Some sad books to read?

Question

I love to read some sad stories about a life of an orphan, child abused, family problem, etc. I've read A Child Call It, The Diary of Anne Frank, Torey Hayden's books. Could you recommend me some other books to read? I really need something that can make me cry, some a real tear-jerkers.
Please don't recommend me any love or detective stories from Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, etc. Thanks ...

Answer 1

I don't like sad books, they make me cry and I hate crying.

Answer 2

The following 3 books are real tear jerkers about unfortunate orphans.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is the story of oliver an unfortunate orphan.The orphanage scenes are real tear jerkers.

Hunger, anger, and hatred are constants for young Vetch, rendered a brutally mistreated and overworked serf by the Tian conquest of his homeland. But everything improves when a Tian jouster requisitions Vetch to become the first serf ever to be a dragon boy. His training is intense, and his duty clear-cut: to tend his jouster, Ari, and his dragon, Kashet. He discovers that, because Ari himself had hatched Kashet, the dragon is different from others that have been captured live in the wild and must be drugged to be made tractable. Vetch finds he really likes and understands dragons, and soon he becomes the best dragon boy of all. He still harbors anger, however, toward the Tian invasion. Could he, perhaps, hatch a dragon, and then escape to help his people?

Mercedes Lackey's Take a Thief is the tale of Skif, a young orphan reminiscent of Oliver Twist, making his way in the knock-and-tumble neighborhood between two of Haven's outermost walls. Skif is intelligent, good-hearted and creative enough to forage up three meals a day in a place where food is scarce and kindness almost unheard of. After a chain of events leave him homeless, Skif lands in the lair of Bazie, an Faginish ex-mercenary who trains thieves...until he is "Chosen" by one of Valdemar's magical horses and becomes a Herald serving the Queen.

Dance with the devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon.This one is a romance.Zarek was mad, bad and more than a little insane, and now everyone wants him dead. But hey, that was nothing new to this loner. Born the bastard son of a Roman nobleman and a Greek slave, Zarek had known a lifetime of abuse, torture and humiliation.

Short story from the book Four million.The Cop and the Anthem by O.henry.Its about a young tramp Soapy who tries desperately to get arrested so that he can spend the winter in jail.He eats in expensive restaurents,steals,insults women,cause general mayham.But to no avail.he just doesn't get arrested until...
The Gift of the Magi,Last leaf all by the same author are terrific stories.All the o.henry stories have a characteristic twist at the end.

Answer 3

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"- Betty Smith
any of Frank McCourt's stuff, but especially "Angela's Ashes"
"Hunger Point" by Jillian Medoff
"Because it is Bitter and Because it Is My Heart"- Joyce Carol Oates
"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy
"Jacob Have I Loved"- Katherine Paterson
and if you don't mind children's books, I've always loved "The Blue Castle" by L M Montgomery (author of the Anne of Green Gables series). She wrote a lot about various orphans in her short story books, and Anne was an orphan as well (her series has 8 books to it).

I understand what you mean though- my favorite books are about struggles too, be they poverty, orphans, abuse, eating disorders, etc. I'll have to look for Torey Hayden's stuff... have never come across that name before. But I like Dave Pelzer's stuff (A Child Called It) and the Diary of Anne Frank as well.

Answer 4

The Loveley Bones by Alice Sebold was excellent. Very well writen! Read it twice! The saddest book I ever read is an old one... check your library tho. It's called "The Youngest" by Gillian Tindall. Published in 1968. It's about a woman who has a deformed child late in life and in a desparate move, suffocates the baby. Everybody outwardly believes the babe died of SIDS. The story is told from the woman's point of view. I cried thru most of it.

Answer 5

The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Lolita by Valdimir Nabakov
Transparent Things also by Nabakov
Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

These are all great books, but the saddest is the first one. It's bit pornographic too, especially for such a short book.

Answer 6

The Lovely Bones:By Alice Sebold

Answer 7

I read this book when I was in the 7th grade and I read it at least once a year until my house burned down and I cried each time... I'm a sucker for stories about family and love..

Searching for David's Heart

It's a quick read.. but it gets to me.. unsure about the author because I completely forgot about it until I saw this question x)

Answer 8

The Falconer by Elaine Clark McCarthy

Answer 9

The Bell Jar
and
She's Come Undone

Answer 10

The Lovely Bones
Resistance
Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog
Broken for You

That's all I can think of right this second.

Go Ask Alice.... old but good!

Answer 11

I don't remember the author, but look up the book titled Emma and Me! It's about an abused little girl and it has a lot of twists and unexpected ending!