I've just read "The boy in striped pyjamas" and it has left me feeling horrible and very shitty.But what is the most depressing book you have ever read?

PS I love you and A child name 'it'
Both were extremely sad and left me in tears.

I guess it would be the Series of Unfortunate Events series, though they're not exactly sad and are quite witty.
Btw, don't mean to troll, but most saddest is bad grammar.

This is the most saddest thread I have ever seen

The Little Prince...

it actually made me cry

It also concerns you (Norwegian title: Det angår også deg) by Arnold Jacoby.
A book about the real-life experience of the Norwegian jew Herman Sachnowitz under the holocaust in world war 2.

I dunno but galaxy in flames almost made me cry. (part of the Horus Heresy)

Don't really read books I'd consider sad.

I guess I'll go with Brave New World.

The Little Leaf. Either that, or Oscar Wilde's Stories for Children which was both sad and MESSED UP, man.

'Damaged' by Cathy Glass.

It's one of about 300 sob-stories about abused kids. And when I read about all the terrible things that had happened to this kid I think she would have been happier dead. Because she was so... horribly, horribly broken by her abusers with no hope of recovering...

I swear, this book should have been called: 'Broken Beyond Any Repair'...

The saddest thing i have read in a book was the introduction to Carrie when Mr King is explaining where his ideas came from

Two words: Fuck "Cujo".

Anyone who doesn't know that Dumbledore dies by now probably doesn't care. Spoiler tags really aren't necessary.

I thinks its called "The Richest Man In Town" and its a true story and its very sad

I read 'The Road' by McCarthy also. However, I thought the end was horrible, not sad, and didn't match the rest of the book at all. The kicker is that Cormac McCarthy knows it. You can watch an interview of him saying how being a new father changed his perspective.
Otherwise, it has been over a decade since I read it, but 'The Giver' still is pretty depressing for me.

Neosage:
I dunno but galaxy in flames almost made me cry. (part of the Horus Heresy)

If you're referring to:

Supernovajake:

Neosage:
I dunno but galaxy in flames almost made me cry. (part of the Horus Heresy)

If you're referring to:

Spoiler: Click to View

then I definately agree.

He gets killed in Galaxy of flames? (that is the 3rd one by the way)

No I actually meant the whole betrayal thing the whole set-up and everything I was just like "YOU BLOODY CHAOS BASTARDS!!!"

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing, they made us read it in school, only about a hundred pages long but still so depressing it was a real pain to get through. And from what I've heard it's not her most depressing novel either. Coincidentally, a week or so after I finished reading it she won the Nobel Prize ^^

By far, it is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I read it two years ago, and the ending honestly broke me emotionally for a few days, where I was unable to really be happy. One of the best books I have ever read.

Either book 1 of Cirque Du Freak or Book 12 of Cirque Du Freak. I don't read that many sad stories.

Probably most recently "Marley & Me"...true story about a man, his family, and a golden lab (soon to be a movie)

When I was younger, some of the classics: I heard the Owl call my name, Old Yeller, maybe All Quiet on the Western Front.

xitel:
Umm... let's see. I found the end of the Amber Spyglass to be particularly sad. I actually teared up a bit. Also, Teacher Man was pretty sad, along with Kite Runner.

Amber Spyglass is definetly one of my faviorite books i've ever read, and yes the ending left me depressed for days after.

Seriously though, i recomend it to everyone. I know they recently made a film of the first one, don't watch it, read it :)

"The Traveller" by John Twelve Hawks poor, poor Maya not sadness so much as pity and I still think 'Damned by the flesh; Saved by the blood' is one of the best quotes I known and perfectly describe the Harloquins (whose motto it is) and the story itself. The quote means that the Harloquins are damned by their actions but redeemed by their sacrafice (most of them end up giving their lives to save travellers)

I found Ptomoly's Gate a pretty sad read mainly because I liked the characters from the bartimaeus trilogy and most of them get a good doing over in that book.

Age of Misrule series, The dark Age series and Kingdom of Serpants series by Mark Chadbourne ( i think thats what the latest one is called)-so much death, betrayal and sadness.

I realise that there are books that are more depressing I have read sadder books but these are the ones that sprang to mind

Crash by JG Ballard is pretty depressing once you realize where the chaotic motivation is actually coming from.

Night by Elie Wiesel is the story of the author's experience as a Holocaust victim. In it, he deals with not only the oppression that he suffers, but also his urges to stop trying to protect his old father, in order to better ensure his own survival. It really gives an insight into how desperation can twist the minds of good people and make them do horrible things.

"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is very depressing, but it's more miserable than sad. Not that it's a bad book; it's just that you're used to Tess getting screwed over by the end, so I didn't find it much of a tear-jerker.

I agree with those who said "The Amber Spyglass". I certainly shed a tear for Lyra and Will.

"Anna Karenina" probably gets my vote though. The bit when:

is the saddest thing I've ever read, and a wonderfully evocative bit of writing.

Baby Tea:
*sigh* The Giving Tree.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction.

I remember reading that when I was a kid. It still jerks a tear or two out of me if I see the book lying around. And the illustrations...

Flowers for Algernon is also terribly sad, especially once you find out about halfway into the book that all was for naught.

crimsondynamics:
Flowers for Algernon is also terribly sad, especially once you find out about halfway into the book that all was for naught.

Agreed.

I find Jack London's most famous pieces (Call of the Wild and White Fang) particularly sad towards the end, for their respective reasons. Also, a few parts in Lois Lowry's The Giver made me tear up. Ditto for Les Miserables (Victor Hugo).

David Clement-Davies' The Sight has a lot of tearjerking moments in it, so I'm going with it or Les Mis for the saddest book I've read.

A Game of Thrones.
And Watchmen. I nearly cried when the best character met an explodey end.