Books that disturb you?

[TheMasterNotMargarita]

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.

Any others had a similar effect on you?

Sorry I disturbed you @MiddlingMum

Do you like that book especially, Girl? I thought it was an interesting idea but also quite creepy.

It made me even less inclined to spend the night alone in a large old house in the middle of nowhere!

It isn't a particular favourite - I just liked the title and happened to be reading it when I needed a user name!

Ah, I see!

Agree Never Let Me Go was very disturbing in its tone, also the Little stranger.

I found the Outcast by Sadie Jones very disturbing because it was just so depressing.

No idea what inspired me to read it Clawdy, I can only assume I didn't read the blurb. Mind you still doesn't explain why I continued to read it!!!

Never Let Me Go 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

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!

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

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.

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.

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

@FiveShelties
Me too!

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

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.

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).

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.

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

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 £££).

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

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

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

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.

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

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!