# Did you ever read a book so upsetting that you wish you hadn't read it at all? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622 "2005-07-22T12:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/181 "2005-07-26T23:54:25Z")
Tanith Lee. Her books, such as the Unicorn series, all seem to have a consistent style of luscious images and writing, but when you get down to it, there’s something decadent about it all. Like a rotten peach. Every time I’ve tried to read one of her books, I come away with a bad aftertaste in my mouth. [Behind the Wall](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380698439/qid=1122421796/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_sbs_1/103-8084707-0628600?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Sylvia Cassedy. It’s about a lonely girl who finds magic in her great-aunts’ depressing house behind the closet wall. Specifically, living dolls of her family’s ancestors. I have a thing about dolls, thanks to hearing about the idea of Chucky as a rugrat in the 80’s, and the ending of the book creeped the holy living crap out of me. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/182 "2005-07-27T00:03:40Z")
A short story called The Overcoat, by Nikolai Gogol. Not gory or disgusting or disturbing–just unbearable. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/183 "2005-07-27T04:52:31Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Yes, "Lets’ Go Play At the Addams.’ It’s basically a horror novel about a bunch of kids who are left alone with a babysitter one summer … one very, very unfortunate babysitter. I liked the bulk of the novel, it was a pretty good horror novel with some well developed characters … think “Turn of the Screw” or “High Wind in Jamaica.” But then the author blew the chance for a very interesting ending or resolution for the sake of a cheap shock ending. Bugged me no end to see a book that good go that bad. Do you remember who wrote it? I can’t seem to find it online. ---
**Author:** ![Ruckinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@Ruckinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruckinge)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/184 "2005-07-27T09:52:49Z")
> [@Stillwell Angel](#): > > I would post it here but I have no clue how to do spoiler tags. I think it’s [spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/185 "2005-07-27T12:39:44Z")
> [@Ruckinge](#): > > I think it’s [spoiler] That is at the begining. At the end, you put [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/186 "2005-07-27T12:41:46Z")
[/spoiler] That should do it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/187 "2005-07-27T12:43:57Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > Do you remember who wrote it? I can’t seem to find it online. Mendal Johnson ---
**Author:** ![Ruckinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@Ruckinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruckinge)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/188 "2005-07-27T12:58:33Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > [/spoiler] > > That should do it. I wasn’t sure how to put both brackets in without causing the box to appear. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/189 "2005-07-27T13:37:48Z")
> [@Ruckinge](#): > > I wasn’t sure how to put both brackets in without causing the box to appear. Leave spaces between the characters, like this: [spoiler] text [/ spoiler] remove all spaces to make an acutal spoiler ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/190 "2005-07-27T14:34:27Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > I have a new one to add to the list. The Crime Library account of Sylvia Livens’s murder. I had weird dreams with people being glued to beds last night after reading that. Yeah, we have some freaky stuff happen in Indiana. All of those Ann Rule books freak me out. I had a friend who was really into that stuff and I ended up reading a couple of them. Ick. And the Crime Library stories keep me up at night. The John Wayne Gacy one is really detailed and creepy. I could have done without knowing all about him. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/191 "2005-07-27T14:57:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > King’s story about the surgeon eating his own body never creeped me out because the whole idea was just too dumb. Steve, man, what do you think happens when you starve to death? _Your body eats itself!_ Hacking off parts of your body, cooking(?) it, then eating it would be _less_ efficient, because you’re wasting all those calories preparing it, instead of just lying very still and letting your metabolism do all the work for you. Even as a kid, I couldn’t get past that. When I saw this thread title, this is the first story that came to mind for me. IIRC, the guy started down the slope when he twisted/broke his ankle so badly that it needed to be amputated due to gangrene. Being a surgeon, and with a ready supply of drugs, he did the amputation, then ate the foot. :eek: It was all downhill from there… “They taste just like lady fingers!” I have also always been haunted by King’s “The Long Walk.” ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/192 "2005-07-27T16:06:51Z")
I could have done without the images of Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, and ‘Hop-frog, or The Eight Chained Orang-Outangs’ swirling through my head when I was a teenager. The thought of ‘The Premature Burial’ is creeping me out right now. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/193 "2005-07-27T16:41:37Z")
Damn that Crime Library website! I stayed up way too late reading about Shanda Sharer, Sylvia Likens, and then James Bulger. The two 10 year olds who murdered 2 year old James served 8 years in a secure facility. They were released with entirely new identities and are now living free. That, to me, is the worst horror story. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/194 "2005-07-27T17:04:53Z")
I’m resisting that Crime Library website with all my might. Even the goriest fiction doesn’t disturb me as much as true crime. And crimes against children…fuhgeddaboudit. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/195 "2005-07-27T17:50:23Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > So…did you ever read anything that upset you so much that you wish you hadn’t read it at all? And I don’t mean, “I was upset because the book sucked so much I wanted my two hours back!” Nope. I put down _Naked Lunch_ when a little kid was getting a rim job, but I don’t regret having picked it up. Other books, like _American Psycho_ fall into the second category. Maybe I need to read some of the books in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/196 "2005-07-27T19:01:28Z")
> [@Ultraviolet](#): > > Another book that upset me was **A child called It**. It didn’t upset me so much with its graphic descriptions of the horrible abuse that the author suffered, but it seemed to me that Pelzer was almost revelling in telling about it. It left me in a very weird head-space, thinking that he was somehow delighting in profitting from his horrible history. It’s hard for me to explain the feeling that this book left me with … Maybe someone else has read it and can explain better. A very disturbing book. I just don’t understand how his mother could start out so loving and then turn into this horrible monster. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/197 "2005-07-27T19:06:21Z")
Forgot to mention some of the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” books by Alvin Schwartz. They freaked me out as a kid, no thanks to the horrific drawings. But one I remember had to do with a bunch of old people in a nursing home or hospital. Their dream was to get the bed near the window so they could watch the world outside. The current occupant would tell stories of what he saw outside, making the main character jealous. They have to wait until thet window guy dies to have his bed. When the main character is second in ‘line’, he kills the current occupant of the bed so that he can finally go. When he gets there he sees nothing but a brick wall. ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/198 "2005-07-28T07:34:18Z")
> [@Ultraviolet](#): > > Another book that upset me was **A child called It**. It didn’t upset me so much with its graphic descriptions of the horrible abuse that the author suffered, but it seemed to me that Pelzer was almost revelling in telling about it. It left me in a very weird head-space, thinking that he was somehow delighting in profitting from his horrible history. It’s hard for me to explain the feeling that this book left me with … Maybe someone else has read it and can explain better. There was a rather _loving_ attention to detail in describing the abuse; that, and the fact that it was SO over the top, made it ring a bit false for me. I’m a psychologist and hear about lots of very bad things and when I feel rather detached and skeptical, I pay attention to that. Personally, I thought **Stiff** was laugh-out-loud funny in many places. I really liked it, but then, I’m rather morbid, too. I have a bit of a gynecological phobia, so why I ever thought reading **The Cider House Rules** (John Irving) would be a good idea is beyond me. I’ll stay away from **Twins** , too, thank you very much :eek: My candidates for disturbing: just because it was so painful, **Autobiography of A Face** by Lucy Grealy. It doesn’t help that she ended up killing herself/o.d.'ing on drugs in real life. And **The End of Alice** by A.M. Homes. Female pedophile ::shudder:: And just plain gross in many places. _Yuck_! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/199 "2005-07-28T16:37:31Z")
> [@Agrippina](#): > > Forgot to mention some of the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” books by Alvin Schwartz. They freaked me out as a kid, no thanks to the horrific drawings. But one I remember had to do with a bunch of old people in a nursing home or hospital. Their dream was to get the bed near the window so they could watch the world outside. The current occupant would tell stories of what he saw outside, making the main character jealous. They have to wait until thet window guy dies to have his bed. > > When the main character is second in ‘line’, he kills the current occupant of the bed so that he can finally go. When he gets there he sees nothing but a brick wall. Sounds like a _Twilight Zone_ episode. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622/200 "2005-07-28T16:47:24Z")
Heh-heh. My aunt was reading _The World According to Garp_ and got all the way to the Unfortunate Blow Job Incident ™ and then pitched it into the fireplace. She couldn’t have had more than about 50 or so pages to go! I loved that book, by the way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-read-a-book-so-upsetting-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-read-it-at-all/313622.md?page=11)