The Most Disturbing Books I've Read

[@MountainShadow8]

When I think of dark and disturbing, Cormac McCarthy immediately comes to mind. That said, he fits my description of some of the authors I consider great authors. They "make me" read something I don't really want to read. The writing is so well done and beautiful that I have to read it. The Road is a perfect example of this and one of my very favorite books.

[@joannelalli5576]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is the most disturbing for me.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Ah yes! Such a disturbing book and family situation.

[@kaes7041]

Very similar are The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing and Ediths Diary by Patricia Highsmith. Both also very disturbing.

[@janeglew6281]

I think I would have to say that ‘ A Little Life ‘ was the most disturbing book I’ve read . It was very graphic and detailed , tho the story was intriguing and so I had to get to the end . It just made me uncomfortable at times .

[@marciaalbaum2597]

agreed but I loved it

[@SelinaAllinson]

Agreed 💯

[@TheMostBoringGuy]

Purely just trauma porn

[@wilfamos7314]

Excellent video review as ever, thank you so very much indeed. I am very pleased to add another two books to my TBR from the list of brilliant books discussed here.

[@bobbykeniston7240]

I recently read "Butcher" and the misogyny and just dismissal of a human being's agency was indeed disturbing and upsetting. "Zombie", also by JCO, is also a disturbing book. I loved "Lapvona" even though it troubled me, and I thought "Earthlings" was brilliant, but can't imagine people who thought they might be getting something more like "Convenience Store Woman" reacted... For me, hands down, the most disturbing book I have ever read is "The Girl Next Door" by Jack Ketchum. It genuinely, tangibly made me ill and angry, and it is a book I almost stopped reading, but couldn't--- I had to see if the truly awful people would get some kind of comeuppance, needed to see if there would be some kind of hope. It is things like this, where violence perpetrated against children, that upset me. There is a wonderful anthology collection of "dark tales" by Native American authors called "Never Whistle at Night," and there is a story called "Quantum" by Nick Medina that was so hard to read for similar reasons, and I was glad it was a short story (though it stuck with me like a novel might).

[@GarySwafford-p2f]

Butcher is brilliant and very disturbing, indeed. Eric, will you be interviewing Oates about this new novel of hers? I hope so.

[@martinezgerard]

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is one of the most disturbing and haunting books I have ever read.

[@marciaalbaum2597]

respectfully, I did not like this book. I thought it was unhappy people reaping what the sowed

[@jamesduggan7200]

@@marciaalbaum2597 I've read it several times and for me it gets better and better with each new reading. The first time I read it, it seemed a ghost story without much meat in it. The second time, Heathcliff's behavior overwhelmed me, but by the third time I realized that the ending went a long way to redeeming a story about people who are maybe more passionate than most.

[@laurieeyebee]

My favorite book.

[@sarah-roadworthy]

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. Lord of the Flies? Heart of Darkness? Lolita? Last Exit to Brooklyn?

[@TheEmzies]

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata 😬 Also, Empire of Pain about the Sackler Family / Purdue Pharma - their interest in protecting their name over concern about the harm being done by OxyContin was disturbing.

[@meme246814]

Oh earthlings shocked me, but I throughly enjoyed it

[@gpeaches]

I love Lapvona! Most disturbing scene to me is the grape scene with Elspeth! Or coughing up a pinky toe with the nail still attached...... Uhmmmm. Love the video, Eric. I really enjoy disturbing books and most of these are on my TBR but thanks for the new additions

[@alisonjordan]

Hello Eric 🙋‍♀️ Thank you for another interesting video 📹 I have not read any of the novels 📚 on your list, but I have read a number of books 📚 over the years, which I have found disturbing: “The Quickening Maze” by Adam Foulds. “The Service of Clouds” by Susan Hill (which is a shame as I really like her novels), “The Innocent” by Ian McEwan, and “Jude the Obscure” by Thomas Hardy... Continue to make fascinating videos 📹about the latest books 📚 Happy 📖 Reading...

[@kirstyfairly4371]

Hi Eric, great video. I agree with you on The Road, that book is definitely one of the most disturbing books i've read. Other books that have really disturbed me are the Joyce Carol Oates novel Zombie, The Devil Of Nanking, Sharp Objects, & the true crime book House Of Evil about the Sylvia Likens case.

[@wendycayless]

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan is the one that I found most disturbing

[@christophercobb249]

I agree, "The Comfort of Strangers" is one of the most disturbing books I've read.

[@travelers3287]

For me, Golding' Lord of the flies

[@ΛΕΜΟΝΙΑΤΑΣΟΥΛΑ]

I dont remember the title right now but the most disturbing book i have ever read eas written by a French writer and it was about a nazzi soldier who was in love with his twin sister. I remember that what struck me the most was how indifferent the protagonist was to all the human pain surrounding him, how remorseless he stayed during all the time that the war lasted. In the circumstances it seemed that the only human aspect about him was his love for his sister , however sick that love was. I wasn't able to finish the book and i remember thinking that the death of the central hero would be a kind of catharsis but that didn't happen. He survived the war and prospered after it.

[@LucilleDesmoulins]

The Kindly Ones

[@danicadabic9789]

@@LucilleDesmoulins Oh, by Jonathan Littell. That is a very famous book. Thanks for reminding me of it.

[@julieaulava9567]

My first disrurbing read was the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson shocked me in high school and has stayed with me for all these many years. I wonder if it would hit me the same way now or if part of the impact was my age when I read it.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Ah, interesting! I know that’s a classic story but I’ve never read it. I need to seek it out. Thank you!

[@suzannebrown1714]

I have been teaching The Lottery with 9th grade for many years and it never ceases to make students understand the power of storytelling!

[@artiste335]

I'll never forget reading that in high school English class. I was 16. I have never been so shocked by anything I've ever read and I've read all manner of dark books. I think it was my young age and that fact that it was so unexpected and so horrifying. Every cell in my body was shocked.

[@artiste335]

@@EricKarlAnderson Since you are an adult and have been exposed to much that is dark, it may not have that strong an effect on you but for a young teen who is reading it in English class, as I mentioned in my post above, I've never been so shocked in my life! It has stayed with me for decades.

[@susiesky1]

Thanks for another very interesting vid, Eric. As I was watching & thinking of what disturbing books I’ve read, you got to The Road & I thought “oh of course!!” It’s one of my fav books. The scene you talk about of course is rather terrifying but most of the book for me was disturbingly tense, even the second time I read it. Another book with a similar tense atmosphere that builds is His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme Macrae Burnet, an historical novel that takes place in western Scotland during the 1840s (I think) about a young man that murders some of his neighbors. A doctor interviews him about why he’s done what he’s done & the reader doesn’t really know more than the doctor does. But it’s about more than just the murders. There’s a lot about the injustice of the socioeconomic system in Scot. at the time. And then there’s the short story The Mud Below by Annie Proulx in which a rape occurs that really shocked & disturbed me. And In the Ravine by Anton Chekhov that includes a very disturbing murder, something out of the norm for Chekhov, despite the generally melancholic atmosphere of his stories. Stark realism, as in these last two, is what disturbs me the most. Thanks again!! 😊

[@artiste335]

Same here.

[@barbaravoss7014]

Some of the ones I found deeply disturbing: Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee, The Trial by Kafka, Lolita by Nabokov, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin and most recently Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

[@Japoleczka]

Probably the most disturbing book I've ever read was 'Janko Muzykant,' a 19th century novella that used to be a mandatory read when I was in primary school. In this, a Polish peasant child, gifted and passionate about violin is being punished and in consequence dies because he had a cheek to watch noble people through the window. Whoever grew up in Poland these days knows poor Janek's devastating fate. The author is a Nobel prize winning Henryk Sienkiewicz ('Quo vadis?). From more recent I would definitely also include 'The Road.' Then 'The King Rat' by James Clavell, read ages ago but still vivid in some aspects - II WW, a japanese camp for soldiers and hunger that drives everybody to madness. Emma O'Donoghue and her 'Room' - claustrophobic, heavy with fear and emotions, I was biting my nails reading it. There is a kidnapped girl and a brilliantly created plot, characters, language. Definitely the best one by this author. 'The Mischling' by Affinity Konar - Auschwitz experiments on twins, Mengele and his evil colleagues, absolutely shocking but also in some ways heart warming (still extremaly disturbing!). 'How We Disappeared' by Jing Jing Lee, 'Sing, Unburied Sing' by Jesmyn Ward and plenty of others. And Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and all tales in their original version send shiver down the spine.

[@vacantlots]

Tender is the Flesh. Short story Guts by Chuck Palahniuk. Perfume. Disgrace. Handmaids Tale.

[@kimblee1972]

Tender is the flesh - read it over a year ago and it still creeps back into my brain. 😳

[@annakap97]

Lapvona and Earthlings is so spot on. The Jakarta Method haunts me

[@stevenpace1849]

I read Dalton Trumbo's How Johnny Got His Gun sometime during the sixties. It gave me nightmares for years. Today, as I look back, that novel changed my life forever. Make love, not war.

[@laurieeyebee]

Yes, I read this in high school and it affected me VERY much.

[@carl_oak]

The parcel sounds utterly brilliant! Thank you

[@jamesduggan7200]

Without a doubt Nabokov's Lolita. The scene where Humbert Humbert 'safely solipsizes" Delores Haze while bouncing her up and down on his lap in her mother's living room was, and continues to be disturbing. Also disturbing, though perhaps to a lesser degree, was how Charlotte Hayes runs into traffic after discovering Humbert's 'diary' not so very well hidden in his unlocked desk drawer.

[@marciaalbaum2597]

this is off but a great book

[@Nickelini]

I think my most disturbing book was A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I always find realistic books and films more upsetting than stories that are more fictional.

[@nathanfoung2347]

Requiem for a dream by Hubert Selby was pretty disturbing, but I think the movie adaptation may have affected my opinion as well because im more of a visual person.

[@Michelle777-l2w]

I LOVED Lapvona so much... mainly because the gore and depraved behaviour of some of the characters was tempered with Ottessa Moshfegh's unique black humor and I found the absolutely absurd elements made me laugh out loud. Without spoiling anything; the scene with the horse's eyeballs, for example. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.

[@jacquelineturner7206]

The Painted Bird by Jerry Kosinski. It was so disturbing that I stopped reading it and threw it in the trash so I wouldn’t have to look at it.

[@marciaalbaum2597]

I understand but it was short and I finished it and it stayed with me

[@rora9994]

JCO is my all-time favorite writer, and I'm accustomed to disturbing books and movies, but I'm wondering if even I can handle this one.

[@Book_Hugger]

“I” by Jack Olsen is one of the most disturbing books I have read in the past and most recently, “The Discomfort of Evening”, by Rijneveld.

[@SM-vr8dz]

Love a list!

[@williamf.buckleyjr.1572]

Fabulous review. American Psycho is pretty rough.

[@christophercobb249]

Also, I don't remember if the story's title is the same as the book's title but there is a story in the book "Say You're One of Them" that shows the Rwandan genocide through a child's eyes. It's extremely disturbing with the visceral realism and child's view of horror.

[@1zangelique]

Great video, Eric. Will you be interviewing Oates again soon?

[@rimattiman]

My Dark Vanessa We need to talk about Kevin Appetite for innocence Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter All disturbing

[@qinlkpah]

"The Kindly Ones" by Jonathan Littell

[@stephencarroll230]

Earthlings-very disturbing!

[@kaes7041]

Books I tried to read several times but never got beyond the first chapters because I found them too disturbing are Elias Canetti "The Blinding," Heinrich Mann "Der Untertan" and Louis-Ferdinand Céline "Journey to the End of the Night". I found the characters and situations they described so depressing that I literally wanted to spare them the fate of having to come back to life in my mind.

[@christophercobb249]

A book I recently picked up and I've had to read it slowly because it's incredibly distressing: Blind Owl (I've also seen it translated as The Blind Owl) by Sadegh Hedayat. It's extraordinarily dark and disturbing, but also a remarkable work of literature. I recommend it.

[@bookishbgg]

I just typed out a huge comment and then accidentally deleted it... :( So I put my phone away and went to type on my computer. I tried to put very triggering stuff in between /// /// The most disturbing book I've ever read is Kao da me nema by Slavenka Drakulić which can be found translated to English as either "S.: A Novel about the Balkans" or "As If I Am Not There", the latter being a direct translation of the title. I wasn't even planning to comment but then you mentioned how you had nightmares and asked if a book ever affected us the same way and I was instantly reminded of my experience reading this book. I'll try to describe how I felt while reading this book the best I can in English as a non-native speaker. While reading this book I kept thinking it couldn't get any worse and then it did. I wept, I was nauseous for hours, (I think I even screamed and had to put down the book and really think if I can keep reading or if I should stop) I wept for hours after reading it and I kept having vivid mental images from a couple of the worst scenes for weeks. I was really affected by it in a very negative way. I've repressed a lot of the book because it was so traumatizing but there's 3 scenes that are still with me, the ones that were the worst (for me) and one in particular which absolutely got to me the most and it's just a casually mentioned incident (I wish there was a spoiler version here so I can censor it but here goes ///father raping his son after seeing another man and his son murdered for disobeying the same orders by soldiers/// Essentially doing whatever it takes to stay alive.). The book itself is a diary of the protagonist S. who is in a rape camp and she's observing and overhearing other people's miseries while living her own. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this book, it's just so upsetting. I honestly changed as a person a lot because of it. I'm much more easier to anger while before I was more likely to get sad when reacting to injustice and evil. I no longer believe people are inherently good. I should clarify, this book is about real life events, the genocide of Bosniaks perpetrated by Serbs and I myself am a Croat (a sceptical one) born in 1996. Another book which is also about genocide, this one of the Tutsi by the Hutu in Rwanda written by Scholastique Mukasonga. This book has one scene in particular which scarred me and was so gruesome, you'll know when/if you get to it. It involves a ///murder of a pregnant woman/// and the way it's done is just... This book was the most disturbing book before I read Drakulić and also gave me nightmares, made me wonder about human nature... I'm not really into disturbing stuff really, I am very easily scared and emotionally triggered (although I do know how to numb myself sometimes) but I don't want to be indifferent and this world is full od disturbing events happening. I want to witness as much as I can but it's overwhelming. Most of the disturbing and dark books I've read have to do with real life injustices. The ones that don't I usually wasn't aware that they'd be disturbing before starting it. Another book which I can easily recall as a very disturbing book is one I read this month, Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. A collection of short stories, there's a couple that were absolutely brilliant and then some I didn't care for that much... But throughout the book there's a lot of disturbing stuff described and had I not read the two books I mentioned above, I think this one would hit even harder with me. Still, I cried, felt chills, nausea... Especially during the story Finkelstein Five which I read twice in the same day and the second time aloud. The story immediately after which is only 2 pages was really emotional. Those two were the best stories for me personally. The book's themes are racism, violence, capitalism/consumerism. Honorable mentions in no particular order that I want to mention because they've made me reflect a lot about stuff: Hotel Iris (Yoko Ogawa), Life Ceremony (Sayaka Murata), Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, Tell Me I'm Worthless (Alison Rumfitt), We Had to Remove This Post (Hanna Bervoets). Also, I just remembered! I had a similar nightmares taking over my life, obsessive and intrusive thoughts after watching the show Mindhunter and then reading about serial killers after. Honestly, I'm fine with never again reading or hearing anything about serial killers. This comment being a very personal one, in the sense that I'm really sharing a lot of myself just now, I thought I might mention something that crossed my mind when I saw you had a video reading books Obama approved. Barack Obama is a war criminal. Allegedly. Do I have to say that? Anyway, that's a video of yours I won't be watching. And I hope I won't get a block for saying what I just did.

[@alkersr]

Definitely Turn of the Screw, which I couldn't even keep in the same house as me.

[@scallydandlingaboutthebooks]

I think the most disturbing books I read often relate to femicide like Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor or civil war like White Nights by Hwang Sun-wōn. I loved Harvest but I can see how it could generate a nightmare. Thanks for reminding me about The Parcel which I meant to read.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yes! I almost included Hurricane Season in this group I talked about. Must read White Nights at some point when I can steel my nerves.

[@marciaalbaum2597]

a little life was dufficult but I loved it

[@terrystred]

Sophie’s Choice. Unbearable.

[@miaarndt9501]

The first book that came to mind for most disturbing was My Mother’s House by Francesca Momplaisir

[@laurieeyebee]

The Stand was disturbing to me, and kind of put me off dystopian novels from now on. I thought The Hunger Games was disturbing and had no interest in finishing the series; pitting kids against kids that way is unthinkable. Thomas Tryon's The Other has haunted me for 50 years. So deep, so dark, so gothic, so absolutely shocking. Lord of the Flies fits into this list and for that matter, so does Old Yeller.

[@stephencarroll230]

“Of Cattle and Men” Anna Paula Maia

[@gemmaware6823]

I actually found Babysitter by JCO so disturbing that I couldn’t finish it, think I might stay away from Butcher 😂

A Dutch novel ' The Vanishing. ' Anything by Dennis Cooper, especially ' Frisk. '

[@inbetweenworlds]

Dark Vanessa! A Little Life!

[@Thelord_voldemort]

I really love your content. Could you add english subtitle, cause i'm not from english and i don't really understand english. Thank you, may luck always be with you

[@marciaalbaum2597]

I got 70 pages through history of seven killings. it was one of the senselessly cruel books I almost read. I appreciated it but it was too intense

[@Sunshinysky432]

I regretted reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (read for book club) and Clarissa by Samuel Richardson DNF, however read 1,000 pages out of 1,500 plus. I don’t know how or why I read that many.

[@jaysfarrell]

A Little Life has stayed in my mind since I read it over a year ago…. Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry was a very difficult read. I loved Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh but the main character is quite a disgusting character. Tender is the Flesh - just horrific. Never Let Me Go traumatised me and another book I can’t forget about. Boy Parts by Eliza Clark. Glutton by Blakemore. Old God’s Time is haunting. Most recently The Last House on Needless Street; The Yellow Wallpaper and The Shock of the Fall. This is my favourite genre, I’d love to hear more recommendations.

[@marciaalbaum2597]

I loved a little life

[@Gen-yh1jz]

Oh I was wondering about Butcher

[@marciaalbaum2597]

ludlum was uneasy. not the journey or characters told straight forwardly. it is knowing what is and will happen to these polish people pre wwII. they are being kids but we know. a good read

[@nicolaspoblete2087]

"Cows," by Matthew Stokoe

[@christopherjones7241]

Killer Fiction by Gérard Schaefer. Truly depraved

[@SM-vr8dz]

I would say Lolita was v hard to read. I also read it as a teenager, so that made it even harder to read. There were parts of Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enriquez that were difficult.

[@SelinaAllinson]

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I'll never get over it.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Ah, I’ve actually still never read that but reading Beloved was such an experience!

[@jackwalter5970]

I loved Lapvona. Earthlings was too much for me.

[@ilya1046]

You mentioned Cormac McCarthy. I think his Child of God is incredibly good and simultaneously very disturbing.

[@BellatrixVanDettaZwarts]

The most disturbing book I've read, is Trainspotting.

[@MarcNash]

I've recently read and reviewed Charlene Elsby's "The Devil Thinks I'm Pretty". Although the gore is less rooted in the climax, up until then it was really rather wonderful in its disturbia. AM Holmes has her disturbia creep up on yuo from seemingly benign domestic settings

[@marciaalbaum2597]

a.m.homes is special.

[@annewoodborne1254]

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis..

[@nathanfoung2347]

Hogg by Samuel R Delany. Definitely the most disturbing. Not for the faint hearted.

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

I haven't read any of the disturbing books you look at in this video. The most disturbing book I've read is Poking Holes by Juan Valencia, a collection of very disturbing short stories. I am currently reading Black Leopard Red Wolf, which though brilliant has disturbing passages. American Psycho was also very disturbing.

[@jamesduggan7200]

Oddly I wasn't particularly disturbed by American Psycho. Some of the cartoonish scenes made it clear to me that a great deal of the violence was going on inside Patrick Bateman's head only. However, there were scenes, like the one in the alley near the fast-food restaurant that certainly seemed to say that not all of the graphic violence was fantasy.

[@fetedesneiges6678]

A Little Life will always be the correct answer.

[@FactoryOne]

I thought you had read Tender is the Flesh. Surprised it didn’t make the list!

[@neetupd8510]

Daughters of charchinar by Almas Hussain is a very disturbing book....but a good one to read.

[@marciaalbaum2597]

rabbit hutch was a good book but I found it very depressing. I read painted bird and this was a downer

[@valholden7199]

Most recently Old God's Time...harrowing

[@carl_oak]

I've postponed so many times due this

[@carissamk1]

Perfect Days by Raphael Montes… so disturbing

[@ericgeneric135]

Easily the most disturbing book I've read was 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade.

[@tz7245]

Blood Meridian bu Cormac Mccarthy.. my god. I have never consumed a piece of content so profoundly disturbing and violent. Violent on levels beyond imagination.. not for mcarthy apparently. I wonder how he was able to write something so intensely distressing.. is the prose beautiful? Absolutely.. poetic actually. Just astonishing.. i put it down 50% in and hope i can muster up the capacity to finish it some day.

[@teneshaanderson4761]

American psycho I’ve never had to skip so many scenes in my life

[@lisak2698]

Tender is the Flesh… I couldn’t finish it and made me consider veganism for awhile

[@HelenSchneider-tl3yh]

Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

[@jamesduggan7200]

Shards was disturbing, perhaps mostly because within the brutally honest account of the events constituting the story there remained in the Main Character something unbelievable. First, there was the obvious making himself a superhero because it was his story, but also because he seems to be withholding something confessional beyond his self-abhorrence.

[@heianwoman]

The Road

[@user-qo6tz1oe1v]

I agree. I gave up on Cormac McCarthy after reading it

[@ujjainiroy5126]

Tara Westover's Educated

[@claudiacoy5518]

Pis Tales by a French author, I can't remember his name.

[@Meimisaki2001]

My absolute darling for me

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Oh yes, that was disturbing!

[@marciaalbaum2597]

I could not read the english patient

[@Heatherskl]

My Dark Vanessa for me

[@parisshangreaux8816]

❤🎉😂

[@raffaellalisboa1350]

Can you read in Portuguese?