Why did you kill him? He's so nice!"

[acridmouth]

Another one is Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. Catherine and the guy ( I forgot his name...was it Frederic?)were a perfect couple...they loved each other soooo much! They were pretty excited with the arrival of their baby. But the baby died and so did Catherine. Too depressing, huh?

[sampaguita]

kingofpain:
Pretty depressing alright. Somehow I think they've succeeded in letting those demonds run free a litte too well. Hemingway killed himself. (Bullet wound or OD?) I think it's creepy thinking about just how close these authors can be to their characters & novels.

acridmouth:
"Farewell To Arms"... nother depressing one.

I found "Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger depressing. But it offered a nice sort-of-depressing. It was one I could relate with, going through high school. "A Seperate Peace" was also a little depressing but again, something I welcomed.

I think it's possible to read depressing novels and actually like them. It brings a change in the mood of things, gets you thinking. "What would've I done if I was them?"

[kingofpain]

I agree, Salinger's works are a bit depressing. But the funny thing is I like to read them when I'm really depressed. There's something reassuring about his forays into buddhism and other oriental philosophies, especially in his stories about the Glass family. As for Catcher in the Rye, it's nice to look at the world once in a while through Holden Caulfield's eyes and see that it IS full of phonies and slobs. And that it's okay.

[Eterna]

V.C. Andrews--i only have one word for all of his works weird :eek:

Roots by A.Hailey--too long and too gross.

[popscenester]

i love sylvia plath..
*sigh*

[brownpau]

Jennifer >;>; I agree. I read Colleen McCullough's The Thornbirds, and she really has no mercy on her characters. Depressing nga.

But check out George Orwell's 1984. The beginning is depressing, the middle picks you up and enlightens, then the end is so horrible and depressing that you feel ashamed of your own humanity.

[Manco]

THE METAMORPHOSIS by Franz Kafka, a story about a man slowly turning into an insect (a cockroach, IIRC), is THE most depressing story I've ever read.

[Bellarine]

WASTED by Gerry Alanguilan

its a graphic novel (as in comics) about a broken hearted guy. if you're already feeling sad, don't read this book. i was in a good mood when i read it. when i finished reading, i curled up in a ball and stayed in bed for a couple of hours *feeling* this pain in my chest.

its a great, great book. but really, really, really depressing.

its available at comic quest.

[maxinegirl]

Lord of the Flies

[maxine]

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by ARUNDHATI ROY

[Margarita]

Norweigan Wood

[Misa Hayase]

Originally posted by maxine
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by ARUNDHATI ROY
I agree! Depressing yung tone... pero ang ganda ganda how this novel was written.

[maxinegirl]

Originally posted by maxine
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by ARUNDHATI ROY

i'd say depressing but beautifully so! :)

[*happy*phantom*]

Originally posted by maxine
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by ARUNDHATI ROY

This book is one of my absolute favorites. I don't think of it as depressing, though. For me, it's more melancholic. Beautiful language. Truly a masterpiece from Roy. Well worthy of the Booker.

[Lucca Yamazaki]

You guys read 1984, by George Orwell. Now that's depressing. Not because the story's depressing, it's because the things that happened in the book are most likely to happen in our society (surveilance cameras everywhere, the "masa" herded like cattle, written paraphernalia always change so you can't back yourself up with written evidence, and, for the love of God, regulated sex).

[Bellarine]

Another depressing book is SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson. OMG! I felt sooo sad after finishing the book. I didn't see the movie but I heard that the book was great. And it is a beautiful, beautiful book. I love authors who are able to describe surroundings in glorious detail and Guterson does that. The story is just achingly beautiful.

[satellite]

i think halos lahat ata ng works ni thomas hardy eh depressing...like "jude the obscure"...because they
were too poor...nag-suicide na yun son ni jude...

"No One Writes to the Colonel" ni gabriel garcia
marquez is depressing as well...the feeling of waiting
for nothing....

yun "sister carrie" and "jennie gerhardt" ni thomas
dreiser depressing..."american tragedy" nya medyo
pero it's a good read talaga...kapal nga lang and it's
based on a true story....ginawan pa ng movie ni liz
taylor entitled "a place in the sun"...

ewan...minsan ang sarap magbasa ng depressing lit kahit
na ang bigat ng loob after...i think it's a nice therapy
ren....makes me cry....

[chez-o]

i have to agree on the god of small things....super depressing pero super lyrical rin di ba???....so is the moor's last sigh by salman rushdie.... iread this while unemployed...not a good combo...fun it was a very good novel...

speaking of depressing, read "the reader"....

[Johnny Quantum]

Get depressed all over again with WASTED.

http://www.alamat.com/wasted/diary.html

[pyrecatcher]

I'd say Maningning C. Miclat. I do not have to explain.

[salinger]

of mice and men

by john steinbeck

[chez-o]

aside from sylvia plath, seekers of depreesing novels might want to check salman rushdie and pearl buck too (especially the latter).

[specs]

I'd have to go with Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The God of Small things by Arundhati Roy. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck is also a bit depressing.

[Joules]

Originally posted by Bellarine
Another depressing book is SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson. OMG! I felt sooo sad after finishing the book. I didn't see the movie but I heard that the book was great. And it is a beautiful, beautiful book. I love authors who are able to describe surroundings in glorious detail and Guterson does that. The story is just achingly beautiful.

I agree with you "Snow Falling on Cedars" is simply beautiful. The movie true to the book is amazing, a work of art. The forced internment of the Japanese-Americans during WWII was a shameful event in the U.S. history. Many people just want to forget about it and that is depressing. Racism, prejudice, intolerance in all levels are depressing issues but it's good to know that love and forgiveness almost always triump over hatred. If you enjoyed "Snow Falling...", you might want to check out "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazer. It is another recent bestselling novel which has superimposed a poignant love story on the backdrop of the strikingly beautiful American landscape, this time of the Great Smoky Mountains during the Civil War. It's a story about a very, very long walk, of parallel journeys of the two lovers (sort of a romantic oddysey) towards an eventful ending. It's a heartbreakingly memorable story. Cold Mountain is one of those novels written with a very spare prose but will entrall and affect you. Fresh and simple, it's what storytelling (or any piece of literature) is supposed to be.

[raven23]

My depressing book is Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation. All about depression.

The saddest, funniest, and ultimately, most triumphant book about youthful depression I've come across. It reads like a mixture of J.D. Salinger and Sylvia Plath, with some Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen thrown in for good measure...Elizabeth Wurtzel is one canny and entertaining observer of her generation: If you've been wondering why Kurt Cobain meant what he did - what it feels like to be young, gifted, and black of spirit - this book is the CD, tape, video, and literary answer all in one.
- Daphne Merkin

I've also heard Dave Pelzer's A Child Called 'It' is disturbing -- will read that soon.

My ex-GF swears every female she knows who's read Nicholas Sparks' Message in a Bottle cried after reading it. Dunno.

[Mark Renton96]

I find Girlfriend in a coma by Douglas Coupland depressing. Franny and Zooey made my classmate cry buckets when we had it as a bookreport last Quarter... I found it nakakainis!

[fountainpen]

I agree with the Thomas Hardy comments: he has a talent for bringing out the inevitability of FAILURE in his subjects, particularly Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. While I can re-read Tess, I can no longer read Jude the Obscure.

Lord of the Flies depressed me as well, but it contains observations about people's "inner savages" that people have to confront at one time or another. Can't deny I hated having to read it. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness was also depressing.

I loved George Orwell's 1984. It's sad, but not really depressing.

And, I'm sorry, but I no longer read Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series. I have no sympathy for a character who is in denial about his powers and responsibilities, and who continues to mired in his guilt. As for Donaldson's The Mirror of Her Dreams series, you have a similarly self-handicapped heroine. That one wasn't really depressing, it was plain BAD.

[kyrie]

i would have to say that depressing writers i had the pleasure of crossing paths would be ANNE RICE (all her books are usually either erotic, depressing or weird... sometimes all three categories exist in one book), SIDNEY SHELDON (I forgot the exact titles but, yeah, most of his works makes you go "y'd he/she have to die blah3x). if you were able to read the works of maningning miclat, you'd actually understand why she comitted suicide... not that you would be able to find justification there but that you would already know through those poems that she WAS depressed

[blitzerflitzer]

Jude the Obscure--Thomas Hardy
The Bell Jar--Sylvia Plath
The Savage God (A Study of Suicide)--A. Alvarez
now that's really depressing... i remember my heart was so heavy upon reading it. it was so depressing that for days, the words affected my mood, my attitudes and my outlook in life... it's not really a novel, but in a way, i like it way, i guess am a masochist.

[farfalla]

I agree with "The Bell Jar", i just can't imagine how someone could really go through life like that. There was this one novel by Danielle Steele, A Long Road Home, sobrang depressing talaga and i think it was where she killed one of the main characters, the priest....it was a good book, anyway.

:depressed:

[seth]

Erich Segal's THE CLASS is depressing...

[taltos]

i like reading depressing stuffs, especially when i, myself is depressed. i want to have a good cry and then after that i found myself able to face the world again.

my list of depressing novels:

1. kitchen esp. the novella moonlight shadow by banana yoshimoto
2. folding star by alan hollinghurst
3. sea of tranquility by paul russel (?)

[Idiosyncratic]

Magaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale....depressed the hell outta me!

[maxine]

i just read roddy doyle's THE WOMAN WHO WALKED INTO DOORS.
it's beautiful but it's such a painful story, i felt really sad after reading it . :(

[chez-o]

i just finished "a fine balance" by rohinton mistry. nadepress ako. the ending didn't go as i expected it. o well....

[TheFly]

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud. Beautifully written but by God, there's not one happy thought in this book. And, fate's cruel joke, I somehow have two copies of it.

[super_lili]

Originally posted by Angeli
some books of sidney sheldon are depressing.

Sydney Sheldon's "Rage of Angels" was so depressing that I walked around feeling glum all day after reading it. It's a good read, though.

[d0rky]

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. It's supposed to have a happy ending, but the depressing parts overpowered it.

And most, if not all, other Oprah Book Club selections, I've been told, have the same depressing/serious/sad (however you want to call it) mood.

[hard_guy00]

all stories by hans christian anderssen are depressing :grrr:

[carrotcake]

Thomas Hardy is the king of the depressive novel:

A Pair of Blue Eyes- not as good as his other novels, but the narrator is so bitter and disillusioned about love that you'd feel so down after reading it. No one is saved in this book.


Far From the Madding Crowd- yeah, it's a love story and it has a happy ending, but the road to the happy ending was so messy. Messy as in tragic, not messy as in badly written. Gabriel Oak seems to be the only truly noble character in this one.

Tess- yep, everyone who voted for this book's right. But it's not his best book.

Jude the Obscure- go read the book, the Kate Winslet movie is really the mild-perky version.

The Mayor of Casterbridge- Has more plot twists than a Filipino telenovela. This is Hardy at his most ruthless. One disaster follows another. I was surprised that he even redeemed 1 character!

I think Thomas Hardy's motto in writing is "when it rains, it pours." It's like he's so mad at everyone and just wants everyone to suffer. He's a sadist, I tell you! Probably why I like reading his books. :lol: :lol:

[chez-o]

Black and Blue by Anna Quilden
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton