It doesn’t have a depressing end but The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner is really sad.
Mr_Kuchikopi on
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy, the ending isn’t happy or sad kinda just realistic.
Hot-Back5725 on
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Programed-Response on
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky
>Benjamin, Alepho, and Benson were raised among the Dinka tribe of Sudan. Their world was an insulated, close-knit community of grass-roofed cottages, cattle herders, and tribal councils. The lions and pythons that prowled beyond the village fences were the greatest threat they knew. All that changed the night the government-armed Murahiliin began attacking their villages.
>Amid the chaos, screams, conflagration, and gunfire, 5-year-old Benson and 7-year-old Benjamin fled into the dark night. Two years later, Alepho, age 7, was forced to do the same. Across the Southern Sudan, over the next 5 years, thousands of other boys did likewise, joining this stream of child refugees that became known as the Lost Boys. Their journey would take them more than 1000 miles across a war-ravaged country, through landmine-sown paths, crocodile-infested waters, and grotesque extremes of hunger, thirst, and disease. The refugee camps they eventually filtered through offered little respite from the brutality they were fleeing.
>In They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, Alepho, Benson, and Benjamin, by turn, recount their experiences along this unthinkable journey. They vividly recall the family, friends, and tribal world they left far behind them and their desperate efforts to keep track of one another. This is a captivating memoir of Sudan and a powerful portrait of war as seen through the eyes of children. And it is, in the end, an inspiring and unforgettable tribute to the tenacity of even the youngest human spirits.
we_gon_ride on
The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne. I ugly cried
Waterproofbooks on
The nightingale by Kristin Hannah
fucknoabsolutelynot on
Giovannis room
MFHRaptor on
If you want classics:
● Anna Karenina by Tolstoy.
● The Hunchback of Notredam by Victor Hugo.
If you’re looking for something contemporary:
● The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar.
(Its follow up ‘The Secrets Between Us’ is even better, but in a good way, as it’s not as sad)
skybluepink77 on
The most bleak, depressing, disturbing and desperate stories I have ever read are by Anna Kavan; they go way beyond ‘sad’ to dark and hopeless. If this is what you want, try any of her collections but I like the one called The Bright Green Field [which is also the title story and grim.]
If you like the occasional gleam of hope amongst the despair [usually snuffed out with glee by the author] then try almost anything by Annie Proulx, particularly Wyoming Stories and Postcards.
If what you want is an actual novel and I’ve misunderstood the request for ‘stories’, then Proulx’s dark [but sometimes funny] Accordion Crimes might suit. ‘Happy’ reading!
9 Comments
It doesn’t have a depressing end but The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner is really sad.
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy, the ending isn’t happy or sad kinda just realistic.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky
>Benjamin, Alepho, and Benson were raised among the Dinka tribe of Sudan. Their world was an insulated, close-knit community of grass-roofed cottages, cattle herders, and tribal councils. The lions and pythons that prowled beyond the village fences were the greatest threat they knew. All that changed the night the government-armed Murahiliin began attacking their villages.
>Amid the chaos, screams, conflagration, and gunfire, 5-year-old Benson and 7-year-old Benjamin fled into the dark night. Two years later, Alepho, age 7, was forced to do the same. Across the Southern Sudan, over the next 5 years, thousands of other boys did likewise, joining this stream of child refugees that became known as the Lost Boys. Their journey would take them more than 1000 miles across a war-ravaged country, through landmine-sown paths, crocodile-infested waters, and grotesque extremes of hunger, thirst, and disease. The refugee camps they eventually filtered through offered little respite from the brutality they were fleeing.
>In They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, Alepho, Benson, and Benjamin, by turn, recount their experiences along this unthinkable journey. They vividly recall the family, friends, and tribal world they left far behind them and their desperate efforts to keep track of one another. This is a captivating memoir of Sudan and a powerful portrait of war as seen through the eyes of children. And it is, in the end, an inspiring and unforgettable tribute to the tenacity of even the youngest human spirits.
The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne. I ugly cried
The nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Giovannis room
If you want classics:
● Anna Karenina by Tolstoy.
● The Hunchback of Notredam by Victor Hugo.
If you’re looking for something contemporary:
● The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar.
(Its follow up ‘The Secrets Between Us’ is even better, but in a good way, as it’s not as sad)
The most bleak, depressing, disturbing and desperate stories I have ever read are by Anna Kavan; they go way beyond ‘sad’ to dark and hopeless. If this is what you want, try any of her collections but I like the one called The Bright Green Field [which is also the title story and grim.]
If you like the occasional gleam of hope amongst the despair [usually snuffed out with glee by the author] then try almost anything by Annie Proulx, particularly Wyoming Stories and Postcards.
If what you want is an actual novel and I’ve misunderstood the request for ‘stories’, then Proulx’s dark [but sometimes funny] Accordion Crimes might suit. ‘Happy’ reading!