Help Us Choose the Saddest Book of All Time

Forget March Madness—this year, we’ve decided to try something new: March Sadness. That’s right, folks: this literary bracket is full of the most devastating novels we could think of, all with the goal of choosing the saddest of the sad. These are the books that have broken our hearts in the best and worst ways, the ones that will compel any reader to go on a long, long walk while playing the same depressing songs on loop and contemplating the tragedy of life. 

You, dear reader, are going to help us decide which of these books has single-handedly accounted for thousands of dollars in revenue for the Kleenex brand (we assume) thanks to readers blotting their eyes and blowing their noses. Voting starts Monday, March 25 on our Instagram and Twitter (sorry, did we say Twitter? We meant “X”).

Fill out a bracket to predict the winner, then head to our social media channels to vote in the polls. And stay tuned to find out whether your top devastating read takes the win!

Update: We have a winner! It was a tough competition, but there was one book that cleared every round with ease, swept the competition, and rose to the top. (Drumroll please!)

As a recap, here’s how the bracket played out:

Round 1

A Little Life vs. Shuggie Bain

Anna Karenina vs. Madame Bovary

We the Animals vs. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

The Bluest Eye vs. The House of Mirth

Earthlings vs. Beautyland

Revolutionary Road vs. Giovanni’s Room

The Bell Jar vs. Normal People

The Nickel Boys vs. Edinburgh

Bridge to Terabithia vs. Where the Red Fern Grows

The Book Thief vs. The Notebook

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close vs. Flowers for Algernon

The Fault in Our Stars vs. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Kite Runner vs. The Road

All the Light We Cannot See vs. The Song of Achilles

Atonement vs. Never Let Me Go

Little Women vs. Of Mice and Men

Round 2

A Little Life vs. Anna Karenina

The Bluest Eye vs. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Earthlings vs. Giovanni’s Room

The Bell Jar vs. The Nickel Boys

Bridge to Terabithia vs. The Book Thief

The Fault In Our Stars vs. Flowers for Algernon

The Kite Runner vs. The Song of Achilles

Of Mice and Men vs. Never Let Me Go

Round 3

The Bluest Eye vs. Anna Karenina

The Bell Jar vs. Giovanni’s Room

Bridge to Terabithia vs. Flowers for Algernon

The Kite Runner vs. Never Let Me Go

Semi-Finals

The Bluest Eye vs. The Bell Jar

Bridge to Terabithia vs. Never Let Me Go

FINALS

The Bluest Eye vs. Never Let Me Go