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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:
CoteDAzur · 04/02/2017 10:08

What did you find disturbing in So Much For That? Confused

TheoriginalLEM · 04/02/2017 10:12

we need to talk about Kevin - still wish i never read it Sad

Formerpigwrestler9 · 04/02/2017 10:26

What did you find disturbing in So Much For That?
X 2 Confused

HelenDenver · 04/02/2017 10:36

The Jackson story.

Not sure why that warrants the faces!

CoteDAzur · 04/02/2017 11:02

What exactly? It's been a few years since I read it but it was a woman with cancer undergoing chemo and her insurance/healthcare/legal issues.

Do you find health problems "disturbing"?

HelenDenver · 04/02/2017 11:04

No, that part of it wasn't disturbing, but thanks for your presumption, (despite me referring to a male character) .

Spoiler, then, as you are insistent:
What Jackson ended up doing to his penis.

Formerpigwrestler9 · 04/02/2017 11:37

Oh yes I remember now

CoteDAzur · 04/02/2017 11:41

Well that clearly hasn't traumatized me as much as it did you.

I don't think that makes a book disturbing, though.

HelenDenver · 04/02/2017 11:42

Whilst I agree Kevin was disturbing, I never wished I hadn't read it and I've reread a few times.

I did wish I hadn't read So Much For That because of the Jackson outcome!

HelenDenver · 04/02/2017 11:43

Of course, Cote, YMMV. Life's rich tapestry and all.

But the antagonism was a bit much for a thread about books.

PuppyMonkey · 04/02/2017 11:51

I read a very disturbing book a few years back, can't remember the exact title - something about a crow, but not Ian Banks The Crow Road before anyone suggests it. This was a real epic set in a military base in the US but told from the point of view of an 8 yo girl - all about a creepy teacher and the disappearance of another little girl on the base. Horrid twist at the end. Sad

HelenDenver · 04/02/2017 11:56

Complicity by Iain Banks was another disturbing one. Didn't regret reading it, though!

PuppyMonkey · 04/02/2017 12:00

Got it - The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald. Set in Canada, not the U.S.

IamScarfaceClaw · 04/02/2017 12:31

The ice people by Maggie Gee, horribly disturbing future vision.

CoteDAzur · 04/02/2017 13:20

I'm sorry you think asking you what you meant was "antagonizing".

Yes YMMV and all that but so what if a penis was deformed and its owner shot himself as a result? That wasn't even a part of the main plot. How could it make the book a disturbing one? Confused It was told in a rather flippant way, like the rest of the book and its title:

--------
"You ain't seen nothing yet," Jackson muttered to himself, while fiddling with his apology for a penis. He had always known Carol wanted him to be better hung, so had undergone secret extension surgery – which, predictably, went wrong, leaving him with a lumpy tuber.

Jackson showed Carol his new, deformed penis. "I'm not going anywhere near that," she shrieked. "Nor am I!" screamed the prostitute he showed it to later. "Fuck the lot of you," Jackson wept, putting a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. "It's sooo unfair," Flicka said. "How come Dad gets to kill himself and I don't?"
---------

And you find that "disturbing"? Confused

HelenDenver · 04/02/2017 13:54

Yes, I find it disturbing.

What I found antagonising was you making out that it was the woman's cancer storyline I found disturbing, and sneering at me for it, when it was clear from the prior post that wasn't what i was talking about.

Why are you going on at me, Cote? I really CBA with this on a thread that I hoped to enjoy and get interesting suggestions from.

CoteDAzur · 04/02/2017 14:12

I'm not having a go at you Confused Do you not know what a discussion is? People can discuss books without being angry at each other, you know.

If you are so sensitive as to think disagreement = aggression, then i guess you could find So Much For That a disturbing book.

TheTantrumCometh · 04/02/2017 14:26

The Gone Series by Michael Grant. It's YA, but particular parts of the story have stayed with me for years.

Formerpigwrestler9 · 04/02/2017 17:10

threshold for being disturbed clearly varies from person to person, for instance, I cant handle most horror films, and am Confused at the way some people laugh them off.

I'll be following up some of the book discussions on this thread but I still cant think of a single book which has disturbed me aside from the 'true ghost stories' books that I read as a child

ghostwatch · 05/02/2017 17:09

Great thread I will be trying some of the suggestions! I loved "The ghost of Lily Painter" by Caitlin Davies. It has supernatural elements but is more a detective mystery. The disturbing parts is reference to the baby farmers. Overall the best book and I would add to that "Blacklands" by Belinda Bauer. It's horrifying and moving at the same time.

insan1tyscartching · 05/02/2017 17:23

Entwined by Linda La Plante. I read it years ago but it still haunts me.

Strummerville · 05/02/2017 19:10

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima. Its very good, and a slim volume, but yeah, utterly disturbing.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 06/02/2017 07:38

I have read many here and I agree with the pat barker prosititite murder there is one bit (gross) that pings back into my head

I also recently discovered Joyce carol oates - she is dark dark dark and I won't even go near daddy love Sad

Ageee with Belinda Bauer

And the one about the parents that kill their little girl (monster love ) also haunts me to this day

There are some books you just have the throw away afterwards

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 06/02/2017 14:29

I've read lots of these books as I love dystopian fiction. I'd like to read The Road again - depressing, but I like it!

One book I couldn't read I can't remember the name of. It was about a child, a toddler, that goes missing from his car seat when his father stops to stretch his legs at a rest stop. My husband bought it for me when I was on maternity leave - less than a chapter in I put it down and have never picked it up again.

I won't read American Psycho again. It gave me nightmares (and was required reading for one of my university courses).

I find the thought of eternity unsettling. So a short story in a sci-fi compilation about a young woman that lives right until she is thrown into the sun when the earth explodes is one I regularly think about!

Summerof85 · 06/02/2017 16:58

This is a great thread and brings back memories. I remember reading Flowers in the attic when I was a young teenager which was very disturbing. I started reading The Lovely Bones but stopped as too upsetting for me. Also the first time I read the Wasp Factory, thinking how can someone make this stuff up, Iain Banks always seemed very normal in interviews! Loved his other books but not into science fiction.

I read a book called the Birthing House set in 1800s Canada which upset me but probably because I was pregnant at the time!
Also started reading Brave New World years ago but was hard going too especially as some of what he predicted has already come true from what I remember.
Read Lord of the Flies just recently which was also disturbing but to me demonstrates how groups can work and bully others that are weaker.