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The best depressing books, which is an oxymoron.
1

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3.86 avg rating — 2,492,035 ratings
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4.20 avg rating — 4,346,276 ratings
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6

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,094,880 ratings
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7

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4.03 avg rating — 1,094,934 ratings
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8

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4.03 avg rating — 4,838,624 ratings
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9

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4.20 avg rating — 797,723 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 1,294,081 ratings
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11

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3.44 avg rating — 944,652 ratings
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12

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3.90 avg rating — 2,965,950 ratings
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13

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3.71 avg rating — 3,328,753 ratings
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14

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3.85 avg rating — 310,296 ratings
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15

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4.09 avg rating — 759,378 ratings
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16

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3.84 avg rating — 77,937 ratings
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17

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4.39 avg rating — 2,990,099 ratings
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18

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3.80 avg rating — 4,025,721 ratings
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19

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3.74 avg rating — 146,215 ratings
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20

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4.25 avg rating — 850,324 ratings
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21

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3.89 avg rating — 2,307,012 ratings
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22

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3.85 avg rating — 920,571 ratings
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23

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4.11 avg rating — 972,632 ratings
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24

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4.04 avg rating — 1,032,305 ratings
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25

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3.97 avg rating — 3,008,556 ratings
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26

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4.18 avg rating — 439,874 ratings
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27

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4.16 avg rating — 670,927 ratings
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28

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4.10 avg rating — 1,533,187 ratings
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29

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3.99 avg rating — 51,889 ratings
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30

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3.98 avg rating — 109,750 ratings
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31

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4.16 avg rating — 95,721 ratings
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32

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3.60 avg rating — 267,642 ratings
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33

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3.71 avg rating — 391,721 ratings
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34

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3.74 avg rating — 2,898,354 ratings
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35

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4.12 avg rating — 543,201 ratings
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36

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4.14 avg rating — 468,388 ratings
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37

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4.18 avg rating — 174,168 ratings
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38

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 794,967 ratings
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39

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4.22 avg rating — 867,999 ratings
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40

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4.32 avg rating — 1,273,460 ratings
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41

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3.96 avg rating — 1,791,362 ratings
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42

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4.38 avg rating — 1,408,275 ratings
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43

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4.02 avg rating — 226,174 ratings
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44

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3.87 avg rating — 983,220 ratings
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45

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4.06 avg rating — 390,826 ratings
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46

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4.06 avg rating — 65,871 ratings
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47

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4.28 avg rating — 775,515 ratings
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48

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4.03 avg rating — 1,542,635 ratings
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49

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3.91 avg rating — 244,679 ratings
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50

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4.15 avg rating — 1,698,431 ratings
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51

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3.47 avg rating — 142,631 ratings
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52

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3.98 avg rating — 342,398 ratings
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53

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3.82 avg rating — 1,383,556 ratings
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54

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3.61 avg rating — 478,515 ratings
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55

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4.12 avg rating — 5,900,778 ratings
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56

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3.99 avg rating — 517,593 ratings
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57

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4.46 avg rating — 1,829,237 ratings
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58

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3.59 avg rating — 293,871 ratings
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59

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3.97 avg rating — 101,114 ratings
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60

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4.12 avg rating — 186,819 ratings
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61

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3.96 avg rating — 152,146 ratings
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62

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3.73 avg rating — 297,041 ratings
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62

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3.92 avg rating — 373,272 ratings
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64

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3.92 avg rating — 12,798 ratings
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65

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3.92 avg rating — 247,706 ratings
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65

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4.16 avg rating — 263,936 ratings
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67

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4.12 avg rating — 2,913,753 ratings
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68

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3.88 avg rating — 1,037,053 ratings
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69

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4.06 avg rating — 646,178 ratings
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70

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4.08 avg rating — 224,328 ratings
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71

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3.77 avg rating — 408,831 ratings
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71

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4.24 avg rating — 2,081,254 ratings
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73

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3.90 avg rating — 75,422 ratings
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74

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3.73 avg rating — 244,650 ratings
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75

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4.03 avg rating — 333,224 ratings
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75

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3.94 avg rating — 565,024 ratings
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77

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3.76 avg rating — 154,625 ratings
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78

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4.05 avg rating — 66,135 ratings
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79

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3.99 avg rating — 91,516 ratings
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80

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4.16 avg rating — 173,934 ratings
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81

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3.89 avg rating — 84,622 ratings
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82

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4.02 avg rating — 84,533 ratings
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83

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4.08 avg rating — 100,363 ratings
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84

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4.16 avg rating — 1,010,065 ratings
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85

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3.89 avg rating — 450,221 ratings
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85

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3.99 avg rating — 906,861 ratings
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87

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4.13 avg rating — 3,894,021 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 6,902 ratings
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89

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3.93 avg rating — 425,909 ratings
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90

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4.17 avg rating — 271,315 ratings
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90

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3.87 avg rating — 16,759 ratings
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92

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4.23 avg rating — 171,297 ratings
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93

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3.94 avg rating — 96,071 ratings
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94

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4.06 avg rating — 43,912 ratings
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95

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4.05 avg rating — 108,084 ratings
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96

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4.34 avg rating — 167,915 ratings
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97

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4.36 avg rating — 226,930 ratings
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98

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4.06 avg rating — 75,206 ratings
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99

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4.13 avg rating — 228,290 ratings
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100

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3.96 avg rating — 91,486 ratings
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332 books · 117 voters · list created July 13th, 2009 by Linds (votes) .
22 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Linds 4218 books
235 friends
Phillip 5382 books
138 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
848 friends
Bettie 15686 books
19 friends
Stephanie 3850 books
506 friends
MAP 1608 books
672 friends
Lobstergirl 5996 books
159 friends
Alex 2491 books
49 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-11 of 11 (11 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Never Let Me Go.......! Absolutely abyssmal. Plato's Allegory of the Cave is more hopeful.


message 2: by Natalie (new)

Natalie June "The Bell Jar " is not depressing. it's about depression and the character is depressed, but it wasn't depressing to read.


message 3: by Linds (new)

Linds I dunno....the electric shock sequence was pretty rough...


message 4: by [deleted user] (new)

Natalie wrote: ""The Bell Jar " is not depressing. it's about depression and the character is depressed, but it wasn't depressing to read."

It depresses me from the very first page. Her life seems too horrible to me.


message 5: by Natalie (new)

Natalie June I found it to be a little dull at times, but not depressing. to me "the pact" by Jodi Picoult is depressing. I thought the bell jar was really honest and opinionated. I love reading it. and i find parts of it are even humurous. Mabye it seemed depressing to you because you had never read a book about suicide before or because you had expected it to be depressing before you even read it.


message 6: by [deleted user] (last edited Aug 20, 2011 01:55PM) (new)

Natalie wrote: "I found it to be a little dull at times, but not depressing. to me "the pact" by Jodi Picoult is depressing. I thought the bell jar was really honest and opinionated. I love reading it. and i find ..."

The first time I read it was about age 16 when my mother was reading it. It really bothered me lots then and I found it depressing at that age and wondered why Mom would even want to read it. A few years ago I was in a second hand book store and saw a copy so I bought it as I am reading over some books that I read long ago. This time around it bothered me even more. I was not even able to finish it as it seemed as sad as The Yellow Wall paper.

I spent ages 4 and 5 in Japan and suicide does not bother me that much. I think it is OK for a person if that is what they need to do. Some people's lives are too horrible for them to continue on but I see no need to bring myself DOWN by reading things like this.


message 7: by Natalie (new)

Natalie June Alice wrote: "Natalie wrote: "I found it to be a little dull at times, but not depressing. to me "the pact" by Jodi Picoult is depressing. I thought the bell jar was really honest and opinionated. I love reading..."
Different things affect people differently I guess. I thought "the pact" was really depressing. it made me feel sick and other people thought it was kinda romantic.


message 8: by [deleted user] (new)

Natalie wrote: " Alice wrote: "Natalie wrote: "I found it to be a little dull at times, but not depressing. to me "the pact" by Jodi Picoult is depressing. I thought the bell jar was really honest and opinionated...."

I have read a few Jodi Picoult books but do not remember The Pact at all. At times her books seemed to be the same thing over and over to me. My favorite ones were: Second Glance and My Sisters Keeper. I also remember Perfect Match as it reminded me of my ex but I did quit reading them as they became too much the same.


message 9: by Natalie (new)

Natalie June I think I have only read three of her's. i don't mind them or the fact that they are the same because, but they do tend to make me feel sick sometimes when I read them.


message 10: by Linds (new)

Linds I don't know, isn't that what some art is supposed to do, make you feel? Some of the books on this list are some of the greatest literature ever produced.


message 11: by Natalie (new)

Natalie June that is so true. it's the same with people who say "i don't like that book because it made me feel mad" It's meant to have an effect on you. it's meant to make you feel mad or depressed or emotionless or happy isn't it?


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