I just stormed through A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara in about a week and thought it was excellent (although I see that’s a controversial opinion to some people). One reason I read it was because people had said it was similarly written to Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart, which were two of my favourite books from last year and I also devoured. So anything along this line of brutal and heart wrenching but also beautiful in parts would be great.
by Jorumble
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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingslover should be next on your list.
Grief is the thing with feathers by Max Porter. Nice bit of catharsis in a small book.
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
Flowers for algernon is my next read because its supposed to be really sad. Also reading song of achilles now after a little life.
Have you read Where the Red Fern Grows?
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. In my opinion it eclipses the tragedy in A Little Life. It’s beautiful, but it will basically ruin your life (my husbands words) 🙂
Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong!!!
Try Hanya’s other book The People In The Trees, if you want another brutally sad book. It’s gut-wrentching.
*Paula* by Isabel Allende.
She’s like THE South American author who does historical adjacent magical realism fiction but this is a memoir she wrote for her 28 year old daughter just after she married and then slipped into a coma.
It will brutalize you. It will fuck you up. You’ll have to put it down frequently to cry. You will later come on this sub and tell people to read it and be traumatized. Enjoy
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt is incredibly sad