Most disturbing book?

Gonzovision

Just wondering what books everyone found disturbing. Just finished American Psycho and boy was it rough. Makes the film look very tame!

missingtime

Mo Hayder wrote a couple of books i found hard to read.
Birdman and The Treatment.

raah!

I got nightmares from Dostoyevsky's "the house of the dead". But this was partly due to the heat induced state of delerium I was in at the time :P.

Dades

Recently, The Road was somewhat disturbing.

I also remember being somewhat perturbed after reading Atomised, too.

Aurora Borealis

The Birds by Daphne du Maurier made my skin crawl.

HalloweenJack

gonzovision wrote: »

Just wondering what books everyone found disturbing. Just finished American Psycho and boy was it rough. Makes the film look very tame!

Yeah, defo. Very disturbing book.

Naked Lunch was pretty odd, mainly cos it's so ****ing hard to understand what's going on.

Raemie

Cut and Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino are very disturbing, would still recommend Cut to anyone not squeemish.

eclectichoney

I found S. a novel about the balkans really tough to read at times, I actually felt physically sick at some points.

showry

In the miso soup by Ryu Murakami is pretty disturbing stuff. A good read nonetheless.

Gonzovision

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Yeah, defo. Very disturbing book.

Naked Lunch was pretty odd, mainly cos it's so ****ing hard to understand what's going on.

Have that sitting here, haven't got too far, couldnt understand what the hell was happening, is it any good?

Delirium

Raemie wrote: »

Cut and Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino are very disturbing, would still recommend Cut to anyone not squeemish.

Is the book not called Out? Definitely not for the squeemish.
Haunted by chuck Palaniuk, some of the stuff in that book actually pushed me pretty close to being sick.

Raemie

Oh ya, it is, didnt realise id typed cut (and twice!). Damn you dyslexia!!!

John

Palahniuk, American Psycho, etc.: they all got pretty jaded during the respective books (American Psycho was more funny than upsetting, the gore becoming just another feature of his life rather than something to fret about and Chuck Palahniuk is the same, he is too cold and dejected).

Books I found most disturbing are The Road by Cormac McCarthy (as mentioned earlier) as I thought it was the most realistic view of survival ever realised in fiction.

Masuji Ibuse's Black Rain has never left my mind since I read it, it's the semi-fictional account of a man who survived the bombing of Hiroshima.

Because both books are so realistic and humane, they really hit home with me. American Psycho et al. are so far removed from reality that they simply cannot have the same impact (on me at least) as they are cartoonish in comparison.

HalloweenJack

gonzovision wrote: »

Have that sitting here, haven't got too far, couldnt understand what the hell was happening, is it any good?

The end ties up with the beginning but in between is madness.

mawk

american psycho sprung to mind alright.


its not particularly the the violence and gore, but the jarring switch between the the sexual imagery and the gore.

one second your getting into the sexy side and suddenly something horrible happens, takes you a second to differentiate the two and the moment while your in the middle is disturbing out.

Gonzovision

John wrote: »

Palahniuk, American Psycho, etc.: they all got pretty jaded during the respective books (American Psycho was more funny than upsetting, the gore becoming just another feature of his life rather than something to fret about and Chuck Palahniuk is the same, he is too cold and dejected).

Books I found most disturbing are The Road by Cormac McCarthy (as mentioned earlier) as I thought it was the most realistic view of survival ever realised in fiction.

Masuji Ibuse's Black Rain has never left my mind since I read it, it's the semi-fictional account of a man who survived the bombing of Hiroshima.

Because both books are so realistic and humane, they really hit home with me. American Psycho et al. are so far removed from reality that they simply cannot have the same impact (on me at least) as they are cartoonish in comparison.

I see where your coming from but its not just the physical aspects that are disturbing but the mental ones when you consider that a human being is capable of these acts, alongside the lack of compassion and other human emotions while still being able to function in society.

Honey-ec

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. It's not that it's gory or violent or anything, but the way the story is structured, and the way the book is physically typeset makes for a very jarring and disjointed read. It gives you a very strong sense of unreality.

spurious

"The White Hotel" by D.M. Thomas.
Read it about 25 years ago and haven't been able to read it again since.
I found it very disturbing.

John

gonzovision wrote: »

I see where your coming from but its not just the physical aspects that are disturbing but the mental ones when you consider that a human being is capable of these acts, alongside the lack of compassion and other human emotions while still being able to function in society.

Oh yeah, I totally agree with you as that's what makes most disturbing fiction disturbing, the fact that it is possible. It might be just me but I don't feel that a lot of fiction connects with reality enough to make it truly disturbing (even though I know that there are most likely quite a few Patrick Batemans out there).

sturgo

Just finished American Psycho last week and yes I found certain aspects to be disturbing alright. I found the sexual sadistic aspects praticularly grim. Also the fact that so many of the characters seemed utterly vacuas and soulless gave another dark edge to it. The violence clearly got more intense and perverse as the novel progressed. On one hand I kinda got used to it, yet on the other it just got weirder. No doubt there was humour in there as-well. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the sickest parts. "I'm a doctor" had me in stitches.

Ho-Hum

Haunted - Chuck Palahnuik
Especially Saint gut free's story, shudder....

SuperGrover

"In the miso soup by Ryu Murakami is pretty disturbing stuff. A good read nonetheless."

Yes. That bar scene is burned forever into my psyche. Great book, all the same.

The only book I ever had to put down out of disgust was Naked Lunch. All the pervy stuff about young boys, etc.

madziuda

spurious wrote: »

"The White Hotel" by D.M. Thomas.
Read it about 25 years ago and haven't been able to read it again since.
I found it very disturbing.

Love, love, love the book! I know the Holocaust is a very sensitive subject and its representation by means of magic realism may be hard to stomach but personally I think it was very tastefully done...
The Jungian/Freudian perspectives were very interesting too!
The ending, however, was - to me at least - pretty disappointing.

As for the most disturbing book - my vote goes to The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan. An insight into the mind of a very disturbed teenager presented in a very disturbing manner.

randomguy

It's years since I read the White Hotel - I remember being blown away by it alright.

"Disturbing" in the sense pf messed-up etc, I'd agree with The Cement Garden, American Psycho, and would add The Wasp Factory, The Butcher Boy, and The Acid House (which was really disturbing as it was the first Irvine Welsh that I had come across, and didn't really know what to expect).

But I would have to give the dubious award to Poppy z Brite's novel about the love story between gay vampire serial killers in New Orleans, Exquisite Corpse. Really sick stuff.

Steve01

American Psycho is pretty disturbing, but the only novel to scare the bejesus out of me is Stephen King's 1408. All 30 pages of it. Seriously!

DaveyGem

Sarah Kane- Blasted

Hollyg'lightly

Lolita, just could not go on reading it.

RonMexico

Hands down it has to be this :eek:

http://www.amazon.com/OReilly-Factor-Kids-Survival-Americas/dp/0060544252/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219675363&sr=8-3

Red Hand

Jordan's autobiography.:)

Red Hand

Seriously, Chuck Palanhuick's Haunted-the story with the guy that's super thin and the one about the lady with no lips. They are both horrific cause they are accidents.

bullpost

The Butcher Boy - Pat McCabe.
Only book I've read which gave me nightmares.
Didn't bother me that much on a conscious level but obviously sub-consiously hit a nerve.

mct1

Gil Courtemanche's novel "A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali" about the Rwanda genocide - all the more horrifying for being based on fact.

Fad

missingtime wrote: »

Mo Hayder wrote a couple of books i found hard to read.
Birdman and The Treatment.

I love her books, creepy as hell though.

Pig Island was pretty out there to say the least, and Tokyo wasnt too pleasant, i ll give those other two a whirl.

As mentioned Haunted was pretty grim, hopefully Survivor which is on my ''to do list'' wont be as bad, but i wont count on it.

Inglorious

I don't think Haunted is half as bad as people are making out. Sure that one particular short story by Saint Gut Free (anyone who wants to read it can find it here) is pretty rough but most of the rest were just dull and drab... amateur painter turns into hitman... woman kills people by rubbing their feet... rich people pretend to be homeless... etc. The main plot itself was also so off the wall that it could never really be taken seriously.

I'd consider the following to be some of the most disturbing books:

Hogg by Samuel R. Delany
The Consumer by M. Gira
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

Also an honourable mention to Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. It's not particularly violent or perverse or anything but leaves you feeling utterly empty after reading it.

AJG

'Z for Zachariah' - Richard C. O'Brien. I read this when I was about 11 and it definitely shook me up. From what I remember it was about a girl surviving a nuclear holocaust and it is very bleak.

Captain Ginger

120 Days of Sodom for me - Marquis de Sade, had no idea what I was getting into when I read that.

pookie82

Steve01 wrote: »

American Psycho is pretty disturbing, but the only novel to scare the bejesus out of me is Stephen King's 1408. All 30 pages of it. Seriously!

The movie didn't translate though! It was horrific, and not in a scary way - in a really cringeworthy waste of an hour and a half. (The Stephen King film, not American Psycho). But Stephen King books are not translating well into movies of late anyway.

Caroline Smailes' In Search of Adam was particularly disturbing to read - not because of horror but because it described the abuse and rape of a young girl and her later depression and it was a tough read in that sense. In places I had to put it down and in others it had me in tears.

Oscholar

Cujo by Stephen King. It might seem like a strange choice but it's a very stark book. King really makes you feel for the safety of the two main characters as it's more reality based than many of his novels.

boobookitty

Cujo wasn't that bad for me, but I can see how it was disturbing. As a guy though, there was a bit afaik which made me cringe.


Just finished Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite.

It involved necrophilia and cannibalism so it was pretty weird. Even weirder since it's about a real life serial killer.

toomevara

Dades wrote: »

Recently, The Road was somewhat disturbing.

I also remember being somewhat perturbed after reading Atomised, too.

+1, both books that live long in the mind after reading. I found The Road to be one of the most affecting books i've read in a long, long time, but then McCarthy has a way of getting under your skin...I remember finding Blood Meridien as challenging many years ago...Ballard's 'Crash' is also one which tends to disturb in the literal sense of the word....

Valmont

A book that really unnerved me was The Castle by Franz Kafka. It really creeped me out and I thought about it quite a bit after I read it. American Psycho for pure gratuitous violence and nastiness (I loved it though) and The Road was especially creepy.

DesignLady

Sabbaths Theatre by Philip Roth. Trying to blank that one from my memory.

Silent Partner

AJG wrote: »

'Z for Zachariah' - Richard C. O'Brien. I read this when I was about 11 and it definitely shook me up. From what I remember it was about a girl surviving a nuclear holocaust and it is very bleak.

We studied this book for our Junior Cert. and it was very very bleak alright.

I have to agree with Haunted. The levels of gore meant you could not read that book comfortably or while eating for that matter!

DjAloldskool

Any body know any good horror books?

InvisibleBadger

I agree with The Road, it stayed with me for a long time. The Wasp Factory was a pretty disturbing read too.

Hagar

DjAloldskool wrote: »

Any body know any good horror books?

Anything by Richard Layman. A bit formulaic but still a good read.

longshanks

having read a bunch of the books mentioned i dont think i've found any too disturbing if i'm honest. stylised violence and arty horror, the fact its often well written somehow making it seem unreal. repeated in every book. i dont know is it because in the back of my mind i know this is just some story.
thats the fiction side of things anyway. i read a book on the moors murderers, complete with transcribed exerpts of the recordings those sick fuckers made of one of the kids they tortured and killed. that was disturbing

Shryke

I believe House of Leaves is quite unnerving but I haven't read it yet. It seems to get good bit of praise. I'd check it out if you want an unsettling read.

Quality

Read The Road there at the weekend.. My heart was thumping all through it.. Not quite disturbing as distressing..

The worst book I ever read was Ma he sold me for a pack of cigarettes... True story by a lady called Martha Long..

di74

Just recently finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy...... really unnerved me....

tallulah_crack

the heart is decietful above all things by JT LeRoy