# What is the most disturbing book you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222 "2002-12-12T07:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/1 "2002-12-12T07:37:34Z")
First, to exclude both ends of the extrema, I would posit nothing hard-core: a minor should be able to purchase this book in a non-specialty bookstore. Also, no Lovecraftian fill-in-the-blanks scary: Saying that something is horrible is cheating. Describing its tentacles, tipped with barbs and slick with the fluids of your companions, isn’t. My nominations: Firefly, Piers Anthony. Take all the disturbing psychosexual images in the Xanth Jordonology, pressurize them, and picture being sprayed by them. With a firehose. You’ve read Firefly. I’m pretty sure it’s technically illegal under child pornography laws. Grunts, Mary Gentle. This book will RUIN Tolkien for you. You will never again be able to look at Hobbits again without shuddering. Features a orc/hobbit pairing, and most eeeeevil ending to a BSDM scene ever: “Mother? Is that you?” Gaaaahhhh. ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/2 "2002-12-12T08:52:11Z")
> [@](#): > > What is the most disturbing book you know? _The Holy Bible_ ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/3 "2002-12-12T09:12:08Z")
_The Crying of Lot 49_ by Thomas Pynchon is the only book I’ve ever quit in the middle of, not because I was bored or some such, but because I was freaked out by what it was doing to my head. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/4 "2002-12-12T10:20:02Z")
I admit I haven’t read too many creepy books, so my nomination for **American Psycho** may seem a bit poor. But come on, the scene in the zoo with the little boy…that’s just fucked up shit! ---
**Author:** ![Tehanu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Tehanu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tehanu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/5 "2002-12-12T10:41:50Z")
[Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060987103/qid=1039689469/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-8632279-1677743?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Gregory Maguire. Tells the life story of Elphaba, who grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West, as in L. Frank Baum’s Oz. The book is brilliant, but what makes it disturbing is the way it shows Elphaba changing from a bright, idealistic girl into the horrible Wicked Witch of the West. It is a truly haunting story. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/6 "2002-12-12T10:47:57Z")
I’m going to second this one… **American Psycho**. Most hardcore of any ‘_mainstream_’ book I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/7 "2002-12-12T12:57:27Z")
“The hot zone” by Richard Preston, the actual story of EBOLA, Steven King said “chapter 1 was the scariest thing I have ever read, then it got scarier” (possible paraphrasing by me). unclviny ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingwithChickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SwimmingwithChickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingwithChickens)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/8 "2002-12-12T13:25:30Z")
Eh but what is scary? Monsters and made up creatures certainly aren’t… I’m going to have to ponder this for a while… Though I do have to second the Holy Bible…good one rmbnxs ---
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/9 "2002-12-12T13:35:18Z")
On the lit-tra-chure side, _Blood Meridian_ by Cormac McCarthy. Mad and lyrical and horriffic. In McCarthy’s hands the Kid, Captain Holden and The Judge demythify the American West. You’ll never be able to look at Duke and Coop the same way. On the pop side, _The Chill_ by Ross McDonald. The best of the Lew Archer detective series. Love and death in SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/10 "2002-12-12T13:44:56Z")
_[The Butcher Boy](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385312377/qid=1039700805/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5312879-0539942?v=glance&s=books)_ by **Frank McCabe**. Gets you right inside the mind of a homicidal schizophrenic, and makes you empathise with him. And it’s a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/11 "2002-12-12T14:33:09Z")
Oh yes. _Blood Meridian_ is truly beautiful and horrifying. That’s a book chock full of nightmares. However, the only book I’ve ever stopped reading because of its horror is _Naked Lunch_. Around the dozenth young boy who was raped and then murdered right as the rapist ejaculated, I thought, “why am I still reading this?” and put it down. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/12 "2002-12-12T14:36:54Z")
Sorry, the Butcher Boy is by Patrick McCabe. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/13 "2002-12-12T14:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jcgmoi \* > **On the lit-tra-chure side, _Blood Meridian_ by Cormac McCarthy. Mad and lyrical and horriffic. In McCarthy’s hands the Kid, Captain Holden and The Judge demythify the American West. You’ll never be able to look at Duke and Coop the same way.** Right on. I couldn’t finish even this book, despite my admiration of McCarthy’s writing style. The most disturbing book that I’ve read as an adult is Margaret Atwood’s _Bodily Harm_. To the best of my recollection, it’s about a journalist who sees a gruesome pornography exhibit, has a vaguely abusive relationship, and then travels to an unidentified South American country in which she is imprisoned and tortured. I don’t know why I read it to the end…I certainly didn’t enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/14 "2002-12-12T15:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > My nominations: > Firefly, Piers Anthony. When I saw the thread title, I **knew** that this one was going to be on the list – I hadn’t expected it to show up in the OP. My Piers Anthony nomination has to go to one of the short stories (from “Anthonology”) – called **“On the Uses of Torture”**. Oh god how I cringed in pain while reading that… ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/15 "2002-12-12T15:24:32Z")
**The perfume** by Patrik Süskind. Disturbing, but brilliant. And it shure is littra-shure ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/16 "2002-12-12T15:26:15Z")
setting aside the psycho-sexual catagory (which I don’t read) I’d nominate: “I Have No Mouth and I must Scream” by Harlan Ellison Still spooks me out and I read this about 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/17 "2002-12-12T15:34:48Z")
A book called “Inquisition” with a subtitle I can’t recall. It was basically a pictorial of various torturte devices used in the period and included commenbts on how they were used and what the person who was being tortured went through. Then there were those creepy period drawings of these deeds being done. Absolutely horrifying. I get a chill just thinking about it. Nonfiction - Probably “The Poet” by Michael Connelly or “Flower’s in the Attic” by Andrews. That grandmother just gave me the chills! ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/18 "2002-12-12T15:35:55Z")
whoops, I meant fiction. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/19 "2002-12-12T16:14:16Z")
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski and The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I read both when I was 13, or 14 and it was waaaayyy too early in development for that to have been a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_Schmeese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Marconi\_Schmeese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_Schmeese)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/20 "2002-12-12T16:16:08Z")
By FAR the most disturbing book I have ever read (and then read again) was [Gerald’s Game](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451176464/qid=1039709657/sr=8-8/ref=sr_8_8/104-3693304-5656754?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Stephen King. Just when you think you’ve gotten it figured out :eek:! The scariest thing is that it _really could happen (to me)._ And now I need to go buy EVERY SINGLE OTHER BOOK mentioned in this thread. I love the creepy stuff! 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222.md?page=2)