I Don't Know...Why We Read Sad Books

Bewilderment

The last fiction book I read was ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers. The plot was sad throughout, the ending even sadder. I finished the book in tears, sobbing in a way that I hadn’t done for years.

After I finished crying, I turned to my girlfriend and said something along the lines of, “that was amazing, you have to read it”. In hindsight, isn’t it a bit strange to be recommending something which has just made me cry genuine tears of sadness?

I began to reflect on movies I’ve watched in the same way. Some of my favourite films have left me feeling incredibly sad, others terrified. What is it about distressing films or books that mean we love them or recommend them, even though they trigger emotions that we usually avoid?

Is it about connection, or about disconnection? Are we sad because we have connected with the characters in a way that their pain becomes our pain, or is it more about escape from our own problems? Is it our inner cruelty, or our sympathy that we are tapping in to when we get enjoyment from this type of entertainment? Having dug into the thought a little bit, it appears as though it’s probably a combination of all of the above, and more.

Shortly after starting to read up on this question, I came across the concept of ‘catharsis’, the definition of which is “the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions”.

The idea originated from Aristotle, who argued that such depictions - which in his time would have been tragic plays and poetry - served the purpose of catharsis, which involves “purging the audience of negative emotions, especially those of fear and pity”.

This suggests that one main reason that we seek out these types of films or books, particularly sad ones, is as a way of releasing pent up emotions. Releasing these emotions in the office, in the supermarket or spontaneously at home is something we tend to try to avoid, so the idea of giving ourselves an excuse to have a ‘good cry’ and purging ourselves of these emotions makes sense.

But in my example, I didn’t realise the book I was about to read was going to be so sad. It wasn’t an intentional act to read something to rid me of any emotions that I was carrying (consciously or not).

There is another angle to catharsis whereby reading sad books or watching sad films gives us a greater insight into what causes sad events, or to flaws in characters that might have led to them experiencing them. By being able to distance ourselves enough from the events that we are witnessing, we can potentially gain greater insight into the causes and learn how we might avoid similar things happening to us.

This makes sense and maybe at a stretch can also be applied to scary films. How often during a scary film do we say or think things like “ahh, don’t go down to the basement” or “don’t leave the house!” Perhaps part of the enjoyment we get is feeling as though we can become better prepared for life’s challenges. Maybe it is us being able to take comfort from the fact that we wouldn’t allow ourselves to get into these situations in the first place, or that we are confident that we could deal with them better than the characters that we are watching.

However, again, in my example the book was fiction and had no parallels with my life or my lived experience. I don’t feel as though I learned about how I would deal with situations that the characters experienced or took any comfort that I would handle them any differently.   

‘Eudemonic’ is a type of happiness or contentment which is achieved through having purpose in life and recent studies have highlighted the potential role of eudemonic motives for preferences for sad media. Sad books and films may make us feel a particular type of connection that we tend to try and avoid in real life. Escaping to this kind of connection and feeling sympathy or empathy in a way that is rare day-to-day gives us a certain sense of meaning that is hard to describe.

Without getting too deep, Bewilderment was an escape from reality and a chance to detach from real life. After finishing the book, I felt like I had not only read an incredible piece of writing and story, but I’d also connected with characters and their sadness in ways that I don’t typically do. I’m sure, subconsciously, I was also left feeling grateful for the fortunate position I am in in my life compared to those of the characters who I had just connected with and many others out there.

I certainly wasn’t thinking that I would be ending this piece with a quote from South Park, but among the trite and shallow posts online about why we read sad books (e.g. “to feel the whole range of human emotion”), I came across a post with this quote from a character called Butters:

“Well yeah, and I'm sad, but at the same time I'm really happy that something could make me feel that sad. It's like, it makes me feel alive, you know? It makes me feel human. And the only way I could feel this sad now is if I felt somethin' really good before. So I have to take the bad with the good, so I guess what I'm feelin' is like a, beautiful sadness. I guess that sounds stupid.''