5 sad girl books to read under the sun Carefree summers, depressed readings
If you are avid readers or simply like to keep up with the latest titles to show off at company dinners, your FYP will probably be invaded by the so-called sad girl books. Rivista Studio, in a recent article, defines them as "stories of depression, medications, psychotic crises, bad dates, in which, however, in the end, the protagonist always comes out unharmed, always looking splendid, even after an overdose or ghosting." While the trend is relatively recent in Italy, in the United States, publishers have been courting female acedia for years, back when Tumblr was a far more toxic environment than TikTok, and all forms of malaise were not just recounted but celebrated. Relatively new voices like Sally Rooney, Megan Dolan, Otessa Moshfegh, Naoise Dolan, join classics like Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, creating a new literary sub-genre dedicated to young women eager to see themselves reflected in what they read. So, to not feel excluded from the trend and to enjoy a dark novel under the beach umbrella, here is our list of Sad Books for the summer.
The Witch - Johanne Lykke Holm
The portrait of the perfect young woman embodying the American dream but concealing the shadow of depression: this is what emerges in The Bell Jar and sixty years later in Euforia, Elin Cullhed's first novel for adults, freely inspired by the biography of Sylvia Plath. Cullhed developed a true obsession with the life and work of the American poet when she found herself in a similar position to Sylvia's: a mother, the wife of a writer, struggling to find space and time for her own work. Perhaps, in order to exorcise and to embrace a better fate than Plath's, the only choice left for her was to write about it.
