I’ve been struggling with a lot of depression, despair, hopeless feelings, etc. I’ve decided to try a new tactic and lean into those feelings but in like an aesthetic sad girl kind of way.
Right now my sadness vibe is sweatpants and couch rotting. The vibe I’m going for is more of a strolling on the foggy cliffs, flinging myself onto the fainting couch, writing long diary entries about the pointlessness of the human struggle, etc. Now, I don’t want to simply embrace the aesthetic of romanticized sadness without also walking the walk. There’s no point to aesthetic without substance, after all. I need a sad-girl-cliff-strolling reading list.
I’m looking for any genre and any era as long as it feels like something I can read while sitting under a tattered parasol on a gray beach listening to the waves beat ceaselessly against the rocks.
What I am NOT looking for: stuff that focuses on being sad about boy problems specifically. Yearning is fun, but I’m looking for more existential sadness.
by CryptographerLost357
11 Comments
{{Greek Lessons by Han Kang}}
{{Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield}} – technically involves girl problems, but deals with grief more generally
{{A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki}}
Possibly {{Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir}} though it may be too optimistic.
I’ve heard that a lot of Fredrik Backman’s books deal with grief and sadness.
Highly recommend anything by Jean Rhys, the OG of sad girl lit, maybe start with Voyage in the Dark or Wide Sargasso Sea
god I love commitment to a vibe
*the seas* – samantha hunt
*to the lighthouse* – virginia woolf (tbh I don’t remember how sad this is. but it does have philosophical cliff walk energy)
*among other things, I’ve taken up smoking* – aoibheann sweeney
*burial rites* – hannah kent
I highly recommend you DONT romanticize your sadness. Tbvf you need to realize that being sad and depressed is not a flex. Get therapy and realize how cool it is to be happy. Sadness is not aesthetic….
Marguerite Duras – the Lover
Mieko Kawakami- all the lovers in the night
And stronggg agree on anything Jean Rhys I love her
This doesn’t totally check your boxes, but I was in that state for a while. The book that did it for me was The Beekeeper of Aleppo. There is an underlying current of deep despair throughout it, I cannot properly describe it.
Heart wrenching and life changing book. Made me stare out at the trees for a while after finishing it type of book.
*The Secret History*. A sad book about the dangers of romanticizing while absolutely seducing you into doing just that.
The bell jar by Sylvia Plath
The Awakening by Kate Chopin probably has the vibe you’re looking for. Especially the ending.
1984
Wild: From Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Weight Of Water by Anita Shreve