sob story

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

sob story
    n 1: a sentimental story (or drama) of personal distress;
         designed to arouse sympathy [syn: {sob story}, {sob stuff}]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

26 Moby Thesaurus words for "sob story":
      bathos, bleeding heart, cloyingness, goo, hearts-and-flowers,
      maudlinness, mawkishness, mush, mushiness, namby-pamby,
      namby-pambyism, namby-pambyness, nostalgia, nostomania,
      oversentimentalism, oversentimentality, romanticism, sentiment,
      sentimentalism, sentimentality, slop, sloppiness, slush,
      soap opera, sweetness and light, tearjerker