# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/21 "2002-12-12T16:19:57Z")
I wasn’t all that disturbed by **The Naked Lunch** , I don’t know what that says about me… I’d have to say **Cruddy** by Lynda Barry was really creepy, the thing that made it disturbing was that it was also funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/22 "2002-12-12T16:22:08Z")
If you like psychologicaly creepy, as opposed to just gross, I cannot recommend highly enough the works of A. M. Holmes, especially [Music for Torching](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068817762X/qid=1039710273/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2254622-6803168?v=glance&s=books) and [The End of Alice](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684827107/ref=pd_sim_books_1/104-2254622-6803168?v=glance&s=books). ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/23 "2002-12-12T16:23:54Z")
**Bury my heart at Wounded Knee** Man’s inhumanity to man. ---
**Author:** ![OfBlinkingThings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ebca7d/32.png) [@OfBlinkingThings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OfBlinkingThings)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/24 "2002-12-12T16:26:47Z")
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis Ferdinand Celine I read this book and I hate everyone for a month or so afterwards. Very Disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/25 "2002-12-12T16:35:04Z")
All the pedophilia in Gary Jennings’ novels. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/26 "2002-12-12T17:20:59Z")
One of the Tom Clancy novels that described in great detail the sinking of a sub, along with the sailors aboard. Ivylad was on a six month Med run on a sub at the time, and it was NOT something I needed to read right then. I threw the book across the room, burst into tears, and haven’t picked up a Tom Clancy novel since. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/27 "2002-12-12T17:25:04Z")
I was only 11 when I first read Orwell’s _1984_, so I suppose I might be forgiven for having nightmares afterward. But it remains for me a horrific book on many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Aglet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@Aglet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aglet)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/28 "2002-12-12T17:43:50Z")
_Heartstones_ by Ruth Rendell. I loved everything I’ve read by her but still find many of her books/stories quite disturbing. Often it is a character or sequence of events I find disturbing because I know these (or their roots) are quite realistic. I also tend to find it a tad disturbing when I can identify with the thoughts and actions of a psychotic murderer, feeling sympathy and sometimes a little protectiveness. I also found _The Handmaid’s Tale_, Margaret Atwood, somewhat disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/29 "2002-12-12T17:48:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\ ***The perfume** by Patrik Süskind. Disturbing, but brilliant. \*\* I think the title is actually just _Perfume_, and I’ll second this choice. An excellent, disturbing novel. Close seconds are the aforementioned _Gerald’s Game_ (the only Stephen King book to make me not want to turn out the light), _The Ideal Genuine Man_ by Don Robertson (the ending is a shock, to say the least), and _Ordinary Horror_ by David Searcy (in which very little actually happens, but a great deal is suggested and hinted at). ---
**Author:** ![Stccrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Stccrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stccrd)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/30 "2002-12-12T17:53:55Z")
So I haven’t personally read the book, but a friend described **Helter Skelter** to me, and it freaked me out. Of course she is a little bit in her own world as well, but it comes with the territory. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/31 "2002-12-12T18:06:38Z")
_Geek Love_ by Catherine Dunne. Basically the story of a carnival family who’s mom and dad decide to breed thier own freak show. Disturbing on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/32 "2002-12-12T18:12:24Z")
_Wisconsin Death Trip_ by Michael Lesy(?) ---
**Author:** ![CurlyD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@CurlyD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurlyD)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/33 "2002-12-12T18:37:55Z")
_Final Truth: The Autobiography of a Serial Killer_, by Peewee Gaskins, who besides being a serial killer was an all-around lowlife. Don’t read it if you don’t want to be disturbed. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/34 "2002-12-12T18:47:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by welby \* > \*\*_Geek Love_ by Catherine Dunne. > > Basically the story of a carnival family who’s mom and dad decide to breed thier own freak show. > > Disturbing on so many levels. \*\* Oh my Gods, yes. How could I forget this one? ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/35 "2002-12-12T18:55:44Z")
_Silence_, by Shusaku Endo. Most disturbing account of martyrdom I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![moodtobestewed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@moodtobestewed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moodtobestewed)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/36 "2002-12-12T19:03:28Z")
Tim Cahill’s _Buried Dreams_, about serial killer John Wayne Gacy, a man almost inconceivably depraved. ---
**Author:** ![Payne\_N.Diaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Payne\_N.Diaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payne_N.Diaz)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/37 "2002-12-12T19:26:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stccrd \* > \*\*So I haven’t personally read the book, but a friend described **Helter Skelter** to me, and it freaked me out. \*\* I once read this book late at night before I went to bed–NOT A GOOD IDEA. Every pop, whoosh, or creak in the house was Manson coming for me! ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/38 "2002-12-12T19:35:52Z")
Black Dahlia by James Ellroy - I don’t read too many disturbing books, but this one really made me sick. Susan ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/39 "2002-12-12T19:44:52Z")
Pretty much anything by Clive Barker. I like Stephen King, but he is tame compared to Barker. Barker’s _Weaveworld_ comes to mind, as does _The Great and Secret Show_ ---
**Author:** ![Chava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Chava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chava)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222/40 "2002-12-12T19:55:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Bury my heart at Wounded Knee > Man’s inhumanity to man. _The Grapes of Wrath_ by John Steinbeck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disturbing-book-you-know/142222.md?page=3)