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.