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What is the darkest most disturbing book?
- Thread starter ferrazuk
- Start date
Irene Wilde
New Member
Horror books/movies, don't do much for me. "Gravity's Rainbow" messed with my head. I only found it "shocking" in a few places, but disturbing all the way through, and even after reading it...the questions keep spinning in my head.
Irene Wilde
Irene Wilde
sybilshade
New Member
I think Cruddy, by Lynda Barry, is definitely the darkest book I've read, although Gravity's Rainbow is also up there.
Cruddy is an illustrated novel - Lynda Barry is also a cartoonist - about a 16-year-old girl, Roberta, who tells the tale of her serial-killer father taking her on a crime rampage in super-poor parts of middle America. Roberta's voice is so raw and what she goes through is so horrific that if it weren't for a whole lot of humor the book would just be a sick horror movie. Instead it's really grim but you end up liking Roberta enough to keep reading. It's kind of like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Catcher in the Rye.
From a review on amazon.com:
"Barry came to fame as a cartoonist, and though the humor in her strip Ernie Pook's Comeek is dark, nothing in it could prepare her fans for the sheer horror of Cruddy. The novel is funny, sort of, as long as you think naming a knife Little Debbie is funny, or lines like "A man who has been dead for a week in a hot trailer looks more like a man than you would first expect." What's more, it's compulsively, almost harrowingly, readable, written with the kind of velocity that makes you keep turning pages even when you don't want to. Despite the hallucinogenic quality of the violence around her, Roberta is never anything less than real, and her story will strike chords in anyone whose childhood was marked by ugliness and fear. Cruddy may be a bad acid trip, but if you can stomach the ride, it's a very good book."
I loved it but it made it hard to read anything else for a while - everything else sounded way too bland and sentimental.
Cruddy is an illustrated novel - Lynda Barry is also a cartoonist - about a 16-year-old girl, Roberta, who tells the tale of her serial-killer father taking her on a crime rampage in super-poor parts of middle America. Roberta's voice is so raw and what she goes through is so horrific that if it weren't for a whole lot of humor the book would just be a sick horror movie. Instead it's really grim but you end up liking Roberta enough to keep reading. It's kind of like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Catcher in the Rye.
From a review on amazon.com:
"Barry came to fame as a cartoonist, and though the humor in her strip Ernie Pook's Comeek is dark, nothing in it could prepare her fans for the sheer horror of Cruddy. The novel is funny, sort of, as long as you think naming a knife Little Debbie is funny, or lines like "A man who has been dead for a week in a hot trailer looks more like a man than you would first expect." What's more, it's compulsively, almost harrowingly, readable, written with the kind of velocity that makes you keep turning pages even when you don't want to. Despite the hallucinogenic quality of the violence around her, Roberta is never anything less than real, and her story will strike chords in anyone whose childhood was marked by ugliness and fear. Cruddy may be a bad acid trip, but if you can stomach the ride, it's a very good book."
I loved it but it made it hard to read anything else for a while - everything else sounded way too bland and sentimental.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"-the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity. amazon.com
It is the most shoking and most brilliant book I ever read!
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"-the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity. amazon.com
It is the most shoking and most brilliant book I ever read!
cherryvenom
New Member
hmmm might be quite light in comparison to some replies but Wasp Factory - Iain banks is really twisted. worth a go, only a day or 2 to read type book.
Inderjit S
New Member
1984 George Orwell
The Trial; The Castle Franz Kafka
The Lord of The Flies William Golding
Tale of Mystery and The Imagination Edgar Allan Poe
The Trial; The Castle Franz Kafka
The Lord of The Flies William Golding
Tale of Mystery and The Imagination Edgar Allan Poe
Serene
New Member
dele
New Member
This one might seem a little out of place in this list, but it is certainly the most disturbing book I've ever read. A Little Magic by Nora Roberts. I thought I'd give her a try, see what all the fuss is about... and honestly, I've never been so disgusted or appalled by any book in my life.
dARK, DISTURBING BOOKS.
I found James Herbert's The Others very disturbing. I don't want to say much about it but more than once I had to put it down and take a couople of deep breaths. I wouldn't say I get disturbed by books very often, I read a lot of true crime etc. that is obviously upsetting but this book even though fiction really turned my stomach.....Karen
I found James Herbert's The Others very disturbing. I don't want to say much about it but more than once I had to put it down and take a couople of deep breaths. I wouldn't say I get disturbed by books very often, I read a lot of true crime etc. that is obviously upsetting but this book even though fiction really turned my stomach.....Karen
leofaerie17
New Member
gruesome
Hi
Try Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter a debut novel I think she was thinking ahead to her second being sought out on release its graphic more so than Cornwell and Reichs she is also a local doctor come coroner.I enjoyed it and am waiting for the second one from the library.
ciao bev
Hi
Try Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter a debut novel I think she was thinking ahead to her second being sought out on release its graphic more so than Cornwell and Reichs she is also a local doctor come coroner.I enjoyed it and am waiting for the second one from the library.
ciao bev
leofaerie17
New Member
oops!
I forgot the most gruesome book I have ever read (I dont like saying ever) is the book about Fred and Rosemary West couldnt finish it will one day.
ciao bev
I forgot the most gruesome book I have ever read (I dont like saying ever) is the book about Fred and Rosemary West couldnt finish it will one day.
ciao bev
True@1stLight
New Member
Actually, Gravity's Rainbow is sitting in my soon to read pile. After just finishing The Sirens of Titan , and Candide again, I might just have to pick Pynchon up with the credible recommendations being posted. G'night
one of the most disturbing books that i've read isn't fiction at all.
Patricia Cornwell, famed forensic crime novelist, wrote a book about using actual forensic evidence and fact from the Jack the Ripper case and comes up with a completely different killer than anyone really suspected.
the details in the book are nothing worse than any of us haven't seen or heard about in some context or another, but her dissecting of the case and the details of this murderer's life are particularly disturbing.
i had started reading it as my "lunchtime book" (i read pretty much solid for my 45 minute lunch) and had to stop several times because the details stayed with me and i started dreaming about them.
it is a truly horrific description of a person and his grusome habits.
the name of the book is "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed"
an official description: "Using the firsthand expertise she has gained through writing the bestselling Dr Kay Scarpetta novels, Patricia Cornwell utilizes the demanding methods of modern forensic investigation to re-examine the evidence in the Jack the Ripper murders. These include state-of-the-art DNA testing on various materials, computer enhancement of watermarks and expert examinations of hand-writing, paper, inks and other relics. She also uses her knowledge of profiling on the possible suspects, as well as consulting experts in the field. On presenting her conclusions to a very senior Metropolitan Police officer she learns that had the investigators of the time been presented with the facts she has unearthed, her suspect would definitely have been arrested and would probably have faced trial. Naming the killer as the artist, Walter Sickert, Cornwell details the reasons and evidence for this conclusion. "
Patricia Cornwell, famed forensic crime novelist, wrote a book about using actual forensic evidence and fact from the Jack the Ripper case and comes up with a completely different killer than anyone really suspected.
the details in the book are nothing worse than any of us haven't seen or heard about in some context or another, but her dissecting of the case and the details of this murderer's life are particularly disturbing.
i had started reading it as my "lunchtime book" (i read pretty much solid for my 45 minute lunch) and had to stop several times because the details stayed with me and i started dreaming about them.
it is a truly horrific description of a person and his grusome habits.
the name of the book is "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed"
an official description: "Using the firsthand expertise she has gained through writing the bestselling Dr Kay Scarpetta novels, Patricia Cornwell utilizes the demanding methods of modern forensic investigation to re-examine the evidence in the Jack the Ripper murders. These include state-of-the-art DNA testing on various materials, computer enhancement of watermarks and expert examinations of hand-writing, paper, inks and other relics. She also uses her knowledge of profiling on the possible suspects, as well as consulting experts in the field. On presenting her conclusions to a very senior Metropolitan Police officer she learns that had the investigators of the time been presented with the facts she has unearthed, her suspect would definitely have been arrested and would probably have faced trial. Naming the killer as the artist, Walter Sickert, Cornwell details the reasons and evidence for this conclusion. "
buddi
New Member
I found Ian Banks, the Wasp Factory plenty disturbing... lots of addled people running around unsupervised and torturing animals. You want to sympathize with the character, but there's just SO many dead bunnies.
Also, it's probably not quite what you are looking for, but there's a gruesome scene in Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy that made me gasp and drop the book. (How do you do that spoiler/blackout thing?)
Happy reading, (or not if that's not what you're looking for,) buddi
Also, it's probably not quite what you are looking for, but there's a gruesome scene in Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy that made me gasp and drop the book. (How do you do that spoiler/blackout thing?)
Happy reading, (or not if that's not what you're looking for,) buddi