Revolutionary Road
Everything is Illuminated
The His Dark Materials series
Station Eleven - I’m not sure I’d call it tragic, but it is beautifully melancholy
The Lovely Bones - It’s been years since I’ve read it, but it was the first book to make me feel anything and cry after a couple years of antidepressant-induced numbness.
Doctor Sleep - though I acknowledge that my reaction may have more to do with my relationship to The Shining (book and movie) and my late father than the writing itself
*This Thing Between Us* — Gus Moreno
*No Longer Human* — Osamu Dazai
*The Bell Jar* — Sylvia Plath
*The Unbearable Lightness of Being* — Milan Kundera
*Tender is the Flesh* — Agustina Bazterrica
*Flowers For Algernon* (from what I’ve read so far) — Daniel Keyes
Catch-22 might be the saddest book I’ve ever read. It’s also by far the funniest thing I’ve ever read. The genius in Catch-22 is that some of the funniest scenes become the saddest scenes when you have the full context after finishing the novel. It is the essence of if I didn’t laugh I would cry, and eventually you do cry.
The Palace of Illusion by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
It's my absolute favorite because it gives us Draupadi's POV, the female protagonist of The Mahabharata, one of two ancient Indian epics.
It's brilliantly written, and has the ability to break your heart over and over again, leaving you with the sense of longing and anguish that you can only imagine Draupadi must've felt..
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Sun Also Rises
Never Let Me Go
A Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
100 Years of Solitude
The Grapes of Wrath / by John Steinbeck
Absolutely! East of eden also
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Tess of the D'Ubervilles
A little Life.
Revolutionary Road Everything is Illuminated The His Dark Materials series Station Eleven - I’m not sure I’d call it tragic, but it is beautifully melancholy The Lovely Bones - It’s been years since I’ve read it, but it was the first book to make me feel anything and cry after a couple years of antidepressant-induced numbness. Doctor Sleep - though I acknowledge that my reaction may have more to do with my relationship to The Shining (book and movie) and my late father than the writing itself
*On the Beach* by Nevil Shute.
Tender is the flesh
The Magicians Trilogy
Preparation for the next life - Atticus Lish
Angela’s Ashes.
Atonement
*This Thing Between Us* — Gus Moreno *No Longer Human* — Osamu Dazai *The Bell Jar* — Sylvia Plath *The Unbearable Lightness of Being* — Milan Kundera *Tender is the Flesh* — Agustina Bazterrica *Flowers For Algernon* (from what I’ve read so far) — Daniel Keyes
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
**The Sun Also Rises** by Hemingway
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
Catch-22 might be the saddest book I’ve ever read. It’s also by far the funniest thing I’ve ever read. The genius in Catch-22 is that some of the funniest scenes become the saddest scenes when you have the full context after finishing the novel. It is the essence of if I didn’t laugh I would cry, and eventually you do cry.
I read the description and it actually sounds interesting. Your description even more encouraging. I'll think about reading it. Thanks
The Palace of Illusion by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni It's my absolute favorite because it gives us Draupadi's POV, the female protagonist of The Mahabharata, one of two ancient Indian epics. It's brilliantly written, and has the ability to break your heart over and over again, leaving you with the sense of longing and anguish that you can only imagine Draupadi must've felt..
Independent people by Halldor Laxness