Nothing more disturbing than Joan being offered that glimpse of the truth about her life and what she’s really done to her family and watching her slowly settle back into the shell of her life.
Disturbing in a good, self reflective way.
Also the fact that Christie said it was the only book she’s ever been satisfied with and she wrote it in three days- inspired
House of Leaves gave me the heebie-jeebies when I first read it. But I couldn't finish Lolita; I got as far as the break between parts I and II and the overwhelming sense of utter devastation and despair was too much for me.
When I finished Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid of Earth, I wasn't disturbed in a Halloween-creepy kind of way, but the immense loneliness of the title character weighed heavy on my heart for a week afterwards. That book is powerfully honest and truthful, and I was left with the sense that there are many men all over—even in my own neighborhood—who experience crushing loneliness like that.
Nonfiction? My in-laws are both doctors. Once, at their house, I was idly flipping through their bookshelf and came upon a medical text called "Atlas of Skin Diseases" . . . and I shouldn't have, but I looked. It was full of pictures. I didn't need to see those.
Man, that’s it: The emotional impact of some of these books is intense. The ability for an author to conjure an entire range of emotions and have them settle in as if they’re genuinely our own is a curious power.
And skin diseases! Haha. Never look at the medical books!
I don't blame you! I had to read it in college -- freshman year, I think. The teachers and the critics are all like "Incisive critique of consumerist American culture, blah blah blah," and all little 18-year-old me can think is "THIS POOR LITTLE GIRL IS BEING MOLESTED! THIS IS AWFUL!"
I don't say they're incorrect about the incisive critique. Just that I thought, and still think, that a reading that's solely about that is missing something.
Yeah, that’s a dark one. I read it about 15 years ago, same time as Child of God. Need to read it again, actually. I bought another copy when McCarthy died, thinking I’d give it another read. If it weren’t Child of God, I’d say the most disturbing book I’ve ever read was another McCarthy book, The Road. That was oddly uplifting but so, so dark.
I‘ve somehow avoided 1984 all these years, even when I’ve had copies in my possession. Reading Anna Funder’s biography of Orwell’s wife—along with several mentions in recent days, including now yours—makes me want to venture in.
McCarthy is indeed shaking. I will never read The Road again, despite it's over arching theme of hope. I was a night security guard once and took King's IT with me to pass the time. Big mistake.
My second child had just been born and I was a combat engineer officer when I read it. It did put me into a depression. I resigned shortly after and in the midst of OIF.
Perfume! It was originally a German book. The man character Grenouille becomes obsessed with making perfume out of people he kills in search of the ultimate scent.
It is! He becomes a recluse and lives in a cave and becomes grotesque. He uses their body fat to make the perfume. I think he ends up getting eaten in the end.
The comments are fascinating to me. I'm very "lightweight" when it comes to "horror", whether it is film or literary. My definition is broad: the horror of human depravity and the "jump out of your seat stylized suspenseful horror" stuff. (Interestingly, I LOVE action movies like cheap kung fu movies and John Wick, so somehow my brain makes a distinction between the depraved killing in "No Country for Old Men" and John Wick). Ever since I was a kid I wondered why people find stuff like this "entertaining" or even intellectually fascinating (and obviously millions do from the sales). I would say the most disturbing stuff I ever read were the case files of the dozens of kids we fostered in residential treatment for 5 years. I guess I had enough real depravity to ponder the human trajectory for a lifetime. Though it makes me wonder, do we need books like "Child of God" to push us to the dark edge of the potential for human evil because we've become complacent, desensitized or blind to even our own shadows. Good thread, much to think about! Thanks!
Flannery O’Connor would say yes. That’s what motivated a lot of her fiction. It’s not for everyone—and usually not for me; I don’t usually seek it out—but it can hit hard. Child of God does, for instance, a masterful job of provoking the question of whether people are born bad or become that way. The case is so extreme it foils all the easy answers.
Orwell's 1984. I read it when I was in eighth grade, because David Bowie's "1984" from his Diamond Dogs album was on the radio all the time. I wasn't prepared for Orwell's nightmarish dystopia.
It is my “most disturbing “ Can’t forget the face mask and rats- everyone has their breaking point and there are people out there looking for yours and willing to use it to make you comply. Over the top disturbing
The Collector by John Fowles. It haunted me. I first read it as an impressionable 15 year old snd literally threw the book across the room when I finished it. I felt so panicked and wanted to contact someone to warn a character in the book. There was literally a brief moment where I completely forgot it wasn’t real. I’ve re- read it several times since and it always impacts me- similarly and yet also differently each time.
I’ve never heard of The Collector but I’m mildly intrigued by what you’ve written about your experience with this book. I’ll add it to my very long TBR.
I barely started The Collector a few years ago and realized it was too creepy for me. I'm pretty sure I tossed it because it felt evil. Didn't even want it in the house.
LOL. Yes, I’d say it mostly is. I don’t go out of my way to find and read disturbing books. Sometimes they just come your way. But they can be worth contemplating regardless.
Don't be put off - there's wonderful writing in Perfume. And the premise of something outcast trying to capture something elusively beautiful is an age-old story.
Piranesi is captivating. So strange, so labrynthine, I felt as though I was just missing something important all the way through. If you read it I'll be interested to see what you make of it.
Most traumatizing thing I ever read was John Steinbecks “The Pearl”. I had to read it for school and the ending horrified me so much I have refused to read Steinbeck ever since.
As an adult the most traumatized I have been by a book was “God is a Bullet” by Boston Teran but I love it. In fact I’m due for a re-read.
The Road to Wigan Pier, by George Orwell, was harder for me to read than Lolita. The daily lives of British miners was scarier than any Stephen King novel. Almost turned me into a Socialist. Almost.
Most disturbing book ever: The Mandibles (2016) by Lionel Shriver. I have a finance background and her financial dystopian novel was uncomfortably plausible. I don't think it got the praise and publicity it deserved; It probably got lost in the melee of all the other dystopian novels.
LOL. It’s funny the power a book can have. The Road was the most horrifying dystopian novel I’ve ever read. Station Eleven was the best dystopian novel I’ve read—very uplifting actually.
Though it is more dark dystopian than classic horror, Robert McCammon's Swan Song is the book that I personally found the most unsettling and thought provoking. It has been more than 25 years since I last read it, and I recently gifted a copy to my adult daughter. As she is reading it now and texting me horrified that I did not forewarn her of the depravity, I am realizing that I may need to read it again to refresh my memory (and find out just what I had forgotten that I just gave my only child to read🙄). I only remember the core story and that I read through the nearly 900 page novel in a matter of days, it was that good.
The way those books stick with you is fascinating. I read Child of God more than 15 years ago, and it’s still with me. It’s also funny, per your comment, what we remember and what we don’t.
Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie
Nothing more disturbing than Joan being offered that glimpse of the truth about her life and what she’s really done to her family and watching her slowly settle back into the shell of her life.
Disturbing in a good, self reflective way.
Also the fact that Christie said it was the only book she’s ever been satisfied with and she wrote it in three days- inspired
Wow! That’s a great example of what a disturbing book can do for a reader.
Also, how cool to know Christie was uniquely fond of it. High recommendation.
House of Leaves gave me the heebie-jeebies when I first read it. But I couldn't finish Lolita; I got as far as the break between parts I and II and the overwhelming sense of utter devastation and despair was too much for me.
When I finished Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid of Earth, I wasn't disturbed in a Halloween-creepy kind of way, but the immense loneliness of the title character weighed heavy on my heart for a week afterwards. That book is powerfully honest and truthful, and I was left with the sense that there are many men all over—even in my own neighborhood—who experience crushing loneliness like that.
Nonfiction? My in-laws are both doctors. Once, at their house, I was idly flipping through their bookshelf and came upon a medical text called "Atlas of Skin Diseases" . . . and I shouldn't have, but I looked. It was full of pictures. I didn't need to see those.
Man, that’s it: The emotional impact of some of these books is intense. The ability for an author to conjure an entire range of emotions and have them settle in as if they’re genuinely our own is a curious power.
And skin diseases! Haha. Never look at the medical books!
Lolita was a tough one for me.
Haven't read Lolita. Tess was enough of that genre.
I’m not familiar with Tess.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Starts happy, goes badly fast with no redemption.
I does indeed. This book blew me away when I read it as a teen but it is devastating.
Ah. Haven’t read it yet, but you’re edging it down my list :)
I'd far rather read Les Miserables. It is a hard story but uplifting and full of grace.
I'd far rather read Les Miserables. It is a hard story but uplifting and full of grace.
I’ve never tried it and am pretty sure I won’t.
I don't blame you! I had to read it in college -- freshman year, I think. The teachers and the critics are all like "Incisive critique of consumerist American culture, blah blah blah," and all little 18-year-old me can think is "THIS POOR LITTLE GIRL IS BEING MOLESTED! THIS IS AWFUL!"
I don't say they're incorrect about the incisive critique. Just that I thought, and still think, that a reading that's solely about that is missing something.
Yeah, I don’t want to invite that in.
Blood Meridian. Hands down.
And the humour could hardly be blacker/bleaker:
The man relieving himself did not look up. I wouldnt go in there if I was you, he said.
Yeah, that’s a dark one. I read it about 15 years ago, same time as Child of God. Need to read it again, actually. I bought another copy when McCarthy died, thinking I’d give it another read. If it weren’t Child of God, I’d say the most disturbing book I’ve ever read was another McCarthy book, The Road. That was oddly uplifting but so, so dark.
1984. Read it as a teenager. Never saw that super depressing ending coming.
I‘ve somehow avoided 1984 all these years, even when I’ve had copies in my possession. Reading Anna Funder’s biography of Orwell’s wife—along with several mentions in recent days, including now yours—makes me want to venture in.
McCarthy is indeed shaking. I will never read The Road again, despite it's over arching theme of hope. I was a night security guard once and took King's IT with me to pass the time. Big mistake.
LOL, I can imagine! I’m ambivalent about re-reading The Road. I’ve kept my copy assuming I will but can’t quite work up the gumption :)
The Road was tough stuff but I found Blood Meridian a far more unsettling read.
I’m due for a re-read.
My second child had just been born and I was a combat engineer officer when I read it. It did put me into a depression. I resigned shortly after and in the midst of OIF.
Man! That’s an impact. I can see why you wouldn’t pick it up again. Don’t blame you.
The boys needed their dad more than the country needed me. Still, some survivors guilt.
I get it.
Perfume! It was originally a German book. The man character Grenouille becomes obsessed with making perfume out of people he kills in search of the ultimate scent.
I read it when Cobain said it was his favourite. It definitely lingers.
The Venn diagram of Cobain and that book makes a certain sort of sense.
Ack! That sounds horrendous. I’ll be steering clear of that one!
It is! He becomes a recluse and lives in a cave and becomes grotesque. He uses their body fat to make the perfume. I think he ends up getting eaten in the end.
😳😳😳
The comments are fascinating to me. I'm very "lightweight" when it comes to "horror", whether it is film or literary. My definition is broad: the horror of human depravity and the "jump out of your seat stylized suspenseful horror" stuff. (Interestingly, I LOVE action movies like cheap kung fu movies and John Wick, so somehow my brain makes a distinction between the depraved killing in "No Country for Old Men" and John Wick). Ever since I was a kid I wondered why people find stuff like this "entertaining" or even intellectually fascinating (and obviously millions do from the sales). I would say the most disturbing stuff I ever read were the case files of the dozens of kids we fostered in residential treatment for 5 years. I guess I had enough real depravity to ponder the human trajectory for a lifetime. Though it makes me wonder, do we need books like "Child of God" to push us to the dark edge of the potential for human evil because we've become complacent, desensitized or blind to even our own shadows. Good thread, much to think about! Thanks!
Flannery O’Connor would say yes. That’s what motivated a lot of her fiction. It’s not for everyone—and usually not for me; I don’t usually seek it out—but it can hit hard. Child of God does, for instance, a masterful job of provoking the question of whether people are born bad or become that way. The case is so extreme it foils all the easy answers.
Orwell's 1984. I read it when I was in eighth grade, because David Bowie's "1984" from his Diamond Dogs album was on the radio all the time. I wasn't prepared for Orwell's nightmarish dystopia.
I’ve never read it! Not sure how I’ve avoided it all these years but I have. I’ve heard it’s devastating and depressing.
It is my “most disturbing “ Can’t forget the face mask and rats- everyone has their breaking point and there are people out there looking for yours and willing to use it to make you comply. Over the top disturbing
The Collector by John Fowles. It haunted me. I first read it as an impressionable 15 year old snd literally threw the book across the room when I finished it. I felt so panicked and wanted to contact someone to warn a character in the book. There was literally a brief moment where I completely forgot it wasn’t real. I’ve re- read it several times since and it always impacts me- similarly and yet also differently each time.
I’ve never heard of The Collector but I’m mildly intrigued by what you’ve written about your experience with this book. I’ll add it to my very long TBR.
It’s old. Like 1970s I think. It was so ahead of its time I think. Definitely made a lasting impression on me :)
I barely started The Collector a few years ago and realized it was too creepy for me. I'm pretty sure I tossed it because it felt evil. Didn't even want it in the house.
Wild!
Isn’t life itself disturbing enough without spending one’s free time reading disturbing books?
LOL. Yes, I’d say it mostly is. I don’t go out of my way to find and read disturbing books. Sometimes they just come your way. But they can be worth contemplating regardless.
Susnna Clarke's Piranesi. Lonely, bleak, manipulating, awfulness. A great book.
Others mention Perfume - one of my favourite books. Sensual and sensuous in every way. Both beautiful and full of horror.
I’ve heard good things about Piranesi. Wild to hear you love Perfume! That description was all it took to turn me off! Different strokes.
Don't be put off - there's wonderful writing in Perfume. And the premise of something outcast trying to capture something elusively beautiful is an age-old story.
Piranesi is captivating. So strange, so labrynthine, I felt as though I was just missing something important all the way through. If you read it I'll be interested to see what you make of it.
A great example of the point above: Disturbing books prompt us to think along lines we might otherwise avoid but which reward the engagement.
Most traumatizing thing I ever read was John Steinbecks “The Pearl”. I had to read it for school and the ending horrified me so much I have refused to read Steinbeck ever since.
As an adult the most traumatized I have been by a book was “God is a Bullet” by Boston Teran but I love it. In fact I’m due for a re-read.
I find that dual response fascinating, too: That one sort of horrifying book can repulse us and another can draw us in.
Flowers in the Attic and anything with cannibalism in 🤦🏼♀️
Yes, I’m with you on that. There are some scenes in The Road that are hard to get out of your head.
The Road to Wigan Pier, by George Orwell, was harder for me to read than Lolita. The daily lives of British miners was scarier than any Stephen King novel. Almost turned me into a Socialist. Almost.
I’ve heard it’s a hard but worthwhile read. Sometimes the truth is frightening!
Most disturbing book ever: The Mandibles (2016) by Lionel Shriver. I have a finance background and her financial dystopian novel was uncomfortably plausible. I don't think it got the praise and publicity it deserved; It probably got lost in the melee of all the other dystopian novels.
It really stressed me out!
LOL. It’s funny the power a book can have. The Road was the most horrifying dystopian novel I’ve ever read. Station Eleven was the best dystopian novel I’ve read—very uplifting actually.
I LOVED Station Eleven! It was nice to read a dystopian novel that wasn't bleak.
I agree. I read it in 2019 and still think about it.
Loved Station Eleven so much, kept holding off because I wasn’t sure it could live up to the hype but boy did it ever!
Yes! It’s fantastic, actually.
Though it is more dark dystopian than classic horror, Robert McCammon's Swan Song is the book that I personally found the most unsettling and thought provoking. It has been more than 25 years since I last read it, and I recently gifted a copy to my adult daughter. As she is reading it now and texting me horrified that I did not forewarn her of the depravity, I am realizing that I may need to read it again to refresh my memory (and find out just what I had forgotten that I just gave my only child to read🙄). I only remember the core story and that I read through the nearly 900 page novel in a matter of days, it was that good.
The way those books stick with you is fascinating. I read Child of God more than 15 years ago, and it’s still with me. It’s also funny, per your comment, what we remember and what we don’t.