Books on the Nightstand discussion
"Emotionally devastating" novels?
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SarahK
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Oct 02, 2014 02:09PM
biggest weepie for me was The Time Travellers Wife - wept buckets. But Me Before You got me too.
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Faces in the Water by Janet Frame...it's an emotional ride.Gustaf Sobin, The Fly-Truffler...a weepy mess...
The book that has recently made me weep is Me Before You by JoJo Moyes.
The emotional devastation builds as the story progresses.
I just started this the other day and am finding it very compelling. It's all the more interesting having recently finished We Are Not Ourselves, a book with very similar themes.Another book I just finished, Fourth of July Creek was also emotionally devastaing, and a fantastic novel.
Kelli wrote: "
The emotional devastation builds as the story progresses."
Sue wrote: "It's all the more interesting having recently finished We Are Not Ourselves, a book with very similar themes.Another book I just finished, Fourth of July Creek was also emotionally devastaing, and a fantastic novel...."
I have both of these books waiting on my Nook for me -- happy to hear such good reviews for them! I can't wait to dive into both of them.
Have a box of tissues and a stiff drink handy!Amy wrote: "Sue wrote: "It's all the more interesting having recently finished We Are Not Ourselves, a book with very similar themes.
Another book I just finished, Fourth of July Creek was als..."
Sue wrote: "Have a box of tissues and a stiff drink handy!...."So...probably not a good idea to read on the train while commuting, then? :0
At your own risk!Amy wrote: "Sue wrote: "Have a box of tissues and a stiff drink handy!...."
So...probably not a good idea to read on the train while commuting, then? :0"
Lionel Shriver's book We Need to Talk About Kevin set me back at least a week in my ability to breathe freely.
Also, for sheer terror, In the Cut by Susanna Moore.
I agree. I read Lionel Shriver's novel "We Need to Talk About Kevin" years ago, yet it is one of those books that continues to give me chills.
I agree with An Untamed State that was a brutal book and that I reacted to very intensely.The Age of Miracles made me really depressed about the state of the world but pretty much ecological dystopia does that.
Eating Animals emotionally devastated me too.
Stephanie wrote: "I agree. I read Lionel Shriver's novel "We Need to Talk About Kevin" years ago, yet it is one of those books that continues to give me chills."I can't believe I didn't immediately think of this one! Yes. So much yes. We read this in my book club about 8 years ago, and we still talk about it. And one of the women in the club actually quit coming to our meetings after reading this -- she was THAT disturbed by the book.
omg, Amy, what a story! (abt your friend bagging the group after reading that book.)
I love me an emotionally devastating novel and upon reading this I downloaded We Need To Talk About Kevin. I'm 100 pages in and I think it's going to do the trick!
Gail: just brace yourself, and don't quit your book club!:)
Erica wrote: "Gail: just brace yourself, and don't quit your book club!:)"^What Erica said! :)
Erica--I think that, for the woman in my club, the book just hit too close to home on one of her biggest fears: That she would be a crappy mother and turn her kids into monsters. At the time she had two kids -- one in elementary school and the other in preschool. I found out later that she had suffered through a fairly horrible childhood herself with an emotionally unstable and absent mother, and she didn't really have a good role model for how to be a parent. She was apparently buying a lot of parenting books and faithfully following the advice detailed within them. And then we dumped a novel on her about a boy who grows up to become a mass murderer -- which begged the question of whether he was born that way, or made that way by his parents? I quite honestly think we freaked the hell out of her.
Amy: ugh, sorry to hear all of that. I'm sure she is a great mom, especially because she is so aware and conscious and respectful of the awesome responsibility in front of her.
Bastard Out of CarolinaDo not read this while traveling home from work on the MBTA red line. You have been warned.
(But seriously, one of the best books about family violence ever written. )
This is a great discussion thread, and I agree that several of the books mentioned here left me emotionally exhausted (a quality I quite like in a book, honestly). As mentioned above, The Time Traveler's Wife, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Book Thief, and The Elegance of the Hedgehog were all excellent yet draining reads. One book I did not see mentioned that really tugs at my heart strings is The Fool's Progress. As in Time Traveler's Wife, it features a Henry and Claire, and is just tragic, funny, frustrating and beautiful.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on this subject!
Sophie's ChoiceThe Book Thief
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The Power and the Glory
Five Days at Memorial
and every single time I read it:
Jane Eyre
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. This book was so powerful because of the way the story gradually unfolds; scenes that I thought were funny in the first half of the book became heartbreaking when I thought about them again at the end.
Most recently, HAUSFRAU. I had to stop reading after one scene because I could not stop crying. But the whole book is pretty emotionally exhausting.
Fourth of July Creek. I had to make myself breath during parts. Untamed State. The same. Gawd - how I love books!
Yes, and yes! Both so good, and so devastating.Juliette wrote: "Fourth of July Creek. I had to make myself breath during parts. Untamed State. The same. Gawd - how I love books!"
Mod
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
The Bear's Embrace: A Story of Survival
Of all the titles mentioned here these two continue to stay on my mind after several years:
The Things They Carried
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Hmmm...Never Let Me Go
still lingers in the mind.
A Little Life pubs week after next and it's brutal. I had to keep putting it down because I couldn't breathe. The last page, page and a half, took me 30 minutes to read because I could only read a sentence or two at a time.
I believe The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber are both powerfully emotional novels. Marion
Me Before You, The Kite Runner, House of Sand and Fog, and My Sister's Keeper. To name a few....
Mod
That's the book that caused me to start this thread. I'm so happy that I will soon be able to talk about it on the podcast.
I can't talk about it yet without my voice wavering.
Definitely agree that The Fault in Our Stars is just emotionally devastating. I don't cry when I read books or watch movies, but I shed a tear or two reading that book.
Mell wrote: "Me Before You, The Kite Runner, House of Sand and Fog, and My Sister's Keeper. To name a few...."My Sister's Keeper! I forgot about that. My sister & I read it within weeks of each other & talked about it non-stop. We told our mom she couldn't read it. She was offended but we told her we were trying to be considerate.
I just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog and definitely thought it fits this category. I agree with many of the books listed. One not listed is The Lions of Al-Rassan --- it is historical fantasy which may not be a lot of people's cup of tea, but it's based on medieval Europe so very accessible for folks that don't normally read fantasy.
Tina wrote: "Mell wrote: "Me Before You, The Kite Runner, House of Sand and Fog, and My Sister's Keeper. To name a few...."My Sister's Keeper! I forgot about that. My sister & I read it within weeks of each..."
She was offended? Huh. I have a friend who can't read any books with dead babies and she really appreciates it when I tell her not to read a book. (Sometimes I will spoil a book to tell her it might seem like a baby's in danger but it will be okay, and she's okay with that too.)
Emotionally devastating: Gone With the Wind. I cried and cried the last 100 pages the first 10 times I read it. I don't anymore which actually bums me out. I wish it still had that impact.
Beloved by Toni Morrison. It was heart wrenching. I am glad I read it (in college) but I know I will never read it again.
I seldom begin a novel knowing nothing of the plot but somewhere along the line I added Beatrice and Virgil to my TBR list. I innocently listened to the audio version and was so surprised at the mood and subject matter. Geez....emotionally devastated again!
. By the end of the book, I was bawling. Couldn't pick up a book for several days afterwards.
This will sound silly, but "The Family at Red-Roofs" by Enid Blyton. It was one of my favourite books as a child and I found a copy in my university library and I read it again and I cried so much while reading it because it's just an amazing, amazing book and I think every child above the age of maybe 9 or 10 should read it.
I just finished YOU ...and can't imagine what to follow it up with. I couldn't stop listening and reading it (love that whisper sync)... I want a "can't put it down" book but maybe not so dark right now. a few books from now , I'll jump into A Little Life.
StonerThe Book Thief
The Fault in Our Stars
Wonder
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
We Are Not Ourselves
Cutting for Stone
A Fine Balance
A Little Life (the most emotionally devastating)
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