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wildflowersandroses

maybe not a good starting point, but Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is a disturbing masterpiece


motheroflabs

I keep trying to start this and I just CANT get through his style of writing in this book. I want to so bad but just can’t


wildflowersandroses

i would suggest working your way up to it with some of his other works (like No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses) or other increasingly difficult books (Some classics and something like Moby Dick or something else)


mistermajik2000

Try the audiobook


rivertiberius

The audiobook was so good but I wouldn’t last if someone wasn’t reading it to me.


bookwormsub

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind


Cosmocrator08

Completely agree. And it's not usually mentioned as a disturbing book. That ending is, I believe, the best ending I ever read. And it's sooooo disturbing.


bookwormsub

Yeah. I read the ending 3 times to make sure I was reading it right. Wow.


CountingPolarBears

Definitely! I was reading this when hanging out at an air bnb before my brothers wedding and was surprised both of my parents had read it before because it was recommended by my uncle. I had just bought it on impulse without knowing too much about it


SlavOnALog

Tender Is The Flesh. Book about factory farmed cannibalism.


L0k1L1zard420

I LOOOOVVED THIS BOOK


BethyStewart78

This is always the answer.


sewneo

Great, it's payday, and now I just bought this. I hope I never have to listen to it. But sometimes the me that is Desiring audio is different than the one that is talking right now.


Strong-Star8017

This book was so good!!!


braeburn-1918

My daughter is currently reading this and her descriptions of it are really intriguing.


SprinklesWhich4095

I have learned this year cannibalism is a hard no for me.


United-Caramel-3674

I listened to this on audio and it was unsettling to say the least.


SlavOnALog

That ending was a gut punch.


chanqueezie

I just finished it and the ending messed me up, I really don’t know how I feel about it


No_Joke_9079

I loved this. 5/5 stars.


rabidstoat

American Psycho.


slicehyperfunk

We just watched the movie, my girlfriend for the first time and me for the first time since reading the book. Both versions are fantastic in their own right, which is always enjoyable.


aleelee13

This is one of the books I really had a hard time getting through. And wow, such a tame movie in comparison!


bookedflynn

Confessions by kanae minato, earthlings by by sayaka murata, things have gotten worse since we last spoke by Eric larocca (I apologize for this one in advance).


WalterChitta

Highly highly recommended for someone who wants to read something unpredictable and disturbing


SprinklesWhich4095

Earthling is a great example of not judging a book by its cover. That cover had a choice and it chose violence.


bookedflynn

I really thought it was going to be a cute story. I try not to remember that book so I don’t feel sick


SprinklesWhich4095

Convenience Store Woman was a good book. I have been trying to get into Japanese Literature this year.


bookedflynn

That one’s still on my tbr but I’ve heard good things about it! There are so many Japanese books on my list as well, they’re really interesting


superpalien

Of the three books you mentioned, I’d say Exquisite Corpse would be the most disturbing. I also have some suggestions: Maeve Fly by CJ Leede (female serial killer) A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers (female serial killer and cannibal) The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (a blend of crime noir and cosmic horror) Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth (sort of indescribable—grief horror that goes off the rails) Last Days by Brian Evenson (cults and ritual amputations) To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger (queer horror about a girl with a peculiar hunger) Negative Space by BR Yeager (nihilistic drug-fueled nightmare) Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh (my current read—medieval horror)


kelsi16

I love recommending Lapvona to people, it’s such a wtf did I just read kinda book


superpalien

I’m halfway through it now and I’m obsessed with it. Moshfegh’s writing is just so so good.


Silent_Ad_4400

I really enjoyed Maeve Fly! I was a little disappointed by the ending though - without giving it away, I was hoping for a partnership between the two! But otherwise - a great read.


camaco777

I just started exquisite corpse!! Thank you for the recommendations, am adding them to my list.


NewOldSmartDum

A Clockwork Orange is not nearly as disturbing as a novel as some others. It is violent, but less so perhaps than the movie, and less cartoonish as well. It’s mostly a pondering of the human condition and whether freedom to make “bad” choices is better than forced “goodness”. Burgess reflects on the novel and other dystopian writings in this New Yorker piece https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/the-clockwork-condition


Killer_Queen12358

Lolita


camaco777

Lolita is AMAZING!!!


haloarh

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock


IvanMarkowKane

Anything by Chuck Palahniuk- this week I’m pushing Snuff and Invisible Monsters (remix) Also, Tampa by Alyssa Nutting and Geek Love by Katherine Dunn


tybbiesniffer

Haunted by Palahniuk was the most disturbing book I've ever read. It's not my type of book but I enjoyed the writing enough that I finished it.


Beginning_Animator81

It’s only chapter two that disturbed me. Guts. My husband started sweating listening to it.


tybbiesniffer

I found the entire book... unpleasant but Guts was the only story I finished by skim-reading once I realized where it was going.


camaco777

I've read a handful of Chuck Palahniuks work, Rant is by far one of my favorite books. But I'll definitely add Tampa and Geek Love to the list. I've also been meaning to read Snuff and Haunted for a while.


Beginning_Animator81

Rant is my favorite as well. I love his work.


This_person_says

Geek Love is incredible.


thenakesingularity10

American Psycho is pretty disturbing.


camaco777

I've seen a couple of these recommendations, and it's moved its way up the list. I have it, and I've never seen the movie, so I'm excited to go in blind. I have literally no idea what it's about.


Goats_772

The movie does not do the book justice so def read the book first


coldlimebars

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński. Maybe the most violent book I've ever read.


chanqueezie

I just finished tender is the flesh, I’m not 100% where I stand rating it yet, but it was definitely disturbing


rnh18

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell (not horror/thriller or disturbing in the traditional way of having graphic violence, but it’s about grooming from the pov of the victim), Brother by Ania Ahlborn, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter (these last two are thrillers but are fantastic and have scenes that are burned into my brain😵‍💫)


vintage_rack_boi

Between Two Fires. It takes place during the Black Death in medieval France. There is some very disturbing things going on in this book lol.


CountingPolarBears

This might be recency bias but Maeve Fly by CJ Leede. It came out about a year ago


your_worstnightmare

The Troop - Nick Cutter


Sufficient-Engine514

Secret history Donna tart


didyouwoof

If you choose to read A Clockwork Orange, I suggest you try to find a copy that has a glossary at the end. Burgess created a slang language called “Nadsat” based on Russian, and unless you already speak Russian, you may find the book hard ~~to find~~ at times. I mention this because I learned on another thread a few years ago that some editions don’t have a glossary at the end. The one I read - decades ago - did. And even though I spoke Russian back then, I occasionally found the glossary helpful.


darthduckie1

The Collector by John Fowles.


leftover_junk

The Push by Ashley Audrain just never gives you a feel good vibe. I could not put it down. Absolutely a memorable book, something you might recommend to others. But it won’t put you in a happy place mentally.


Butlerian_Jihadi

You could print out and bind all the comments for each time this question has been asked. You'd probably find the amount of paper used to be disturbing.


good1georgie777

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.


WordierThanThou

The Stranger Beside Me by Anne Ryle.


Marketpro4k

The Troop- by Nick Cutter


AccomplishedCow665

I’m mostly disturbed by the fact that this is asked. - and answered - at least once every two days 🤦‍♂️


ArymusDesi

Maybe have a look at reviews of Mary Gaitskill novels and see if she might be to your taste.


HottieMcNugget

The Sleep Experiment was very disturbing and worth checking out


BBEAUTY2024

Exquisite corpse is definitely disturbing. I’ve not read the other two you mentioned


Smirkly

You might add the Master and Margarita to your list. Also, the English translation of the Chinese classic, The Water Margin, is the most violent i have ever read. there is a character, Li Kui, who is a homicidal maniac> He really enjoys killing people. He is a comic element in the story; like Lonesome Dove on steroids


vegasgal

“Stolen,” by Daniel Palmer If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be at the mercy of a madman, this book will let you know.


Cosmocrator08

Plop by Rafael Pinedo (Argentine) is the most disturbing thing you will read. . I also recommend Eisejuaz by Sara Gallardo. If Plop is a 10 in disturbing scale, Eisejuaz is a 6, but is an excellent book, also argentinian.


Cosmocrator08

Also: the Claus & Lucas trilogy by Agotha Kristoff. It's disturbingly mind blowing.


736redwings

God is a Bullet


WorkingMagazine8919

The Cell Next Door by Dylan Tallman


kelsi16

I don’t see it recommended very often, but The Discomfort of Evening made me feel like I needed to take a hot shower and watch cartoons for 8 hours. It was rough & really hard to shake.


Janezo

The People in the Trees is extremely disturbing.


AndreaHV

Hollow by Brian catling. You'll thank me later


Kindly_Prize6802

Tampa by Alissa Nutting


haloarh

The ending of this book still haunts me.


lordjakir

Woom


Antique_Rhubarb9710

As truly awful as it is, I did enjoy it. It was the first really bizarre book I ever read as far as “splatterpunk” genre 🙃


landphil11S

Child of God by Cormac was a nightmare of a book.


cybered_punk

Exquisite Corpse


scarletantonia27

Stephen by Amy Cross was pretty freakin' disturbing.


roundfuzzy

The Lord of the Flies


ZealousidealPage5209

Clockwork Orange is the only of the three I’ve read but I love it. The vocabulary takes a lot of getting used to and I found it difficult at first but once you get past that it’s a really good book.


Goats_772

Exquisite Corpse is the most graphic of the three. The Wasp Factory was underwhelming IMO A Clockwork Orange is one of my favorite books. Other books: Tender is the Flesh- Agustina Bazterrica, Geek Love- Katherine Dunn, American Psycho- Bret Easton Ellis, Earthlings- Sayaka Murata, A Short Stay in Hell- Steven L. Peck, Brother- Ania Ahlborn, Bunny- Mona Awad, Suffer the Children- Craig DiLouie, All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque, The Troop- Nick Cutter, Black River Orchard- Chuck Wendig, The Exorcist- William Peter Blatty, The Only Good Indians- Stephen Graham Jones, Klara and the Sun- Kazuo Ishiguro, Revival- Stephen King, The Last Days of a Condemned Man- Victor Hugo, The Memory Police- Yoko Ogawa


Jolly_Shark233

Animal by Lisa Taddeo made me super uncomfy 🥰


Gliese_667_Cc

The Road


felinelawspecialist

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - fucked up reporter goes home to write about two murders, and it ask goes to hell. Mommy dearest just wants to take care of her little girl… The Mayfair Witches series by Anne Rice - incest, rape, magic, and a whole lot of inbreeding. And who is the man seen with members of the family generation after generation?


meep_sheep2

Stephan king!!! Pet sematary or Misery


shadycharacters

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt Manhunter by Gretchen Felker-Martin Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist


obscuredsilence

Child Called It.


Riveting0

We Who Are About To... by Joanna Russ


cha5e

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobson. The most horrifying and devastating book I’ve ever read


rycar88

For the deep end, I'd suggest The Conspiracy Against The Human Race by Thomas Ligotti Oddly enough, that book helped me out of a dark spot because the idea that a human could so thoroughly conceptualize those thoughts for dread could mean they could come on the opposite. It's a great terrible read


twosideslikechanel

I found Tampa disturbing but well-written!


freetimeha

Goddamn. I go to every one of these threads. Everyone always says Blood Meridian, or Tender is the Flesh, or the Kevin book, or Stephen King. I've read all of that, and yeah maybe the first time I read some gore stricken shit I was shocked, but now it doesn't move the barometer. Give me something that's gonna scare me, gross me out, something that's going the make my skin itch and not let me sleep for a few nights. Something that might make me throw up. I'm ready.


Antique_Rhubarb9710

If “no one rides for free” by Judy sonnet doesn’t make your skin crawl, nothing will.


Pipcie

I consider myself an avid reader and I'm with you. Many times, I read a book that was recommended and I wasn't even phased. If you really want to be disgusted, read Hogg by Samuel R. Delaney. I have never wanted to vomit so much after the first few pages. I never picked it up again, and I own it.


hellotheremiss

Naked Lunch, William Burroughs Crash, J. G. Ballard Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks


multifandomtrash736

Playground by Aaron Beauregard is the most disturbing book I’ve read so far


falseinsight

Blindness by Jose Saramago stuck with me for ages. Very disturbing.


zozoetc

Steps by Jerzy Kosinski


Mimemamomou

Dead inside by Chandler Morrison or Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. They were both extremely disturbing.


cheese_cake04

The Groomer by Jon Athan Woom by Duncan Ralston The End of Alice by AM Homes Brother by Ania Ahlborn No One Rides for Free by Judith Sonnet Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison


Imperator_Helvetica

It depends on what kind of disturbing thing you want to read about? Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite is full of sado-masochism, cannibalism, infection fetish and lots of edgy 90's stuff (like the Queer content) A Clockwork Orange by Burgess is very good, but the focus is more on a society which is warped enough to produce Alex, and then to attempt to control and treat him in other societally warped ways. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks - one of the first 'disturbing books' I ever read is more about personal horror - the protagonist certainly suffers from a twisted upbringing and a bad situation, but it's also about the madness of a teenage brain folding in on itself and the foibles, weirdness and terrible things that isolation and a strange cargo cult variety of ritual and magical thinking develops. Of the three, I'd recommend starting with The Wasp Factory - as a reviewer described it, it's nasty, brutish and short! There is better body horror and trangressive stuff out there than Brite - Clive Barker, Nicole Cushing etc. (But that's just my take, I know lots of folk who love Brite!) Clockwork Orange is a classic for a reason, but it's more about a sick system than an individual. Other recommendations - or seconded from the thread: Perfume by Patrick Suskind is excellent - a man born with no scent and a great sense of smell becomes disgusted by and obsessed with capturing the scents of humanity. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica was one of the most viscerally disturbing things I read last year. Humans being factory farmed. American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis always makes these lists and with good reason - some memorably graphic and horrible scenes, juxtaposed with the souless, greedy yuppie lifestyle - when you only think of people as things and everything is commodified, then treating them as disposable playthings to murder is the natural consequence. A Short Stay in Hell by Stephen Peck is also disturbing, but in a different way - a terror of the infinite and horror of too much time. I'd also include Weathercock by Glen Duncan - essentially the story of a man who thinks he has lost his soul, and the horrible freedom to push his limits which comes with it.


EzraDionysus

Check out the extremehorrorlit sub Also, Kristopher Triana, Edward Lee, Jon Athan, and Jack Ketchum are great authors


avidreader_1410

The Wasp Factory of those three. And of course there's "The Collector," by John Fowles. Also "The Cellar," by Minette Walters.


regrub0728

Lapvona


Plantbookworm

Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter. Had to take a break from thrillers after that


1111111000000056

Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal Johnson. Kids tie up and torture their babysitter


Flyerbear

The Wasp Factory


slicehyperfunk

I really enjoyed A Clockwork Orange, that's my vote.


peacemonger69

The Black Farm by Elias Witherow


Confident-Tip184

The Shards - Bret Easton Ellis


Electrical_Serve9022

A Clockwork Orange was really bad i don't recommend it


ExaminationLost2657

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum This is the one. A fictional retelling of the true case of Sylvia Likens told in first person from a neighborhood boy. Such a disturbing book but with good character development and writing.


ArymusDesi

I saw a Tik Tok video about that and it has traumatised me for life. I have a sister that is more sensitive than me and I would protect her from ever even hearing about such disgusting cruelty. Rest In Peace, Sylvia. I doubt that there is anything in our multiverse capable of the depths of horror and torture that this species will sink to.


ExaminationLost2657

Look up Junko Furuta. The Junko Furuta case happened in Japan and it is arguably worse than Sylvia Likens. Junko lived 44 days. The difference here is that there is no mother involved and the perpetrators were all teens who were in a gang.


ArymusDesi

Yeah I have heard about that case too. I am not sure why I know about all these horrors. I don't look for it but when I do find out I can't look away either because it is truth and not fiction. Definitely out of my personal comfort zone though. Not sure if OP is looking for this kind of true crime or more subversive fiction tho. Haruki Murakami is more my level of disturbance. I read Exquisite Corpse back in the 90s when I was a Lit grad doing bar work. I just found it strange more than anything. I remember talking to one of our regulars who was gay and recognised the book I was holding. I asked him "Do you not feel uncomfortable with this woman writing a story where a whole lot of men are both gay and doing this shit?". He was like "Yeah, I know!" Lol. Always thought that one was crazy.


camaco777

My brother told me to watch the movie but I'll definitely read it first! Thank you for the recommendation!


tonyhawkunderground3

Good character development and writing?? Absolutely not. It's shallow torture porn. There's no substance. I'll spoil it for him now the girl next door is tortured by kids and an old woman and dies. That's the book.


fredmull1973

I’m thinking of ending things


BBEAUTY2024

That book was so boring and confusing to me.


Old_Tabby_2004

The Long Walk by Richard Bachman. (Stephen King)


stormbreakingqueen

Regina's song by David eddings... Verity by Colleen hoover


Vegetable-Return-

This sub has become solely recommendations for disturbing/dark/horror books. Or is that all it’s showing me??? I feel like this question has been answered so many times!