Book Haven discussion

1.)The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2.)The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
3.)Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
4.)1984 by George Orwell
5.)Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
6.)The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
7.)Night by Elie Wiesel
8.)On the Beach by Nevil Shute
9.)The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
10.)Lord of the Flies by William Golding

http://www.abebooks.com/books/bleak-m...

Do you agree with this list? Why or why not?

What are the most depressing books YOU have ever read? Are they worth reading?

This is why I've avoided The Road, LOL.

How 'bout House of Mirth? Pretty bleak. LOL.

I completely agree that 'Grapes of Wrath' should make the list. If you had asked me in high school, right after I read it, I would have said it wasn't worth it. However, after reading more Steinbeck, and talking with some who love everything he has written, I think I have put that book into my reread pile.

I thought GoW was worth it. :) It said a lot about human dignity.

1984 and The Bluest Eye are definitely very bleak but I'm not sure I would put The Bell Jar in here, yes it was pretty bleak most of the time but I found it quite humourous in parts too, it didn't make me depressed reading it.

I am reading 1984.... VERY interesting. Pretty depressing too.

Night was really bleak. Atlas Shrugged just made me really angry.

Has anyone here read "Hiroshima" by John Hersey? Now there's a bleak book, but a good read.

I have heard of Hiroshima by John Hersey but have never read it. From what I've heard and from the title you can kinda tell that it would be bleak.

I read Hiroshima many years ago, and there are scenes in it still burned in my mind. Three in particular come to mind, but I won't spoil it. John Hersey went to Hiroshima shortly after it was bombed, to document what had happened there. We've all seen the pictures and motion picture clips of the aftermath, but there are things in that book that I've never heard reported anywhere else, not even in science fiction or disaster/doomsday movies.

Commenting only on the books that I've actually read ...

1.)The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Boring more than bleak. It's a much friendlier version of a post-apocalyptic future than I have envision myself.

2.)The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Depression is depressing. It can't help it. It's not a fun mental illness like the early stages of mania.

4.)1984 by George Orwell

Bleak or not, I love this book.

5.)Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Another favorite. I found it more hopeful than bleak, as there are some people that understand what needs to be done in order to make things right, but they are swimming upstream against a whole load of stupid.

8.)On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Years since I read it, but I enjoy nuclear terror books.

10.)Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I think it's important to know that we are only a few meals from savagery. I think seeing it in children makes it harder to comprehend. We expect that kids are nice, but what Golding shows us is reenacted every day on playgrounds around the world.

You want REALLY bleak? Try The Creature from Jekyll Island A Second Look at the Federal Reserve which explains how our monetary system was developed and REALLY works.

I liked your assessments, stormhawk. I am not a huge fan of depressing books, although there are exceptions to that, so I was disheartened to see Atlas Shrugged here, since it's one on my list of TBR in 2010. But after reading your description I feel more interested in it again. 1984 is also on my list, but I really think I'll enjoy it anyway. I picked it up once at someone's house and really liked the pages I read, but couldn't borrow it at the time as someone in the house was reading it. Looking forward to that one, but have to read the ones I have out from the library right now first.

Read LOTF in high school. I agree with what you said there too.

I'm currently reading The Road, and it is pretty bleak so far. One book I've recently read that I thought was bleak is Revolutionary Road. I found it to be emotionally draining with few (if any) uplifting parts. The end was also not what I expected and pretty depressing. However, I still liked it ok and would recommend it. Lord of the Flies is on my list to read in the near future.

... and a few other tossed in . . .

I find Ethan Frome pretty bleak.

I didn't find Lord of the Flies at all bleak . . . guess that's just me.

The House of Mirth was defiantly bleak.

I almost didn't like 1984 at all - and a bit bleak.

The Road - YES absolutely bleak and a bit monotonous.

I did not find The Bell Jar to be bleak exactly . . . sad - yes . . . just not bleak.

I again, didn't really find Atlas Shruggedto be bleak exactly . . .

The Grapes of Wrath is a partially bleak book . . .

I have been avoiding The Bluest Eye but suppose I should read it . . . and have not read: Jude the Obscure but have put it on my to read list.

A Clockwork Orange I found to be a bit more disturbing than bleak though it definitely is on my bleak list.

I have not read all of the books on that list, so I cannot comment on them all.

I do think the following should be removed:
Atlas Shrugged

Also, I guess I would not include in a top ten the following:
A Clockwork Orange
Lord of the Flies

I am sad to see the following not included:
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin one of the grandfather books of futuristic dystopia and the book that both "Brave New World" and "1984" are said to be influenced by.

gazing_where wrote: "
I have been avoiding The Bluest Eye but suppose I should read it . . . and have not read: Jude the Obscure but have put it on my to read list.
"

I would recommend The Bluest Eye, it isn't an easy book to read but it is very good.

I would agree with all. However, someone pointed out a ray of light in The Road>. The father and son, despite their circumstances, hold on to their humanity and REFUSE to do some of the more bestial, but easiest evil actions that would allow them to survive.

Good call on "We" Message 15. I'll add ANYTHING by Cormac McCarthy, esp. No Country for Old Men, and

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
"The Lottery" (short story)
Lord of the Flies
Manic
The Catcher in the Rye
The Old Man and the Sea

but, most of all, the daily newspaper.

Steven Belanger
www.stevenbelanger.com

I agree with The Catcher in the Rye being depressing. Also on my list...

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Blindness by Jose Saramago

I enjoyed GoW and Blindness though.

The only one I've read from that list is the Lord of the Flies, which I would call more disturbing than bleak. I agree with stormhawk that we need reminding that kids are not nice and innocent. They can be crueler than adults.

I found the Book Thief by Markus Zusak bleak, mostly just because of the ending. It's one of my favourite books, but I'll never be able to read it again now that I know what happens at the end.

Even though it's YA, I have to say that Plain Kate by Erin Bow was one of the bleakest books I've ever read. I can't think of a single happy scene.

I definitely agree as well on Catcher in the Rye, which is actually a rather recent read for me.

"The Glass Castle" was a conundrum for me as well, as it was such a depressing storyline. I also had a very disheartened reaction upon reading several book club discussions where folks found the story in no way extraordinary because it was so similar to their experiences. A real eye opener to what can be occurring right around the corner.

"Fahrenheit 451" is another one for my list, though it's been so many years since I read it that I can' recall specific examples. To this day though, it brings back unhappy memories of it!

I hated "Fahreinheit 451" Imagine burning a book! EEEHHHH!

My sentiments exactly!!

Random Fact: Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 as a commentary on technology and how it would basically rot our brains away; it was not intended as a commentary on censorship.

is it true? Has technology done more harm than good in some degrees? I think kids watch more tv and sit in front of a computer more than ever.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Road,

When I saw this topic the first thing that popped in my mind was "The Road." Swan Song was pretty bleak most of the time.

I wouldn't really describe The Glass Castle as bleak, it was surely a tale of survival. I loved that book, and it's one that I really want to re-read.

I didn't enjoy The Road....I thought The Bell Jar was interesting....I think Night is a book everyone should read.

Steven wrote: "Good call on "We" Message 15. I'll add ANYTHING by Cormac McCarthy, esp. No Country for Old Men, and

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
"The Lottery" (short story)
Lord of the Flies
Manic
The Catcher i..."

I did not like The Heart Is a Lonely Hunterat all!!!

Call me crazy....I liked Lord of the Flies.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.

Shelli wrote: "Call me crazy....I liked Lord of the Flies."

So did I, in a weird sort of way. It's one of two books that have actually scared me, but I don't mind a good scare every now and then. And I really liked the ending.

I agree with Hiroshima!

has anyone suggested Withering Heights??

I think anything by Thomas Hardy - Jude the Obscure, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Those books are horribly sad.

I would definitely consider Wuthering Heights bleak! I actually think I should reread it because I read it in high school and I didn't care for characters ending up unhappy/miserable then. Plus I wanted them to be likeable and Katherine and Heathcliff really aren't.

Having recently re-read it, I can say that A Canticle for Leibowitz puts the bleak in bleak ... starts in a desert (which my boss who went crazy and stopped showing up for work said was where ALL good books start) during Lent (which is certainly a bleak time of year), after the world has been effectively destroyed by Mutually Assured Destruction and humans are just starting to claw their way up from the nuclear-induced stone age into a new kind of dark ages, and when (artificial) light returns to the world, it's not without it's costs, and then ...

I don't want to spoil it all for you. It's a good bleak, but definitely a product of the Cold War.

Stormhawk: would so agree with you on all counts!

The Road was the worst for me because there really seemed to be no hope for that future

The Road by Cormac McCarthy really put my heart in my boots. I have never read a novel like that one. It's really bleak bleak. I hope I don't read another one like that any time soon.

how about A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin or Malazan Book of the Fallen? :)))

Lisa Anne wrote: "I completely agree that 'Grapes of Wrath' should make the list. If you had asked me in high school, right after I read it, I would have said it wasn't worth it. However, after reading more Steinb..."

Yes Grapes of wrath is bleak. Check out this youtube video of Woody Guthrie to visualize the times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo0al-...

I think the bleakest books are the Victorian era stories like Les Miserbables by Victor Hugo

Uncle Tom's Cabin- Hiroshima

How come nobody mentioned Bleak House by Charles Dickens?,LOL.

there is no ASOIAF or Malazan book of the fallen there, so the list is seriously outdated :D

Regarding Ayn Rand.....

There were two novels I remember changing my life as a bookish, introverted 14 year old. Those would be The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One was set in a mythical land, populated by outlandish and improbable characters, evil incarnate and a running allegory about sacrificing one's humanity. The other book involved hobbits and orcs.

As far as bleak and depressing books, I'll list mine; but mind you, these are just the ones I have personally read. I'm sure there are plenty others out there that will surpass my list....

1984 (George Orwell)
The Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
Notes From the Underground (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
A Father's Story (Lionel Dahmer)
Deranged (Harold Schecter)
Night (Elie Wiesel)
120 Days of Sodom (Marquis de Sade)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find (Flannery O'Connor)
Young Goodman Brown (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Johnny Got His Gun (Dalton Trumbo)
Apt Pupil (Stephen King)
Full Dark, No Stars (Stephen King)
Hearts in Atlantis (Stephen King)
The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Gilman)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo)
A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
The Lottery and Other Stories (Shirley Jackson)
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (Ursula LeGuinn)

Hiroshima was disturbing.

Completely agree with Apt Pupil! That book has inspired almost all projects I work on in school and my spare time.

Here are mine:

10. IT (Stephen King)

9. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell. This one could be seen as hopeful but to me it's more bleak. My favourite book of all time though.)

8. Lisey's Story (Stephen King. A must read)

7. The Stand (Stephen King)

6. Apt Pupil (Stephen King)

5. Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)

4. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

3. The Monsters Wake At Night (Anonymous)

2. Staring At A Blank TV Screen (Emma Hogan. This is a fantastic piece written by a girl in my class.... I was deeply disturbed by its imagery. It was fantastic.)

1. (This is a CD but its freaking bleak.) Truth of the World by Evermore

I agree with gazing_where and Christopher...

Ethan Frome and Johnny Got His Gun