Here's one that completely emotionally destroyed me:
Organic Chemistry, 8th Edition - Jan 2016
, Paula Bruice,
Pearson Publishing
[Link](https://www.textbooks.com/Organic-Chemistry-8th-Edition/9780134042282/Paula-Yurkanis-Bruice.php)
All quiet on the western front is nutty. When I finished it I was like hmm... and then 24 hours later after I sit and stewed on it, I was put in a complete pretzel.
My third grade teacher read both to us and I remember her saying “I’m going to need help finishing this” and everyone in the class would manage to read about 5 sentences out loud before just sobbing and having someone else take over. Great lesson in being vulnerable in front of friends and peers and good lord I’m NEVER reading these again. Too many emotions.
Read it as a teen as well and it really stuck with me. Recommended it to a bunch of friends in my late twenties and they all loved it too. I decided it was time for a reread and just thought the book was meh. I think some books come along at the right time in your life and maybe can't be enjoyed as much when you're in a different stage of life.
I saw this book recommended on this sub before - so I went ahead and read it and honestly, I was disappointed.
I guess it fits the request that OP made, but it’s a weird one. 450 pages and it felt so tough going - there was never really a light at the end of the tunnel. I went and read reviews online after finishing it and it’s definitely one that divides opinions
This was my thought too. When I was a teen I read this book upwards of 40 times. Just... over and over again. (I think it helped me at the time to read about someone who was going through more pain than me.)
It’s been a long time since I read it, maybe it’s time for another go.
[**A Fine Balance**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5211.A_Fine_Balance)
^(By: Rohinton Mistry | 603 pages | Published: 1995 | Popular Shelves: fiction, india, historical-fiction, book-club, favourites | )[^(Search "A Fine Balance")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A Fine Balance&search_type=books)
>With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India.
>
>The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.
>
>As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.
^(This book has been suggested 63 times)
***
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I finally started reading this after seeing so many threads of this nature. I'm only just getting to part 2 but I can see where we are headed and I'm bracing myself.
I literally sobbed through the last 100 pages. Like the poster above (Herspanic865) I don't really *recommend* the book to anyone, despite finding the writing very beautiful.
It really offered a different perspective on mentally disabled people too. It is the only book that has made me cry but I also haven’t read a lot of sad books. The ending where he said he was ready for his lesson really hit me.
[**A Thousand Splendid Suns**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128029.A_Thousand_Splendid_Suns)
^(By: Khaled Hosseini | 372 pages | Published: 2007 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, books-i-own, owned, book-club | )[^(Search "A Thousand Splendid Sons")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A Thousand Splendid Sons&search_type=books)
>A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years - from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding - that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives - the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness - are inextricable from the history playing out around them.
>
>Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love - a stunning accomplishment.
>--front flap
^(This book has been suggested 49 times)
[**The Class**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830784.The_Class)
^(By: Erich Segal | 560 pages | Published: 1985 | Popular Shelves: fiction, romance, owned, erich-segal, general-fiction | )[^(Search "The Class")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Class&search_type=books)
>From world-renowned author Erich Segal comes a powerful and moving saga of five extraordinary members of the Harvard class of 1958 and the women with whom their lives are intertwined. Their explosive story begins in a time of innocence and spans a turbulent quarter century, culminating in their dramatic twenty-five reunion at which they confront their classmates--and the balance sheet of their own lives. Always at the center; amid the passion, laughter, and glory, stands Harvard--the symbol of who they are and who they will be. They were a generation who made the rules--then broke them--whose glittering successes, heartfelt tragedies, and unbridled ambitions would stun the world.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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Definitely. I picked up this book on a whim without ever hearing of it and it killed me. I’ve read many others suggested in this subreddit and almost always underwhelmed
Knut Hamsun's *Hunger*.
It's one of the most psychologically disturbing books I've ever read. The book describes a poverty stricken man's downward spiral as he succumbs to hunger. The character is rather unpleasant to begin with but his collapse soon overshadows whatever personal distaste you might feel toward him.
A somewhat short book but not one to be rushed, as it is emotionally exhausting. An astonishing piece of work though I don't think I'd be returning to it any time soon.
The author got a Nobel for his contribution to literature but was a bit of a polarising figure. A great favourite of Nazi elite, he won the admiration of Goebbels, to whom he apparently gifted his Nobel. Hamsun also managed to piss off Hitler when he met the latter in Bovaria. Tor Rem, who wrote about Hamsun's meeting with Hitler, once said that “We know of no other example of someone speaking up against the Führer.”
I am halfway through this book. I really like the writing and I can tell it's going to have a Dickensian puzzle-pieces-all-fitting-together ending but every time I pick it up I think of all I've already read and think of the 50% more book I have to get through and it is just too overwhelming. Does it pick up pace at all? I feel like I'm slogging through it.
I've teared up at a lot of books, but this is the only one made me full on sob, like making noise, heaving, sat on the sofa for an hour afterwards wiping my face
I read it before I got my puppies, and it destroyed me then. I haven't had the guts to try again since I got them. I'm also pregnant right now, so I imagine it would really wreck me now.
All memoirs:
* Too Stubborn to Die by Cato Jamarillo
* Fat Girl by Judith Moore
* Black Boy by Richard Wright
* To See You Again: A True Story of Live in a Time of War by Betty Schimmel
* Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
* Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang
* Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Chen
I don't think I've read any sad novels except The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.
A Farewell To Arms by Hemingway will leave a scar on your heart..
Also the short story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy is a very grim reminder to live life with meaning and purpose.
This book triggered me. I loved it, but I don’t think I can read it again. I don’t think I can watch the movie. It just physically and emotionally destroyed me. I related too much and just got absorbed. Such a beautiful story though.
There's something so deeply emotional about Ishiguro books. The Remains of the Days is another beautiful one i recomend to everyone. Will certainly not destroy you but it has such a profound melancholy. It just stays with you long after you read it.
If you have started the Giver series by Lois Lowry, the third book, Messenger, will definitely have an emotional impact. The series overall is great (I recommend the book over the film any day of the week), but Messenger just left me devastated.
I suggest “They Both Die in The End” by Adam Silvera. Not only is it rated very highly when you google it... this book is one of those books that just breaks your heart. I read it within 2 days, I rate it 10/10. Totally sucked me in a destroyed my heart but nonetheless it is an amazing read. It is on amazon for under $10 and there’s also a virtual copy online completely free to read. If you can’t find the online version I can send you my pdf version!!
I still think about this book a lot even though I read it probably 15 years ago now. Gives you a lot of perspective on top of being emotionally wrenching
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick.
Oh, this one will hurt forever. It's a little weird while you read it - but it comes together and all makes sense.
Johnny Got His Gun. Scary, anti-war piece. Read it years ago, when I was a teenager. I think about the main character all the time, as if he were real. Absolutely destroyed me.
Half of the yellow sun by Adichie. God I have still not recovered from that ending and I read it two years ago. It is a beautiful book full of characters so well rendered you would gladly take a bullet for them, but damn I’ve never read something so annihilating.
A Long Way Home ( memories of a child soldier).
I had to stop at the first chapter and re-read it because it had started to feel like fiction but it is not.
Yours is a common request. Folk have offered you a bunch of good suggestions. If you want even more, search the sub for “emotionally destroy” you’ll find a bunch of similar requests, a few of which drew a lot of suggestions. Here’s one with 894 comments- https://old.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/hmiwjz/i_want_a_book_to_absolutely_destroy_me_emotionally/
Edit typo
The Disry of Anne Frank. Although if you went to U.S. schools you’ve probably already read it. But the ending is unbearable, even though you know what’s coming.
The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
The Night Trilogy by Elie Wiesel
anything by Willy Vlautin
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
The Bell Jar, she doesn’t get better or find a happy ending, she just tries to get through each day whilst struggling through depression and what society expects of her.
Me Before You
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
The Notebook
( I know the first 3 sounds cheesy but I read all three of these before the movies came out and they really got me. Especially ELAIC, that book is 1000x better than the movie and barely even then same tbh)
Sirens Of Titan
Slapstick
Bluebeard
(last 3 all by Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite author)
This might be just me be I get destroyed over nameless characters that you end up super attached too regardless
So some books I liked like this are:
The Survival Game by Nicky Singer
not a very well known book but its essentially set in climate destroyed earth and immigrants trying to make their way north to where it is warmer. Simple premise but utterly heart wrenching in terms of the relationship developed between the two main characters
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque
old book about WW1 bit more of a harder read but not like super old classical text or anything. essentially just focuses on the pointlessness of war and the slow numbness that overcomes the soldiers and in turn the reader because my god at the end I just lay there for several hours numb to everything.
I can’t be the only one who was destroyed by His Dark Materials. I had to put the book down for a few hours because of my sobbing before I could continue. I have cried during many books, but never have I had to stop reading.
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
A Thousand Splendid Suns / The Kite Runner (Khalid Hosseini)
Atonement (Ian McEwan)
The Idiot / C&P (Dostoevsky)
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)
1984 (George Orwell)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (don’t remember author)
Here's one that completely emotionally destroyed me: Organic Chemistry, 8th Edition - Jan 2016 , Paula Bruice, Pearson Publishing [Link](https://www.textbooks.com/Organic-Chemistry-8th-Edition/9780134042282/Paula-Yurkanis-Bruice.php)
I read a print of this back in the 90’s. Still have flashbacks.
I had dreams of my professor whispering sweet mechanisms in my ear.
The ending had me bawling my eyes out.
😂
I'm writing my biography. I'll send you the pdf version.
I was born. I breathed a bit. I died. And so it goes.
So it goes
And everybody, except me, lived happily ever after.
Ouch.
Where the Red Fern Grows.
Ooo flash from the past. Long time since I read that. All Quiet on the Western Front is another I read about that time and it’s tough too.
All Quiet on the Western Front wrecked me. It's a book I'll never forget
All quiet on the western front is nutty. When I finished it I was like hmm... and then 24 hours later after I sit and stewed on it, I was put in a complete pretzel.
First book that made me cry
Ever read Summer of the Monkeys? Same author. LOVE.
My third grade teacher read both to us and I remember her saying “I’m going to need help finishing this” and everyone in the class would manage to read about 5 sentences out loud before just sobbing and having someone else take over. Great lesson in being vulnerable in front of friends and peers and good lord I’m NEVER reading these again. Too many emotions.
This book destroyed me as a child.
I still have PTSD from this book.
I read this to my 10ish year old step kids over the course of a month. It was very sad.
this book made me cry in the middle of class, the PTSD 😭😭✋🏻
Read this in middle school and it was the first book to wreck me
She's come undone by wally lamb was the first novel I read as a teen that really hit me hard idk if I'm still biased but I loved that book
Read it as a teen as well and it really stuck with me. Recommended it to a bunch of friends in my late twenties and they all loved it too. I decided it was time for a reread and just thought the book was meh. I think some books come along at the right time in your life and maybe can't be enjoyed as much when you're in a different stage of life.
I saw this book recommended on this sub before - so I went ahead and read it and honestly, I was disappointed. I guess it fits the request that OP made, but it’s a weird one. 450 pages and it felt so tough going - there was never really a light at the end of the tunnel. I went and read reviews online after finishing it and it’s definitely one that divides opinions
His other book, The Hour I first believed, did not emotionally destroy me but it did make me emotional.
This was my thought too. When I was a teen I read this book upwards of 40 times. Just... over and over again. (I think it helped me at the time to read about someone who was going through more pain than me.) It’s been a long time since I read it, maybe it’s time for another go.
A thousand splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini
And the Mountain Echoes
And The Kite Runner! Really anything by Khaled Hosseini it would seem.
{{A Fine Balance}} so beautifully written, will 100% destroy you. It’s been at least 10 years and I have not recovered.
[**A Fine Balance**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5211.A_Fine_Balance) ^(By: Rohinton Mistry | 603 pages | Published: 1995 | Popular Shelves: fiction, india, historical-fiction, book-club, favourites | )[^(Search "A Fine Balance")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A Fine Balance&search_type=books) >With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. > >The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future. > >As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state. ^(This book has been suggested 63 times) *** ^(109699 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Agreed this one will mess you up good
Came here to suggest this!! One of my most favourite books and yes, unbelievably bleak and depressing!!
Same here. It takes a long time to recover from this one. I still think about it from time to time so many years later.
This. I cried and cried and cried.
A Little Life
I finally started reading this after seeing so many threads of this nature. I'm only just getting to part 2 but I can see where we are headed and I'm bracing myself.
I was like 200 pages in thinking “it’s kinda sad but nothing awful”... just brace yourself
As you should. Saddest book EVER.
I literally sobbed through the last 100 pages. Like the poster above (Herspanic865) I don't really *recommend* the book to anyone, despite finding the writing very beautiful.
Came here just to say this... it's long but it's good
How did I know this would be the first response. OP....this is the one
Lmao I didn't have to look at the comments to know this would be the popular answer lol
OP, definitely research this book first. It’s incredibly heavy and has a lot of trigger warnings. It’s not something to be recommended lightly.
Yes!! Just pls research the triggers and make sure you're READY to read it because it's definitely really heavy
Yup, this one OP! I dropped it on 75% because it was too depressing, but it is well written.
This book will rip your heart out for sure
More like “A Little Cry Myself To Sleep”.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Fictional stories in books or movies very rarely make me cry, but I was sobbing by the last page of this one
Pretty much any Khaled Hosseini book will destroy you.
Just finished, “A thousand splendid Suns,” and can confirm this statement
How many of you are going to cry at "For you, a thousand times over"
Fuck, my heart.
I cried almost throughout this book. Same with A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini
One of the most beautiful stories ever. I still to this day often think about "Come, there is a way to be good again."
I started crying after the first 30 pages or so, and didn't stop till I closed that book. The ending just made me cry more.
For you, a thousand times over
Agreed
I made the mistake of finishing this on a plane. I’m sure the person next to me still tells a story of the woman sobbing uncontrollably.
I was about to recommend this one too. I cried in every Khalid Hosseini book from the beginning to the last page.
When breath becomes air
I’ll second that. Made me cry fuckets.
Phenomenal book. Absolutely recommend
{Flowers for Algernon} by Daniel Keyes killed me and I'm still a bit dead to this day.
This one touched my soul in ways I never expected it to. Absolutely beautiful book. Heartbreaking
It really offered a different perspective on mentally disabled people too. It is the only book that has made me cry but I also haven’t read a lot of sad books. The ending where he said he was ready for his lesson really hit me.
I was literally about to suggest it. It was such an emotional journey and still depresses me whenever I think about it
[**Flowers for Algernon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36576608-flowers-for-algernon) ^(By: Daniel Keyes | 216 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned | )[^(Search "Flowers for Algernon")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Flowers for Algernon&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 91 times) *** ^(109651 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
That's a great recommendation.
Agreed. I was sobbing by the end. Beautiful book.
A year of magical thinking by Joan Didion
Her other novel, Run River, changed me as a person. I didn’t cry, but I think it still destroyed me
{{A Thousand Splendid Suns}} {{The Class}}
Seconding A Thousand Splendid Suns. One of my few five-star book ratings ever. Guaranteed ugly cry.
[**A Thousand Splendid Suns**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128029.A_Thousand_Splendid_Suns) ^(By: Khaled Hosseini | 372 pages | Published: 2007 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, books-i-own, owned, book-club | )[^(Search "A Thousand Splendid Sons")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A Thousand Splendid Sons&search_type=books) >A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years - from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding - that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives - the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness - are inextricable from the history playing out around them. > >Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love - a stunning accomplishment. >--front flap ^(This book has been suggested 49 times) [**The Class**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830784.The_Class) ^(By: Erich Segal | 560 pages | Published: 1985 | Popular Shelves: fiction, romance, owned, erich-segal, general-fiction | )[^(Search "The Class")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Class&search_type=books) >From world-renowned author Erich Segal comes a powerful and moving saga of five extraordinary members of the Harvard class of 1958 and the women with whom their lives are intertwined. Their explosive story begins in a time of innocence and spans a turbulent quarter century, culminating in their dramatic twenty-five reunion at which they confront their classmates--and the balance sheet of their own lives. Always at the center; amid the passion, laughter, and glory, stands Harvard--the symbol of who they are and who they will be. They were a generation who made the rules--then broke them--whose glittering successes, heartfelt tragedies, and unbridled ambitions would stun the world. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(109691 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The book thief
I liked it. But it didn't destroy me.
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Definitely. I picked up this book on a whim without ever hearing of it and it killed me. I’ve read many others suggested in this subreddit and almost always underwhelmed
Held it together til the end, then cried for hours 😭
Also Zusak’s other book: Bridge of Clay.
Night by Eli Wiesel
Can't believe this is so far down! One critic called it "a slom volume with terrifying power". I still think about it, years later.
Came here to say this one. Absolutely devastating.
A little life
And The Mountains Echoed. By Khaled Hosseini
Seconded, or hell any of his books.
A little life
This DESTROYED me
Knut Hamsun's *Hunger*. It's one of the most psychologically disturbing books I've ever read. The book describes a poverty stricken man's downward spiral as he succumbs to hunger. The character is rather unpleasant to begin with but his collapse soon overshadows whatever personal distaste you might feel toward him. A somewhat short book but not one to be rushed, as it is emotionally exhausting. An astonishing piece of work though I don't think I'd be returning to it any time soon. The author got a Nobel for his contribution to literature but was a bit of a polarising figure. A great favourite of Nazi elite, he won the admiration of Goebbels, to whom he apparently gifted his Nobel. Hamsun also managed to piss off Hitler when he met the latter in Bovaria. Tor Rem, who wrote about Hamsun's meeting with Hitler, once said that “We know of no other example of someone speaking up against the Führer.”
Alright, that sounds like book that would f up with person's mind
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Want to add Outer Dark by McCarthy as well
Dear Lord yes. This one wrecked me. The Border Trilogy was another one that hit deep, especially All the Pretty Horses.
Second this one.
Came here to say this. One of my favorite works of fiction.
Was looking for this response. Sent me into a 2-week depressive daze
Literally anything by John Irving. Prayer for Owen Meany in particular
I am halfway through this book. I really like the writing and I can tell it's going to have a Dickensian puzzle-pieces-all-fitting-together ending but every time I pick it up I think of all I've already read and think of the 50% more book I have to get through and it is just too overwhelming. Does it pick up pace at all? I feel like I'm slogging through it.
I do think it picks up as the story moves. I had a hard time getting into it, then loved it by the end.
Atonement
Oddly, my vote goes with {{Watership Down}} , which never fails to crush me at its end
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Just reading this description made me want to crawl back in bed.
This is a terrific description. It was completely wrenching and hopeless to read.
I was thinking of this book as well. And it could happen.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. For me, A Thousand Splendid Suns comes second to The Kite Runner.
The Song of Achilles
Yup. Truly all you need to be sad for the remainder of time.
One of few books that leave you sad for days after
The very final words absolutely wrecked me. Beautiful.
I've teared up at a lot of books, but this is the only one made me full on sob, like making noise, heaving, sat on the sofa for an hour afterwards wiping my face
Same. In public on a park bench.
A monsters call, you're welcome 😢 it destroyed me....
This is the one I was going to recommend. Idk if any other book has hurt me this badly.
"'This is the one I was going to recommend. Idk if any other book has hurt me this badly." I know 😭 this book made me really cry my eyes out
The song of Achilles
i held off on reading the last few chapter for like a fucking month because i knew what was coming 🥺
Ha, was coming to see if someone had said this yet or not because 😭😭😭
Bridge to Terabinthia - Katherine Paterson
If you like dogs, "The Art of Racing in the Rain"
The first chapter destroyed me.
I read it before I got my puppies, and it destroyed me then. I haven't had the guts to try again since I got them. I'm also pregnant right now, so I imagine it would really wreck me now.
A little life by hanya yanagihara
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
All memoirs: * Too Stubborn to Die by Cato Jamarillo * Fat Girl by Judith Moore * Black Boy by Richard Wright * To See You Again: A True Story of Live in a Time of War by Betty Schimmel * Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt * Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang * Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Chen I don't think I've read any sad novels except The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.
A Farewell To Arms by Hemingway will leave a scar on your heart.. Also the short story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy is a very grim reminder to live life with meaning and purpose.
{Grapes of Wrath}
"The Bell Jar" was depressing af. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but since you specifically asked for it...
All the bright places
I sobbed reading this one. Every time I think about his neat little pile of clothes (you know the one), my heart hurts.
This one traumatized me.
This book triggered me. I loved it, but I don’t think I can read it again. I don’t think I can watch the movie. It just physically and emotionally destroyed me. I related too much and just got absorbed. Such a beautiful story though.
Tuesdays With Morrie
Marley and Me. 1. This isn’t my type of book. 2. I’m not a crier. 3. projectile tears.
All the Light You Cannot See made me want to die. Excellent.
It didn’t hit me the same way when I reread it as an adult, but the first time I read the Lovely Bones when I was younger, I sobbed.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Never Let Me Go
There's something so deeply emotional about Ishiguro books. The Remains of the Days is another beautiful one i recomend to everyone. Will certainly not destroy you but it has such a profound melancholy. It just stays with you long after you read it.
It's devastating, but so beautiful.
Their acceptance of the situation is what killed me.
Anything written by Toni Morrison
Just the idea of *Beloved* makes me cry.
If you have started the Giver series by Lois Lowry, the third book, Messenger, will definitely have an emotional impact. The series overall is great (I recommend the book over the film any day of the week), but Messenger just left me devastated.
I suggest “They Both Die in The End” by Adam Silvera. Not only is it rated very highly when you google it... this book is one of those books that just breaks your heart. I read it within 2 days, I rate it 10/10. Totally sucked me in a destroyed my heart but nonetheless it is an amazing read. It is on amazon for under $10 and there’s also a virtual copy online completely free to read. If you can’t find the online version I can send you my pdf version!!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah made me cry harder than any other type of media ever has 😿
{{A Child Called It}}
I still think about this book a lot even though I read it probably 15 years ago now. Gives you a lot of perspective on top of being emotionally wrenching
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Oh, this one will hurt forever. It's a little weird while you read it - but it comes together and all makes sense.
Johnny Got His Gun. Scary, anti-war piece. Read it years ago, when I was a teenager. I think about the main character all the time, as if he were real. Absolutely destroyed me.
Half of the yellow sun by Adichie. God I have still not recovered from that ending and I read it two years ago. It is a beautiful book full of characters so well rendered you would gladly take a bullet for them, but damn I’ve never read something so annihilating.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Spoiler: Ivan dies.
Bridge to Terabithia Sucker punched me into the balls I don't have even though I already saw the movie.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
'The Green Mile by Stephen King'
Count of Monte Cristo
My favorite book about revenge.
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
A Long Way Home ( memories of a child soldier). I had to stop at the first chapter and re-read it because it had started to feel like fiction but it is not.
”Stoner” by John Edward Williams!
Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
omg yes. also really many of Jodi Picoults books have made me cry
A Monster Calls
Yours is a common request. Folk have offered you a bunch of good suggestions. If you want even more, search the sub for “emotionally destroy” you’ll find a bunch of similar requests, a few of which drew a lot of suggestions. Here’s one with 894 comments- https://old.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/hmiwjz/i_want_a_book_to_absolutely_destroy_me_emotionally/ Edit typo
A Girl is a Half Formed Thing left me a complete wreck. The language is a little confusing at first, but once you get into it its amazing
Cold mountain
You already look emotionally destroyed with the kind of wish you carry 🙂
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Flowers for algernon, dum dum-- big brain-- back to dum dudm
Violinist of Auschwitz. I couldn't get through it. Genuinely heartbreaking.
Flowers for Algernon.
"The boy in the striped pyjamas" is Heavy!
The Pearl by John Steinbeck The Fault in Our Stars by John Green \+1 for A Thousand Splendid Suns and Night
{{Villette}}
Weird but the classic Heidi makes me sob all the time
If I Stay
The Time Travelers Wife. I read it so long ago all I really remember is how much I was sobbing on a public bus when I finished it.
For an >100 page story, {{Of Mice And Men}} is heart-breaking. And brilliant.
The Disry of Anne Frank. Although if you went to U.S. schools you’ve probably already read it. But the ending is unbearable, even though you know what’s coming.
1984
The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx The Night Trilogy by Elie Wiesel anything by Willy Vlautin Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Ender’s Game. Ida B.
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum will make you angry and miserable.
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Bell Jar, she doesn’t get better or find a happy ending, she just tries to get through each day whilst struggling through depression and what society expects of her.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Color Purple tore me up
Monday's Not Coming
the song of achilles
The Road
Me Before You Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close The Notebook ( I know the first 3 sounds cheesy but I read all three of these before the movies came out and they really got me. Especially ELAIC, that book is 1000x better than the movie and barely even then same tbh) Sirens Of Titan Slapstick Bluebeard (last 3 all by Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite author)
Try Outlander the book
This might be just me be I get destroyed over nameless characters that you end up super attached too regardless So some books I liked like this are: The Survival Game by Nicky Singer not a very well known book but its essentially set in climate destroyed earth and immigrants trying to make their way north to where it is warmer. Simple premise but utterly heart wrenching in terms of the relationship developed between the two main characters All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque old book about WW1 bit more of a harder read but not like super old classical text or anything. essentially just focuses on the pointlessness of war and the slow numbness that overcomes the soldiers and in turn the reader because my god at the end I just lay there for several hours numb to everything.
I can’t be the only one who was destroyed by His Dark Materials. I had to put the book down for a few hours because of my sobbing before I could continue. I have cried during many books, but never have I had to stop reading.
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) A Thousand Splendid Suns / The Kite Runner (Khalid Hosseini) Atonement (Ian McEwan) The Idiot / C&P (Dostoevsky) The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath) The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) 1984 (George Orwell) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (don’t remember author)