“Cat’s Eye” by Margaret Atwood. The cruelty of little girls.
Actually, “A Handmaids Tale” (another by Atwood) would be another good choice.
I can’t read books like that anymore. Too depressing.
It’s been a while since I read it, but Dangerous Liasons (or Les Liasons Dangeruses) certainly qualifies. The two main characters, one male and one female, carefully plan a series of sexual conquests merely to get their jollies. The fact that their behavior ruins the lives of other people doesn’t faze them. If anything, it makes it more exciting for them.
Now I’m severely confused, because this last posting was NOT by me. Should I contact a mod?
Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
London Fields by Martin Amis
Res! So Sorry! My fault! I was posting from my computer without noticing whether it was ME signed in, or one of you from the Dopefest last night. That was MY post.
The problem is now fixed, so no need to contact a mod unless it freaks you out to have everyone know you used to read fiction about little girls. Heh heh.
Now, how many other things have I attributed to you today? Eeek! I’ll go check. Luckily I wasn’t in a crappy mood today, or everyone would be wondering when that Res guy got to be such an ass!
Sorry, I already reported this to mods. There was a previous warning about some form of SMDB identity check.
Registered and noted. Res and Cranky have been duly crushed beneath the Iron Fist of Order.
[sub]How does THAT feel? HUH? And THAT…and THAT![/sub]
Also by Dostoevsky is The Possessed. Creepy book about horrible people. Uh… Night, about the holocaust. I forget who wrote it. Someone please give me a hand?
Elie Wiesel.
Oooh, you’re so manly when you’re on a power trip!
Crush my neck again beneath that boot, Ike! Again! Again!
No way! I didn’t think anyone but me read Amis. Great book.
Other People, also by Amis. This one still haunts me, and it’s a more accessible read than London Fields.
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, classic by an African master.
Paris Trout, Pete Dexter, in the thriller vein.
The Beach, Alex Garland. Don’t laugh. Before this was a Leo Movie it was a great book about humanity’s corruption.
The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. Classic.
It’s all well and good to read books in which authors imagine what the darker side of human nature is like, but non-fiction is better for a taste of the real thing. I recommend books by Harold Schechter or John E. Douglas (Harris’ model for his profiler, Jack Crawford).
Or anything by Huxley. If you really want to feel bad about the human species, Ape and Essence should do the trick (come to think of it, it meet all the requirments of the OP and then some.)
Anything by Evelyn Waugh.
Last Exit to Brooklyn (or probably anything by Selby, but LXTB is all I’ve read so far.)
J.G. Ballard?
Ummm…the Marquis de Sade is fairly corrupt…
And I third Martin Amis.
I’d say pretty much any horror novel by the late Richard Layman would qualify as an exploration of the dark side of life.
“Bringing Out The Dead” by Michael Connelly
The Stranger and The Fall by Albert Camus
I second Jabba with Blood Meridan.
Another Cormac McCarthy fan?
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
Could be ( that’s the only one I’ve read so far; All The Pretty Horses sits on my bookshelf beckoning me).
This is what happens when you raise your voice about anything. Chaos ensues. :eek:
“The lesson is, never try.” --Homer Simpson