Tell me about a book that disturbed, distressed, shocked, traumatized, or unsettled you in any way. Please elaborate on why it does.
I would have to say American Psycho was pretty fucked up and I don’t think I see it mentioned yet. Way more intense than the movie because it’s a much deeper character study. But man that Patrick Bateman has some fucking crazy thoughts
The Handmaid’s Tale. I started reading it recently, but it’s too much like current events. I had to stop reading. (Haven’t seen the show, either.)
Suicide Town by Boris Bacic.
I’m a fan of horror, but this book for me was pretty disturbing even for someone somewhat desensitized. It was a good read though and I’d definitely recommend it assuming content connected to what the title implies wouldn’t be genuinely traumatizing for the reader.
Boris Bacic is a somewhat obscure author who began his horror fiction writing over at /r/NoSleep, before publishing novels. If you’re into horror at all and generally enjoy content from /r/NoSleep, you’d probably enjoy some of his novels.
The Road - Cormac McCarthy. Except I haven’t been able to finish it. I know the story, through watching the film, but the imagery in the book is so much more depressing and powerfully disturbing. When I watched the film I felt it for at least a week afterwards. I was getting that feeling each time I’d go to pick up the book of a night. I really want to read it completely, but I just can’t work myself up to it.
That’s my answer as well. The book is just so bleak. I read it over a decade ago, and I have thought about re-reading it, but can’t bring myself to do it. It is a really good read though.
RIP Cormac McCarthy. I was able to read all of The Road, but only a little bit at a time. It’s so bleak, and so realistic.
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It’s difficult to choose as a horror fan because there are books that hit differently for vastly different reasons. I think Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite might be the one that eeked me out the most so far though. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book, but it was practically a meet-cute romcom with serial killers as the main characters. Loved it. Probably won’t read it again lol.
Tokyo Doesn’t Love Us Anymore was pretty dark at times. Vurt has furry incest so… yeah.
The Real Story and Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen Donaldson. The man is so utterly casual about rape as plot progression that it leaves me with serious questions about the author.
Lapvona by Ottesa Moshfegh. Honestly I couldn’t even finish it, I stopped about 30-40% in. I’m not even sure how I’d describe the genre. Maybe disgusting unsettling horror? The reason I found it so unsettling is because its purposely written like that, to draw you in and then hit you with grossness. I felt like taking a shower after reading it for 15-30 minutes.
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński, I went in the book knowing nothing about the book. It is from a young Jewish boy’s point of view during the second world war. Enough said.
In honor of Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian is pretty fucked up, I like it better than The Road (although excellent as well) because it’s just more verbose.
I don’t read a ton of horror, but It by Stephen King was deeply disturbing to me. Not just because of the monster or the graphic child sex (yes, really), but because the entire book was basically a reflection of my own childhood until shit started getting horror-y. White, middle class, suburban New England gets turned into a huge bloody world.
Cadaver Exquisito, known as Tender is the Flesh in English. I read it in the original Spanish.
It’s about a future where a virus infects all animals and so they have to be culled. But people still want to eat meat, so they begin farming humans.
It’s basically just standard factory farming stuff, but when it’s from the point of view of humans you see how horrific some of it is. It makes you think a lot about how animals are treated in agriculture.
