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The most disturbing work of fiction that you have ever read


Oblomov

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I agree with you - it definately kept me awake after, but then it didn't stop me reading her others - they all had a similar effect on me, except Pig Island!

 

I think the most disturbed I've felt after a book was The Secret of Crickley Hall, James Herbert. I think I would have been fine had I read it before I had kids!

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Although it really wasn't horrific, I found The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath to be extremely disturbing. I started and finished the book in one day, and found myself justifying her insanity and wanting to fight for her. It's fairly depressing, and semi auto-biographical. The true story behind Sylvia Plath is a deep and dark one.

 

It was the first time I had fallen into a book and felt as though I was experiencing all of the events as if I were her.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello, this is my first post and I love books which leave a lastly impression. I have just finished Hater by David Mooney - it was good in the way that there was no easy answer for individuals becoming abusive to all around them and ended with a group of "haters" going underground. Not a clear cut ending all happly ever after which was disturbing itself given the level of violence used in novel.

 

However what really lead me to post was to call upon the follow scary book lovers - I once read a book lent to me when at college - so good 20 odd years old. The book was called "the green something" hence why I'm asking for help! and it was based on a young girl, abused by her parents, in a poor background becoming demonic - title was Green something based in backstreets of London - ring a bell with any fans - I would love to read it again so can def say this was a lastly impression!

 

God that was good - I loved that

Edited by Maureen
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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, first let me say that I am rarely ever disturbed by books (and/or films). I love any kind of horror (maybe apart from the torture horror films and slasher films that seem to be so popular these days), but it rarely scares and/or disturbes me. When I was younger, I remember reading a book by Dean Koontz that had me scared quite a lot, had nightmares about it. These days though, no books achieves that.

 

But disturbed I was by one book by one of my favourite authors. Poppy Z. Brite. She writes horror books, a lot of which have a homo-erotic (to say the least) undertone. But her book Exquisite Corpse was a bit too much even for my tastes. This book is about the relationship and deeds of two psychopathic killers, based on Dennis Nilsen and Jeffrey Dahmer. The murders, cannibalism and love for decaying flesh is all described in too much detail for my tastes. One of the few books that creep me out. :friends0:

And seriously, not for the younger readers.

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Wow that does sound disturbing, i am attracted to the macabre for some reason, but there are a few places where things do cross over the line between 'horror' and just downright wrong i think.

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Oh I agree on attraction for the macabre, I have that too, have been reading adult horror books since I was 10 or something (then mainly Stephen King and Dean Koontz and such), and only the last 10 years I have been reading more fantasy. So I love things macabre, and I have found some things that other people, say, my friends, find too extreme, I actually like. But this book is seriously crossing the lines for me. I love her other books (Drawing Blood, Lost Souls) but don't think I'll be reading Exquisite Corpse again. :friends0:

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Yes, i think it is important for us to try to understand better, what scares us and lurks in the dark corners of the world, it may help us to understand ourselves better i feel. Horror is an interesting thing and often offers the most rewarding things to pick up after we have experienced the initial shocks and such if that makes any sense whatsoever :friends0:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh I thought of another one. Though this is a book, that's not horror, sci-fi, fantasy.. it's sort of, well a romance novel I guess. Belinda, by Anne Rampling, the pen name (one of) of Anne Rice. It's about a grown man, I believe he's in his 40's, that falls in love with this young girl, I won't elaborate on the plot much more because the plot wasn't what disturbed me. The book, I did love in a way. What disturbed me was, that this man falls for Belinda, I think she's 16 when all this starts, which isn't that young. However when you're 44 (just looked it up).. and the disturbing part was, that he dresses her up as younger. She doesn't look that young, but he starts with dressing her up like a girl that's not even 10 years old yet, taking pics of her, getting aroused by her like that.

The whole thing's described beautifully, however I just thought it quite disturbing, and felt like it was wrong. Felt it was quite creepy.

 

Ofcourse it didn't help that when I read this book my ex (26 at the time) had just dumped me for this 14 year old girl. :)

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I love it when I find 'disturbing' fiction books, that's the thrill of it for me! This thread will probably serve as a recommendation list for me...haha

 

So far the most disturbing book I've read is 'Out' by Natsuo Kirino. It was scary to think how one could get dragged deep into a violent life and how quickly things could get out of control.

 

I also found 'The Road' very disturbing/ upsetting. So far whenever I read any of Cormac McCarthy's work I get this sense of dread about what is going to happen, because it really could be anything. 'The Road' was the first 'apocalypse' type story that I've thought could be close to a real life situation and that's probably why it got to me so much.

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I really must get round to reading A Clockwork Orange - I didn't find The Road particularly disturbing...maybe I've been overexposed to post-apocalyptic literature!

 

I too read Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale as A-Level texts (we had to compare them). I don't think Nineteen Eighty-Four has ever particularly disturbed me because I read it when I was much younger, and only really understood it fully after I'd read it a few times and got a bit older. A Handmaid's Tale was mildly disturbing because I've always worried women will lose their rights if they don't keep holding on to them!

 

The most disturbing book I can remember reading, though maybe it's just because it's been read more recently, is We Need To Talk About Kevin.

 

Oh, and just remembered Dracula - which kept me up for several nights when I first read it as I was about 9 or 10. Oops!

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Dracula has a couple of freaky scenes, especially the castle at the beginning part of the story!

 

Yes! The part where Harker sees Dracula scuttle across the side of the castle really scared me. I had a nightmare about it the same night which also involved the mysterious bag that Dracula brings back to the castle around about the same time too. Dracula is one of the only books I had to be really controlled and not read it near bedtime.

 

For me the worst part was towards the end where Mina gets bitten by Dracula and the sense of doom is just overwhelming.

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