Deeply Unsettling Books That Made Readers Uncomfortable

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3 days ago

On the always buzzing subreddit r/AskReddit, users were discussing the topic: What is the most disturbing book that you've read? Here are just some of the top answers:
"Night by Elie Wiesel. I had to put it down in several places, and some of the imagery is burned into my brain. What makes it so much worse is that most of those scenes were recounting of horrors he witnessed during WWII. How anyone lived through that and was able to function at all defies logic."
"Organic Chemistry, 5th edition. I legit wake up in the night sobbing thinking about it."
"I'll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. The content of the book itself is creepy, and the fact that she didn't live to see the Golden State Killer captured sits with me years after reading it."
"The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini."
"We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver"
"A Child Called 'It' by Dave Pelzer. It's very graphic and sad and a true story."
"The Road by Cormac McCarthy."
"We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow You Will All Be Killed With Your Families by Philip Gourevitch. It's about the Rwandan genocide."
"Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews."
"The Unexpected Salami. It's about rockstars, drug addiction, and sex. It involves overdosing, someone being murdered, and very explicit directions on how to come off of heroin."
"When I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood in college in the mid-90s, I was troubled for days. It caused me to seriously rethink gender roles, bodily autonomy, and religion. Which, I suppose, is exactly what it was trying to do."
"The Long Walk. It's by Stephen King, but it's a Bachman book. Can't believe they're making it a movie now, it's gonna be nuts."
"The Jungle by Upton Sinclair...had to stop and just cry a few times. Not the MOST disturbing book I've read, but some other people have already mentioned those."
"American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis."
"She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb."
"The most disturbing thing I ever read was I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison."
"In Cold Blood by Truman Capote."
"Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica."
"Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk."
"Apt Pupil by Stephen King was pretty dark."
"1984. Scary even in the '90s when I first read it. More so now."
"Shake Hands with the Devil by Roméo Dallaire. The true account of Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire's experiences in Rwanda. He recounts a lot of his experiences, and the descriptions are horrific. Roads they couldn't drive down because they were so covered with bodies, watching people hacked apart in the street, stuff like that. It's brutal."
"Beloved by Toni Morrison is pretty f*cked up. I loved it and the movie was brilliant, but I don't think I'll ever read it again."
"I think my most disturbing is The Poet by Micheal Connelly. There is a chapter I wish I could scrub from my memory in that book!"
"Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. Not a gory book, but a deeply disturbing read about a man trapped in his body."
"House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski."
"IT by Stephen King. I was a teen and hate clowns. It was disturbing but I loved it."
And lastly, "Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Read about halfway through and said f*ck it."
What is the most disturbing book you have ever read? Comment below!