I can't believe I've been so disturbed by a book!

Have started another book instead of this one now. I'm so weepy and over emotional at moment don't think I could handle anything too harrowing.

Ta for the warning. Glad I read this!

I started to read the book but put it away before the gory stuff (one of the main characters has just had her baby) - I probably started another book as I often do. I'll pick it up again tho. I believe Chimimanda may have a new book out.

Cinderally? wtf?

How about re-reading an old favourite. I find Pride and Prejudice always does the trick (basically Cinderally, as Nancy Banks-Smith has pointed out). When I gave up on Beloved when I was pg (and also hyper-emetic) I turned to old Margaret Atwoods - was very comforting.

Mystic - I do think it's a great book!

i found thousand splendid suns diffcult too though loved it- glad i've read it, but echo those who say follow it with a lighter read...just been away and found a book inour flat called..how to kill your husband-kathy lette-not my usual read but light-hearted and made me laugh a few times. hope this thred helps.

I think u should read it. Wars r ugly and most times un-necessary. And maybe if we understand that we'll learn to sort things out in a peaceful and rational manner. The Ibos in Nigeria now do. They hate wars more than other tribes cause they know what it's truly like.

I couldn't finish 'A Boy Called It'. It upset me so much I found myself feeling sick and crying when I thougt about it. A complete over reaction as the OP says, but nevertheless, some images never left me and I couldn't deal with finising it.

I often wonder what happened in the end...

I have exactly the same problem with Will Self's books (Book of Dave and the one about chimpanzees) - they manage to be both deeply unpleasant and very convincingly real at the same time. Both stayed in my head for ages & wouldn't go away despite the fact that I didn't finish either. My only (unhelpful) answer has been not to read anything else by him.

Hester - I was the same with The Road. Finished it, but would never be able to put myself through reading it again! Amazingly written, but so well that it's emotionally harrowing.

pw, that book is just so... i have no words for it. in fact i suppose it's a great book, but can a great book really be so unpleasant and disturbing? my uncle gave it to me after we were both enthusing about the crimson petal and the white, can you imagine the shock? normally i try to know what i am getting into but with Under the Skin i just had no idea, which i suppose is why it literally hit me like a ton of bricks...

MysticMasseuse, I came on this thread wondering whether it was about Under the Skin. brrrr.

I'm like blueshoes - I try not to read books that I know are going to include really violent or sadistic stuff. I don't think it helps me to have that imagery in my head. (I hope I make up for this head-in-sand approach by engaging with the issues in other ways, IYKWIM.)

I had to stop reading 'Beloved' when I was pregnant because of the violence (had read it before and loved it - seemed to shake off the violent stuff much more easily when I was younger). Wouldn't even want to read it now.

i waas like this about wild swans. I was 15 when i read it and couldnt believe it was real!

6 years later im fine!

Nkf. Have just received this in the post and am worried about reading it now!

Do you regret reading it?

since having children i am a wimp. i refuse to watch sad/disturbing films and ditto books. if someone tells me a book is really really good then i will give it a go but on the whole tend to to stick to butterflies and fairytales as stuff that isn't can and does really upset me

the kite runner is on my pile of things to read...maybe i shouldn't...

I was also upset by the Nanny Diaries (I read it a while ago). Yes, it's supposed to be a light / frothy read but it's quite cutting at times, and the little boy's life is very very sad tbh.

There are all sorts of books that have upset me in the past & have made me cry & cry. 'Prayer for Owen Meany' was one (it also made me laugh very much; btw if anyone hasn't read it yet, rush off to amazon NOW & get it You won't regret it). Can't really remember others atm but perhaps we could start a separate thread on this? Oh there was actually a children's book I read when I was about 10 & I remember I cried & sobbed. It was about the friendship between a little boy & an old man & the tile was something like 'my beautiful orange tree'. Anyone heard of it? I haven't been able to track it down since... I think the writer must have been latin american.

i loved half of a yellow sun. hard but so powerful.

know what you mean abou being upset by a book... i am still having flashbacks about this, 3 years after having read it...

Once Were Warriors, was that made into a film? Set in NZ around the Maori culture?

I loved The Yellow Sun - as you say it's based on fact so it is sadly disturbing, but i think it also indicates a great book and writer that has knocked you off kilter. It made an impact on you which is the hope of many a writer. I loved Once Were Warriors as well but it was so disturbing i had to stop reading it for about 5 years

The Road - I found it almost unbearably distressing. Couldn't finish it, it made me cry so much.

nkf, I think you're right. Although its fiction it is grounded in fact, similar to the Kite Runner etc.

With me it was recently A thousand splendid suns that I found distressing. It's because the things that happened in it are happening in real life and it was really hard to get the images out of my head. Won't be rereading that one for a long time although I usually read my books 2 or 3 times.