10 Saddest Books Made Into Movies, Ranked | ScreenRant
Content Warning: The following article discusses family trauma, suicidal ideation, illness, death, and war crimes.
Many book adaptations have sad tales to tell, whether they're about romances falling apart, family illnesses, or looking back and reflecting on upsetting parts of history. These adaptations work well because there's genuine emotion to draw from as the narrative moves from the written word to the screen.
Emotional stories have often led to great movies, ones that bring the viewer to the very heart of the narrative and allow them to empathize with its characters. Here are some of the saddest movies that started out as books.
10 A Walk To Remember (Nicholas Sparks, A Walk To Remember)
This is a love story with a twist and one that brings a lot of sadness with it. Jamie Sullivan, a high school girl who ends up having the most popular guy in the school fall in love with her. It should be a happy moment and something that she relishes, but that's where the emotional twist comes in.
Jamie is actually dying, but that is something that she keeps to herself and doesn't allow people to know and because she's shy and quiet, she prefers to keep it a secret. That is until the pair end up falling in love, and when there's something to lose.
9 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower)
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is an emotional rollercoaster that covers some huge topics, from the thoughts of suicide to dealing with loss and feeling lonely. The movie follows Charlie, who is a teenager that struggles to fit in but finds out that he doesn't have to be anyone he doesn't want to be.
The movie has heartwarming aspects as well, as Charlie finds two friends, and the closeness and relationships that come from that bring moments of pure joy.
8 Wonder (R. J. Palacio, Wonder)
Speaking of movies that showcase people fitting in, Wonder is another heartwrenching movie that looks deeply at the need to be kind to others. This movie follows August, who is a young boy who has Treacher Collins syndrome. Unfortunately, those around him mistreat him and aren't kind.
The movie looks at how he's impacted by the cruelty of others, and when he gets a friend at school, it showcases the happiness that kindness can provide. This film also delves into August's family, which brings a lot of sadness and emotion throughout.
7 The Green Mile (Stephen King, The Green Mile)
This movie is set on death row, following Paul who is the head guard, and John, who is an inmate that has been accused of murder.
It eventually becomes clear that John never committed any crimes in the first place, but justice does not prevail, which is where the ultimate sadness comes into play with this amazing movie.
6 Lion (Larry Buttrose and Saroo Brierley, A Long Way Home)
Following the journey of Saroo, this movie is all about him and the difficulty he goes through in life after being separated from his family as a boy. He ends up being adopted by an Australian couple, but he always has a yearning to learn who his real family is.
Because of that, the movie follows Saroo as he heads to India in a bid to find his birth family. It's an adventure that has a lot of ups and downs, and it provides an unbelievable amount of sadness that will have audiences crying.
5 My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper)
This is another emotional book that has its readers sucked in from the start, and the movie only opened that story to a wider audience. The plot focuses on Anna, who wants the help of a lawyer to stop her parents from being able to force her to consistently donate organs and blood to her sister, who has Leukemia.
4 The Boy In Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas)
This novel and movie are unbelievably sad because they show the pain and suffering that Nazi concentration camps truly created, and how even though people were technically on different sides, as humans, everybody is the same. The movie follows two young boys who have totally different lives, but they're divided by a fence, with a concentration camp on one side and freedom on the other.
Bruno is the son of the man in charge of that concentration camp, who has a big house to live in and a life of joy. However, he befriends Shmuel, who is living in the concentration camp. The two of them don't understand the situation but become great friends, to the point where Bruno goes past the fence to be with Shmuel.
3 The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook)
When it comes to emotional books, few do it better than Nicholas Sparks, but the saddest of them all, and arguably the most popular has been The Notebook, which was written in 1996 and created as a movie in 2004.
The story follows Noah who reads stories from a journal every single day in a nursing home. Those stories just so happen to be their love story together, and flashback scenes showcase them as a younger couple telling the story, putting everything together. When it all wraps up, it becomes an incredibly emotional moment, with the love they share being the core part of that.
2 Marley And Me (John Grogan, Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog)
Marley And Me is an overwhelmingly emotional movie, with this story being one that is truly impossible not to get upset at. Dogs truly are man's best friend and that is clear here with Marley, who is such an energetic and happy dog, which provides his family with so much love and happiness.
The movie follows the family over a lengthy period of time, looking at the ups and downs that come with that. Of course, Marley is there to see it all and his life is filled with excitement as well. The connection the family has to him is incredible, and when that circle of life comes to an end, it is an emotional moment.
1 Sophie's Choice (William Styron, Sophie's Choice)
This is another very emotional movie to watch, which focuses on Sophie, who is a survivor of the Holocaust. Throughout the movie, she gets to know Stingo who is a writer, and that provides a difficult situation for her partner, Nathan.
However, the main reason this is emotional is the flashback moments that reveal the life and the story that Sophie has gone through as a person. She is given one of the most impossible decisions, having to choose which of her children gets sent to their death, which is a truly upsetting and harrowing experience to watch unfold.