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Looking for books about an isolated/depressed main character

M

miss_misery

New Member
Hi,

Can anyone reply with books they've read/heard about that are about isolated/depressed/ anxious/ navel-gazing/ wondering-what-life's-really-all-about main characters?

For example, Catcher In the Rye is one. Holden is a character that feels isolated and thinks the world is f***-ed up, and so is conflicted about how to live his life.

Books about one main character and their attempt to live in a world they find difficult to live in.

Having a tough time finding books like this, but they're my favourite kind, so any help is appreciated. :p
 
You must read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, or if you're looking for something shorter, his Notes from the Underground. Both are absolutely fabulous and are about 94758379275637565^20 times better than The Catcher in the Rye.
 
no way, catcher in the rye is 98243587619885824358768181913487287245^999999999 times better. I don't know what finishing school you went to, but that's a totally proven statistical fact. it would be dumb for her to read crime and punishment. I mean come on, look at the advantages of reading something else, 1) and then don't forget 2) and last but not least, think of 3). if I didn't convince you now, then have a look at this link. www.tella.daloo/hmhm/bobbyburns//hmhm. then read a portrait of the artist as a young man instead.
 
Blasphemy! Miss_Misery, don't listen to him, read Crime and Punishment. Even if you completely hate it (which I HIGHLY doubt), at least you'd have the satisfaction of knowing you read a world classic. Anyway, Catcher is one of my least favorite books. I mean WHY would anyone like Holden, he is so unbelievably irritating, ugh. But I must agree with you on Portrait, though; I'm reading it right now and it's wonderful.
 
Peace out, folks! All of the books suggested are great reads, I've gone through all of them myself, they all have the qualities of being the masterpieces that they are. Crime and Punishment is the classic tale of the transcendence of psychological turmoil. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a story of psychological development that spans the whole life of the main character- and by the way is written in Joyce's trademark "stream of consciousness" style (and if you want some AMAZING imagery in the descriptions of hell's tortures, you must read). I would also recomend Kafka's The Metamorphosis - it's a shorty, but thicky, if you know what I mean- Kafka is a deep and dark writer, if you can get past the literal meaning.
 
miss_misery said:
For example, Catcher In the Rye is one. Holden is a character that feels isolated and thinks the world is f***-ed up, and so is conflicted about how to live his life.

Books about one main character and their attempt to live in a world they find difficult to live in.

Having a tough time finding books like this, but they're my favourite kind, so any help is appreciated. :p
Click to expand...
Hmm... I was going to suggest John Irving's 'A Widow for One Year'. But it isn't about one f'ed up person, it's about a lot of them. As a matter of fact, many of Irvings books are about people who are trying to find out how to live their lives. His 'The Cidar House Rules' is a classic example of this conflict within one man in particular.
 
Book suggestions

I would suggest The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It is short, and has a really weird ending, but it is a very interesting read. I have also read Crime and Punishment and the main character is isolated and depressed all the time.
Another one is White Oleander but I personally did not like the book, but the main character feels isolated and depressed and has trouble fitting into her society. I didn't like, however, because the story was a bit unrealistic and the characters never seemed to progress in anyway, but you may like it.
 
All of these suggestions seem great... however, perhaps what would be most satisfying to you is reading the rest of Salinger's work. Have you read Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roofbeams Carpenter, Seymour an Introduction, Nine Stories. Not to mention the great many short stories he published in magazines that can still be found in libraries, or probably online by now. Hope you find what you are looking for.. a
 
Thanks to everyone who posted. I've read some of the suggestions-Crime and Punishment, Kafka, Salinger's other works.

I'm looking for something a bit lighter than the really gritty stuff. More Salinger-esque, less Eastern European miserablists. Maybe something by more modern authours as well.

There's a book I've heard about but haven't read yet, it's called "Naive.Super". The synopses I've read for it describe it as the kind of book I'm looking for:

"Erlend Loe's deceptively simple novel is a highly original meditation on existence and a strange mixture of wisdom and naivety." "Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old first-person narrator quits his MA course at university in a bid to discover a raison d'etre. He recounts a series of anecdotes, which culminate in a trip to stay with his brother in New York." He writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it.

--

Any more suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
 
"Naive.Super" is a pretty good book. It feels sort of like a childrens book for adults because of the writing style of Erlend Loe. Its a very simple, and funny story about very complicated things.
 
'Dialogue with death' by Arthur Koestler is an excellent read and should fit what you are looking for perfectly.

Lisa
 
Across The Nightingale Floor

Try Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor it's a bit short, but Takeo, the main character seems to spend a lot of time being depressed or isolated
 
This sounds horrid, but have you tried either of the books by Ethan Hawke? His characters are dark but not so poignant as say Solzhenitsyn. :rolleyes:
 
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