Most Depressing Book Ending.

[Koroviev]

Burmese Days was very depressing in the end, after building up to a nice happy ending it suddenly turns on you. Damn you Orwell!

I have that on my bookshelf. That it has a potent emotional impact will probably get me to read it in the near future <__<

 

[Enigma6667]

THE ROAD THE ROAD THE ROAD THE ROAD THE ROAD

God damn you Cormac McCarthy, how am I supposed to look manly with all these tears comin' outta mah face...

 

[Murais]

The Road. Both the book and the movie made me bawl like a blubbering *****. And if you didn't, you have no heart.

EDIT: Ninja'd by the post above me, lol.

 

[NoDamnNames]

Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series ended on a rather down note.

Spoiler

With the whole killing the kid, again, and also killing Eddie. Granted Susanna travels to another reality where she meets up with them as kids, but that just felt weird. Also the whole 'you just read seven books only to find out the story loops back and doesn't finish' both depressed and pissed me off.

THISSSS!!!!


*spoiler alert*

I was also pissed that The Man In Black was written off as cannon fodder to a minor character after begin so influential in SO MANY other Stephen king books, and the "Epic" battle between the Crimson King and Roland that is foreshadowed in Insomnia and the entire dark tower series DOESN'T EVEN HAPPEN!

super anticlimactic end to an otherwise amazing series.

 

[theComposer]

His Dark Materials has a little depressing end but Im not gonna say why even in spoiler because WHOLE series could be spoiled by that.

This.

Also, Childhood's End by Arthur Clarke left in a sad mood for a whole day after I finished reading it.

 

[Caligulove]

The end of the original book of 'I Am Legend' that no one really has adapted faithfully, and never fully understand what the title is referring to.

Spoiler

"I am a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend."
-The last words of Neville as he dies, realizing that the Vampire hordes from the infection have become the norm. That like how vampires were dark and terrifying legends in the times before the infection, he has become the new terrifying, murderous menace, stalking during the day. Neville is a relic from an obsolete form of humanity that has no place in the new world.

 

[MalevolentStaircase]

THE ROAD. That is all.

 

[LiftYourSkinnyFists]

Can't be worse than shooting your buddy in the back of the head! Of Mice and Men... mainly because of the dog screw the dumb guy

 

[Koroviev]

The end of the original book of 'I Am Legend' that no one really has adapted faithfully, and never fully understand what the title is referring to.

Spoiler

"I am a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend."
-The last words of Neville as he dies, realizing that the Vampire hordes from the infection have become the norm. That like how vampires were dark and terrifying legends in the times before the infection, he has become the new terrifying, murderous menace, stalking during the day. Neville is a relic from an obsolete form of humanity that has no place in the new world.

This actually sounds really interesting. This is definitely being added to my to-read list.

*adds to list*

Done!

 

[The_Echo]

Of Mice and Men, anyone?

Spoiler

George meets Lennie at the designated place, the same spot they camped in the night before they came to the ranch. The two sit together and George retells the beloved story of the bright future together that they will never share. He then shoots Lennie in the back of the head, so that his friend's inevitable death is painless and happy. Curley, Slim, and Carlson find George seconds after the shooting. Only Slim realizes that George killed Lennie out of love, and gently and consolingly leads him away, while Curley and Carlson look on, unable to comprehend the subdued mood of the two men.

Can't be worse than shooting your buddy in the back of the head! Of Mice and Men... mainly because of the dog screw the dumb guy

FFFFFFFUUUU- Ninja.

Nice blatant spoiler, by the way.

 

[LiftYourSkinnyFists]

Of Mice and Men, anyone?

Spoiler

George meets Lennie at the designated place, the same spot they camped in the night before they came to the ranch. The two sit together and George retells the beloved story of the bright future together that they will never share. He then shoots Lennie in the back of the head, so that his friend's inevitable death is painless and happy. Curley, Slim, and Carlson find George seconds after the shooting. Only Slim realizes that George killed Lennie out of love, and gently and consolingly leads him away, while Curley and Carlson look on, unable to comprehend the subdued mood of the two men.

Heheh, just caught you out by one post

 

[bubba145]

Animal Farm and 1984 REALLY MESSED UP MY MIND. Freshman not the best time to read both of those. Also i read Anthem... now that wasn't as screwed but pretty high up their in my screwed story list.

 

[Vrex360]

The ending of Cujo by Stephen King. I'm going to assume you know it's about a rabid dog killing people and a woman and her son trapped in a car at the dog's mercy. And that prior to that it was about one family in particular falling apart due to the husband's (Vic) job collapsing and him finding out that his wife (Donna) was cheating on him.

Spoiler

At the end, after the dog has been killed and it's all over, Vic's career comes back to a working order and he's still able to sustain himself financially. Similarly he and Donna are able to save their marriage and move over the past issues.
However, neither of that really matters when compared to the final issue here:

Their four year old son Tad, dies of heatstroke back when he was locked in the car. So despite everything else that could fit into a happy ending, the new job and the saved marriage, it really doesn't matter. It's a stark reminder that happy endings aren't all that realistic in situations like this and it really hits home in the 'depressing' department.

Stephen King himself, who wrote the thing, suggested very firmly to the people who made the movie adaptation to make the kid live in the end because it would be so much more depressing to a movie audience then a reader. So in that respect even the guy who wrote the thing thought it was 'too depressing'.

 

[Zeromaeus]

Has anyone said I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream yet?
It has a depressive everything.

EDIT: Yes. Yes it has been said. Then again it can't be overstated. That is a nightmarish and depressing story with a very 'bad' ending.

 

[tormut2]

The Darkling Plane, Everyone dies, the robot lives on to tell the story, the bad guy gets the girla dn the lone neutral character is scarred for life. Bang

 

[AgDr_ODST]

Im gonna have to go with 1984 and Animal Farm......Orwells wrote the whole books plus the endings so excellently and then BAM! I find myself severly depressed, by the endings

 

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

The life of pi. Damn. It's a sad ending disguised as a happy ending.

Also, the Catcher in the Rye, for some reason. I don't even know why. I hate that book.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

His Dark Materials has a little depressing end but Im not gonna say why even in spoiler because WHOLE series could be spoiled by that.

His Dark Materials? You mean the Golden Compass and all that? Yeah, that was pretty depressing.

Bridge to Terabithia. Need I say more?

Where the Red Fern Grows. The movie made me cry...

 

[Lancer723]

"Where the Red Fern Grows"
My wonderful teacher read us this book in grade 6. The entire class was in tears and all of the dog lovers were scarred.

This. Only book that has ever made me shed a tear. I have such a soft spot for dogs it's not even funny.

Also, A Farewell to Arms is pretty depressing. Although I found the book to be very dryly written personally.

Still, you have to feel for a guy who

Spoiler

Has his child stillborn and his wife die in childbirth

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Ah, Metro 2033 - what a book you are. Funny, dark, contemplative, exciting, moody...

Not to mention having an utterly depressing ending.

I'll put it in spoiler brackets for you.

Spoiler

Just when the missiles are en route to the dark ones' nest, Artyom has a sudden vision/telepathic message, because of which is he realizes that the dark ones wanted peace all along, that the dark ones are the new evolution of mankind, that together, humans and dark ones, they can perhaps reclaim the earth in a prosperous alliance - and then the missiles rain down upon the nest, and the dark ones and all hope for humanity are destroyed in torrents of fire, much like the torrents of fire that destroyed most of humanity in the first place. In the end, there is no hope anymore and it is strongly implied that internal wars will soon decimate the populace of the Moscow metro to the point of inevitable extinction.

Damn I heard that the book was depressing but...damn...

I just finished reading Nineteen Eighty Four and the ending isn't really depressing, seeing as the whole story is depressing, but it is quite scary. Not in an 'Ahh big monster!' way more a 'Big Brother will kill you in your sleep' kinda way.

Spoiler

Smith gets 'reeducated' by the Party and sent back into society.
While he is essentially the same person he has different ideals, he is now blindly obedient to the government, the Thought Police don't even monitor him anymore because they know he won't have rebellious ideas.
He also knows that eventually he will be forced to confess to crimes he did not commit right before his execution, but he no longer seems to care.

The book ends with the line 'He loved Big Brother'.

Yeah that one as well. It's just so sad that it's all for nothing. The most depressing or most disillusioning part for me was when

Spoiler

the resistance turned out to not exist.

I found that rather shocking.

Yeah eh? Dream crusher much?

The whole book just sort of builds up into thinking that the Party will be overthrown, then curb stomps that idea in the most horrible way.

I just finished reading Nineteen Eighty Four

You should read Animal Farm. [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Animal-Farm-Fairy-George-Orwell/dp/0141036133/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292629620&sr=1-1]

It was written by the same guy, and its just as good as 1984, if not better.

It's one of those storys were it's impossible to root for the bad guys.

Oh damn, I heard about that book a while ago.

Seems so damn bizarre, terrifying even.

Will definitely give it a look. : D