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Original poster

Books that are painful to read, but EVERYONE should!

95 replies

expatinscotland · 28/03/2006 10:13

I'll start:

Schindler's List

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Colour Purple

OP posts:
Ellbell · 28/03/2006 23:49

Oops! I hated Falling Leaves (sorry). I didn't find I could empathise with the author at all.

moondog · 28/03/2006 23:32

lol
A rite of passage for women of a certain age...

MrsSpoon · 28/03/2006 23:29

Oooops, didn't notice you had posted again I meant Flowers in the Attic. Grin

moondog · 28/03/2006 23:25

Which one MS? The 'Dogs' one??

Stylish · 28/03/2006 23:23

Oops. The adult version is called falling leaves. Chinese Cinderella is the one written for teens.

\link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141304871/qid=1143584492/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/203-0043574-3207958\Amazon Link with plot synopsis}

MrsSpoon · 28/03/2006 23:23

LOL MD, that was the book I thought of too! Grin

moondog · 28/03/2006 23:22

Robin yes, 'Once.' is a great book. Blew me away.

Also 'Don't lets go to the dogs tonight'
Alexandra something-or-other

Stylish · 28/03/2006 23:20

Chinese Cinderella - Adeline Yen Mae [or something like that] IMO A very sad but powerful book about how expectations can screw up a life.

robinpud · 28/03/2006 22:59

Once in a house on fire- Andrea Ashworth

Just read my dd's copy of Goodnight Mister Tom - Michelle Magorian and it made me weep.

ShaysMummy · 28/03/2006 22:56

a child called it- dave pelzer
kathy's story- cant remember her name, its about the magdalen laundries and evil priests etc

moondog · 28/03/2006 22:54

'Flowrs in the Attic'

(simply to marvel at the fact that someone could stoop so low...)

Ozzybird · 28/03/2006 22:51

Beyond Belief - the moors murderers. Read this a few years ago (before I was a Mum) but have to say it left me feeling dirty & apalled at myself for having read it.

granarybeck · 28/03/2006 21:44

'we need to talk about kevin' - disturbing, but was hooked.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 28/03/2006 21:27

Maggots?! Shock

Like watching 'Requiem for a Dream'.

OP posts:
LadySherlockofLGJ · 28/03/2006 21:25

Prufrock

I had forgotten about Go Ask Alice, it was the maggots that did it for me.

roosmum · 28/03/2006 21:22

agree with primo levi.

i found jude the obscure harrowing/depressing.

camus's the outsider is a bizarre read that isn't so much painful as horrifying, in its emotional coldness - compelling tho.

Ellbell · 28/03/2006 21:07

OMG... its its its...not it's...

What is the world coming to? I'm turning illiterate! The shame!

Ellbell · 28/03/2006 21:06

I'd just like to second (or is it third/fourth by now) the recommendations to read Primo Levi (especially If This is a Man).

Issymum, I'm not sure if it offers a 'different from the mainstream' perspective on the Holocaust. But it is remarkable (imo) for it's tone. Levi doesn't set out to describe the Holocaust per se, but simply to say what happened to him personally. He doesn't draw general conclusions; instead he leaves the reader to do that for themselves. And he writes simply and honestly, with hardly any anger or self-pity.

Prufrock · 28/03/2006 17:01

I'd add V. Britains Testament to Youth to the WW1 books.

And Go Ask Alice - about a teenager who gets into drugs - v. powerful reading for late teens, and Ithink the reason why my youthful experimentation didn't go too far

collision · 28/03/2006 16:52

My Sister's Keeper
Boy Called It
Before I Say Goodbye
C is for Cancer

Tried to read Gloria H's book about Caron Keatingbut it was too sad

brimfull · 28/03/2006 16:50

katy,I agree about boy called it book,I've never been able to bring myself to read it... sounds too upsetting.

couldn't get into Brick lane either.

"A million little pieces" by james frey

"Not without my daughter",---mahmoody (I think)

Issymum · 28/03/2006 16:35

Books you "should read" are rather individual, depending on your own experience, outlook and knowledge. From what I have read, seen and visited, I feel that I'm fully and completely aware that the Holocaust, World War I, World War II and Cambodia under Pol Pot were horrific at every level and, if the human race can manage it, never to be repeated. Reading mainstream accounts of those periods may add something to my knowledge, but are unlikely to change my attitudes. A book that provides a different perspective? That may be a 'must read'. Like Geekgrrl, I don't feel I need to read anything more to understand the horror of child abuse or the trauma of living with and dying of cancer. But books that challenge my perceptions on parenting, immigration, education, environmentalism or being a racial minority - yep, bring them on.

eefs · 28/03/2006 16:32

the great hunger

what was the book about the boy in the second world war "my name is ..."

eefs · 28/03/2006 16:30

agree with Kathy about a boy call it.

Catcher in the rye

throckenholt · 28/03/2006 16:23

Holocaust - can't remember who by

Exodus by Leon Uris

I am not pro of anti jewish by the way - just these two books made a big impression on me.