can someone recommend a heart wrenching, extreme highs, and lows. a book that ends in suicide or tragedy
one where the mc struggles deeply with their mental health, and the book does not have a happy ending. extra points if there are multiple love interests. i feel reading a book like this would be deeply therapeutic to me.
I hate how often this is recommended here but… A Little Life
DimensionAvailable76 on
Stark by Ben Elton, it’s a comedy but the story is very wild and reflects real world issues, the ending is pretty intense and poetic.
desecouffes on
Natsume Soseki’s classic *Kokoro*
Mountain-Mix-8413 on
A Fine Balance is the answer here.
Affectionate_Kitty91 on
When All is Said, by Anne Griffin.
Kinda ruins the end to post it here, but there’s that.
Consistent-Ease-6656 on
It’s nonfiction. It doesn’t end in suicide, but there’s plenty of tragedy all around.
My War Gone By, I Miss it So by Anthony Lloyd
It’s a roller coaster of the best and worst of humanity, and he became a heroin addict trying to cope with all he had seen as a journalist during the Balkan Wars. I made the mistake of taking this book on vacation, stayed up all night reading, and drove for hours the next day totally shellshocked by what I had read.
MarcRocket on
On the Beach. Super famous book in the 60’s. They made a movie out of it staring Gregory Peck.
Oduind on
_I’m Thinking of Ending Things_
VVindrunner on
Take a look at Tigana. It’s the first Tragedy that I’ve read where at the end, inspire of the deep sadness, I appreciated how it could nonetheless be beautiful.
basicparadox on
Anna Karenina
TryingToStayOutOfIt on
I read death of a salesman for the first time recently. Fucking amazing. Short, heart wrenching read
Specialist-Age1097 on
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearn by Brian Moore
PuppyJakeKhakiCollar on
But Inside I’m Screaming by Elizabeth Flock. The main character does not commit suicide but another prominent character does. It is set in a psychiatric ward and does get intense with many highs and lows among the characters.
Halfway House by Katharine Noel. Again no suicide from main characters, but it has a lot of the other things you are looking for. It is about a family whose daughter is diagnosed as bipolar in her teens.
Final-Elderberry9162 on
Jude the Obscure.
You are warned though.
hazelsox on
Just finished The Sorrows of Young Werther! Goethe knows his existential extremes! Very readable, honestly. Gets ya.
fireflypoet on
Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary
penprickle on
If you like science fiction, The Sparrow by Mary Doris Russell. It is gorgeously written, wildly original, and will gut you thoroughly.
ichacalaca on
For whom the bell tolls. Old man and the sea
gigglemode on
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. Novel about the AIDS crisis
21 Comments
sorry for typos kinda manic
Strange Sally Diamond
I hate how often this is recommended here but… A Little Life
Stark by Ben Elton, it’s a comedy but the story is very wild and reflects real world issues, the ending is pretty intense and poetic.
Natsume Soseki’s classic *Kokoro*
A Fine Balance is the answer here.
When All is Said, by Anne Griffin.
Kinda ruins the end to post it here, but there’s that.
It’s nonfiction. It doesn’t end in suicide, but there’s plenty of tragedy all around.
My War Gone By, I Miss it So by Anthony Lloyd
It’s a roller coaster of the best and worst of humanity, and he became a heroin addict trying to cope with all he had seen as a journalist during the Balkan Wars. I made the mistake of taking this book on vacation, stayed up all night reading, and drove for hours the next day totally shellshocked by what I had read.
On the Beach. Super famous book in the 60’s. They made a movie out of it staring Gregory Peck.
_I’m Thinking of Ending Things_
Take a look at Tigana. It’s the first Tragedy that I’ve read where at the end, inspire of the deep sadness, I appreciated how it could nonetheless be beautiful.
Anna Karenina
I read death of a salesman for the first time recently. Fucking amazing. Short, heart wrenching read
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearn by Brian Moore
But Inside I’m Screaming by Elizabeth Flock. The main character does not commit suicide but another prominent character does. It is set in a psychiatric ward and does get intense with many highs and lows among the characters.
Halfway House by Katharine Noel. Again no suicide from main characters, but it has a lot of the other things you are looking for. It is about a family whose daughter is diagnosed as bipolar in her teens.
Jude the Obscure.
You are warned though.
Just finished The Sorrows of Young Werther! Goethe knows his existential extremes! Very readable, honestly. Gets ya.
Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary
If you like science fiction, The Sparrow by Mary Doris Russell. It is gorgeously written, wildly original, and will gut you thoroughly.
For whom the bell tolls. Old man and the sea
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. Novel about the AIDS crisis