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Original poster

Books that disturb you?

156 replies

TheMasterNotMargarita · 16/01/2017 17:58

I don't mean books that are obviously horror genre or thriller type or misery-lit.
I just finished A Handmaid's Tales and it gave me the heebie jeebies. Everyone under the regime having their place. Not knowing who you could talk to about anything. Chilling.

I was also quite freaked out by The Midwich Cuckoos and scared myself with Rebecca. Blush

Any others had a similar effect on you?

OP posts:
Oblomov17 · 30/01/2017 17:04

Thousand suns and kite runner were good but not disturbing.

Starting to become a bit worried that nothing disturbs me .... Blush

Oblomov17 · 30/01/2017 16:59

We need to talk about Kevin was good.

ILookAtLifeFromBothSidesNow · 30/01/2017 16:53

Loving this thread...added lots (too many!) to my wish list.

Mine would have to be We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Road

Please keep them coming!

crapfatbanana · 29/01/2017 18:45

The Road definitely. One that stays with you.

Just before Christmas I re-read 1984. Last read at school more than twenty years ago. It didn't affect me much back then but goodness, it bloody disturbs me now.

blueskyinmarch · 23/01/2017 21:06

Under the Skin by Michel Faber is a book that has stuck with me for a long long time.

NancyJoan · 23/01/2017 21:01

The Uninvited Guest by Sadie Jones really unsettled me. Gave it away straight after reading, never ever want to read it again!

KarenCBC · 23/01/2017 20:57

Just read Ruby by Cynthia Bond. That book should come with a warning! The spiel on the back gives nothing away about how harrowing it is!

Tupperwarelid · 23/01/2017 20:37

The Siege by Helen Dunmore - it's about the Siege of Lenningrad and the lives of the ordinary people trying to survive

trixie1970 · 23/01/2017 17:13

My son bought me "His bloody project" by Graeme McCrae Burnett for Christmas. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016 and I found it very disturbing indeed. I cried numerous times whilst reading it and I will never forget it. It's apparently a true story too. I bawled for hours at the end.

Also, "A blade of grass" by Lewis Desoto (I believe it was his debut novel). Excellent story and upsetting for me.

Another is "The little friend" by Donna Tartt. Brilliant! Not sad but a page turner that is very eerie and absorbing.

I love a good book and will read almost anything.

alialiath · 23/01/2017 16:45

I couldn't sleep after reading The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid as it really freaked me out.

DodoRevival · 21/01/2017 21:37

Hmmm, yes, The Fifth Child - disturbing; still not quite as bad as The Adams one which I can't seem to wipe from my mind

Destinysdaughter · 21/01/2017 21:15

I couldn't finish Alone in Berlin, it was so bleak.

BlackIsTheNewBlack · 21/01/2017 19:04

Hahahaha FiveShelties me too!
Especially Let's go play at the Adams but I can't find it anywhere (except ebay and amazon but it's £££).

TheSultanofPingu · 21/01/2017 17:21

Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates.
I usually really enjoy her books, but found this beyond disturbing.

3penguins · 21/01/2017 14:16

I have yet to finish "A Thousand Splendid Suns" - I've stopped reading at the point where she is on the bus and I know (or think I know) something awful is about to happen and I can't bring myself to continue reading.

Merrylegs · 21/01/2017 14:08

The Collector is horribly unsettling.
Also any Ira Levin - especially Rosemary 's Baby. (Also great film). And A Kiss Before Dying (although not a great film).

smurfest · 21/01/2017 14:03

Laonar - yes, I'd forgotten about The Fifth Child, read that years ago - worth a read though and it's a novella so a quick read.

gutrotweins · 19/01/2017 22:44

Night Work by Thomas Glavinic freaked me out, and, 12 years later, still freaks me out if I think about it!

I can't even admit that I understood, liked or even remember the story; but the whole idea of waking up completely alone terrified (and terrifies) me.

Here is a link to a very articulate 5-star review of it on Amazon, in case anyone wants to read it!:
Night Work

Original poster
TheMasterNotMargarita · 19/01/2017 21:57

@FiveShelties
Me too!

OP posts:
Destinysdaughter · 19/01/2017 21:52

The Outcast was one of the most depressing books I've ever read. Do not read it!!

LanaorAna1 · 19/01/2017 21:51

The Fifth Child is in a small way responsible for me not having children.

Happy Like Murderers by Gordon Burn, the non-fictional account of the West murders, cuts into your brain so hard I thought for 20 min about 'recommending' it in this post. You can't unread it, bear in mind.

littlejeopardy · 19/01/2017 21:46

The Republic of Trees, French teenagers escape to the woods to set up an ideal society but they soon turn on one another in a Lord of the Flies style.

FiveShelties · 19/01/2017 21:39

Not sure what this says about me, but I have added quite a number of these to my WishList

SecondaryQuandary · 19/01/2017 21:23

Never Let Me Go
Station Eleven
Handmaids Tale
The Cleft : Doris Lessing
Parts of Cloud Atlas
Most books by Jim Crace - esp Quarantine

Just finished The Little Stranger & found it boring. Not scared of ghosties!

CoteDAzur · 19/01/2017 20:57

Never Let Me Go Grin I wouldn't have counted it as a terribly disturbing book.

If anyone is interested in some truly disturbing (not horror) books:

The Atrocity Exhibition by J G Ballard
Umbrella by Will Self
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
Crash by J G Ballard
Confessions Of A Sociopath by M E Thomas (non-fiction, memoir)

And if anyone is interested in similarly disturbing films:
eXistenZ
Memento
Naked Lunch
The Prestige