The Most Disturbing Book You've ever Read

Lady Pi Phi · #1 08-16-2003, 09:19 PM

The Most Disturbing Movie You've Ever Seen thread prompted me to start this thread.

So what was the most disturbing book you've ever read?

The most disturbing for me was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

I don't know if any of you have ever read it, but it's semi-autobiographical of Sylvia Plath. A basic synopsis of the book is: It's about the life of Esther Greenwood and her struggles through life and her several suicide attempts and her ultimate institutionalization (is that a word?).

I read it for my OAC ISP about Women and Depression and it took me the longest time to finish reading it because it was so sad and depressing. I won't read it again.

Sistermadly · #2 08-16-2003, 09:36 PM

It's a tie between The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft, and Nothing Natural.

Oh, and Stephen King's "The Stand" - the only book that made me afraid of humanity and the society we live in. *shudder*

FiReKraCkEr · #3 08-16-2003, 09:37 PM

The Jungle

annniesk · #4 08-16-2003, 11:58 PM

She's Come Undone. I don't remember the author but it was on the Oprah bookclub list a long time ago. I read it for a class in high school, otherwise trust me I would not have gotten past the first few chapters. Yuck, my copy is definetly in the recycling (sp?) bin!

jonsagara · #5 08-17-2003, 02:23 AM

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. The type of life he lead is unimaginable to me.

Junky by William S. Burroughs was pretty "enlightening," too.

Lady Pi Phi · #6 08-17-2003, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by annniesk
She's Come Undone. I don't remember the author but it was on the Oprah bookclub list a long time ago. I read it for a class in high school, otherwise trust me I would not have gotten past the first few chapters. Yuck, my copy is definetly in the recycling (sp?) bin!

I read that book too. It's by Wally Lamb. Yes, it is very disturbing. I initially bought that for my English ISP, but chose not read it. Then later read for pleasure. It was not pleasurable. Another book that has some disturbing parts is Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. There is a part in the book where she describes an abortion gone awry.

PM_Mama00 · #7 08-17-2003, 11:03 AM

Video Night in Katmandu(sp?)

I had to read that for my first semester English class freshman year. It's all about this author spending time in Asia. Each chapter is about a different country. Most of it is about Asian prostitutes.... it was horrible the way this guy spoke of the poor young girls... sexually. We all thought that our wacked out professor was really the author cuz he makes all his classes read it, and my friend told me a story about when the prof taught at her boyfriend's high school. Something about him getting fired, locking himself in his office, cops coming, and a mail order bride catalogue.

Oopps didn't realize I just hijacked!

Anyways, now I'm reading Report from Ground Zero. It's an awesome book, but it's disturbing in the fact that it's a constant reminder of 9-11 and Dennis Smith recounts every day of search and rescue. I guess maybe disturbing isn't the word, but it's very sad.

swissmiss04 · #8 08-17-2003, 07:44 PM

Brave New World, 1984, and Fast Food Nation all disturbed me, but in a good way. Definitely all eye-openers. It is quite amazing how so many things in BNW are somewhat true today.

Rio_Kohitsuji · #9 08-17-2003, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by swissmiss04
Brave New World, 1984, and Fast Food Nation all disturbed me, but in a good way. Definitely all eye-openers. It is quite amazing how so many things in BNW are somewhat true today.

Yes, I agree with 1984, here's a bit of trivia, George Orwell actually married into my family

ADPiSAI · #10 08-19-2003, 12:32 AM

I just finisihed Eating the Cheshire Cat by Helen Ellis... that's definitely up there on my list.
It wasn't graphic or anything... just really, really, really weird.

Jadey28 · #11 08-19-2003, 03:32 AM

Michelle Remembers freaks the crap out of me. I know it's supposed to be fictional, but it still gives me the creeps!

DWAlphaGam · #12 08-19-2003, 10:09 AM

White Hotel by DM Thomas. I had to read it for my freshman seminar and I remember thinking "is this really the kind of weird sh!t they're going to have us reading in college?" Here is the summary from Barnes & Noble:

Quote:

By turns a dream of electrifying eroticism recounted by a young woman to her analyst, Sigmund Freud, and a horrifying yet calmly unsensational narrative of the Holocaust, this PEN Silver Pen winner is now recognized as a modern classic that reconciles the nightmarish with the transcendent.

Optimist Prime · #13 08-19-2003, 01:53 PM

Heart of Darkness. Its well...dark.

AXPGoBot · #14 08-19-2003, 02:53 PM

Johnny Got His Gun (can't remember who wrote it), such a good book but INCREDIBLY disturbing. It's about this guy who gets f'ed by a grenade in I think WWII and ends up surviving, but w/ no arms or legs, and he can't talk, see, or hear either. He breaths through a tube so he can't even kill himself. It basically tells about how he slowly goes insane inside his mind and how he eventually learns to communicate by morse code. This book was the inspiration for Metallica's song "One," a great song.

This book really depressed me, anyone who is serious about wanting to go to war and throwing their life away should read this book first. Wars should be fought w/ bombs and robots, not people

LXAAlum · #15 08-19-2003, 03:11 PM

The Stand - absolutely frightening.

That, and "The Enemy Within" by (can't remember - very similar writing style as Tom Clancy) about a terrorist style war against the US, published in the mid-90's - some frightening parallels to our current war on terrorism, and even the power outage on the east coast - his writing was unfortunately all too believable when I first read it, and even more so since 9/11.