The Most Disturbing Book You've Ever Read.

American Psycho.

I guess that's a pretty cliche answer and it's not disturbing per se, but some of the more graphic scenes of violence had me literally squirming around and grimacing as I read them. I've read that book three times now (one of my favorites, and Bret Easton Ellis is among my favorite writers) and, even though I know what's coming, it always has the same effect on me. Cringe-worthy, I guess, would be the best word.

Also, not the book as a whole, but this one scene in Less Than Zero, also by Ellis, where some of Clay's friends, who are all 18 or older, tie a twelve-year-old girl to a bed and they all take turns raping and molesting her. It's not described, but it's very explicitly implied and just the thought of anyone I know doing that--especially because I know a small handful of people who I could absolutely see doing such a thing--makes my stomach churn. That scene really bothered me a lot in a way that books or movies rarely do.

I've also always found The Bell Jar to be disturbing in a very subtle, haunting way.

Nothing by Janne Teller.

(Warning to anyone planning to read it: I’m basically spoiling the whole book here)

I got it out of the library along with a bunch of other books for my summer holidays last year, and I was not expecting what actually happened. The plot is basically about a boy who decides there’s no point to life and so he climbs up the tree outside his house and refuses to come down. It’s from the point of view of one of his classmates, and tells about how the rest of his class want to prove to him that there is meaning in life and a reason to live.

They had to choose an object which meant a lot to the next person in their class list, and that person had to give it up to the pile. It started with new shoes, make up, and a football.

But then it got disturbing. The first sign was when a girl had to bring her live budgie/parrot (it’s been a long time since I read it) in its cage and put it on the pile. Another girl had to dig up the grave of her dead younger brother. One girl had to give up her virginity.

I think the last one was the worst though. A boy who played guitar had to cut off his finger with only a saw and a piece of wood. It was awful, and descriptive.

The worst part was probably that at the end, there wasn’t any meaning. The pile was set on fire, and the boy who believed there was no point in life was burned to death.

For weeks after I couldn’t read another book because I was still recovering.

Oh also, The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade. After hearing about it for years and gaining a great interest in de Sade, I finally got an opportunity to read it about a year ago and... holy shit. No words for that book.

Piercing by Ryu Murakami.

The protagonist, Kawashima stands guard with an ice pick over his infant's crib, daring himself to plunge the pick into the sleeping baby. Afraid for his daughter's safety at his hands, Kawashima takes advantage of a sabbatical to move to a downtown Tokyo hotel under the pretence of conducting a work-related study, while in fact intending to hire a prostitute to torture and murder instead.

I finished the book in order to know what happened in the end. After that, I was pretty disturbed for a week or so.

Another book which disturbed me was Snakes And Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara. The book mostly centres around exotic body modification and of course, tattoos. There's a lot of sex involved as well.

After reading both books, I decided not to pick up another Japanese-authored book. Japanese authors are so sadistically twisted, they are scary.

Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. I mean, I love horror stories and all, but Dreamcatcher was just like, *shudders and sets it down, never to touch it again*. Parasites x_x

I found certain parts of Night disturbing. The most disturbing thing for me about that book was that these things had actually happened. It sickens me.

Edit: I'm worried about trying a Stephen King book after going through this thread. I think I'll wait a while.
Animal Farm also sounds pretty interesting.

I like Stephen King. I find him very talented to be able to create a story that can actually make you scared to read thet book, you know?

I'd have to say the book that disturbed me was Chloe Doe.
It's not scary, just sad and graphic.
There's one part where it talks about how her older sister was murdered by her mom's boyfriend, he raped her and tied her to her bed and put a bag over her face, and the mom didn't even care.
She was actually more upset about the guy going to jail than her daughter being dead.

I don't know... That's just upsetting.

Also, there's another part about this girl who couldn't afford an abortion and she stuck a metal hanger in her area.

It was so sad.

Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov. Sick, twisted shit, man.

I read The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński was pretty disturbing. The things that they did to the little boy.
But also, there was Das Parfum by Patrick Suskind. Seriously? Killing other people just to make the perfect perfume?

One that I CANNOT deny was Justine. Poor girl, having to work in one of those places? It's just disturbing!

Johnny Got His Gun. It's about a soldier who gets all of his limbs blown off, along with his face, and he's left a prisoner in his own mind. It gets pretty freaky at times.

Okay, so, I don't get the big deal about 1984 by George Orwell. The book wasn't as disturbing as Orwell's other book, Animal Farm. Just the fact that those poor barn animals never realized what was happening to them... Gives me the creeps. I had nightmares.

bitter taste:

Animal Farm also sounds pretty interesting.

Don't do it, man. DON'T DO IT!

I also found L. J. Smith's The Forbidden Game very disturbing.

[TRIGGER WARNING discussion of rape]

chai latte:

Also, not the book as a whole, but this one scene in Less Than Zero, also by Ellis, where some of Clay's friends, who are all 18 or older, tie a twelve-year-old girl to a bed and they all take turns raping and molesting her. It's not described, but it's very explicitly implied and just the thought of anyone I know doing that--especially because I know a small handful of people who I could absolutely see doing such a thing--makes my stomach churn. That scene really bothered me a lot in a way that books or movies rarely do.

I've read all three of the books you quoted and I didn't find The Bell Jar disturbing, but I think you'd enjoy a book called Bird's Nest Soup, which is a memoir. It's amazing.

But yes, Less Than Zero was awful. The descriptions of watching his friend working as a prostitute, and when they find the dead body, etc. It was just so disturbing to read, because they all just seem to not care at all. That book was brilliant.

Parts of A Song of Ice and Fire, especially the scene (spoiler!) where Biter starts eating Brienne's cheek off. And when the Hound smashes Oberyn's head in. When Theon was tortured, and when the Blue Bard was tortured. There's plenty of other scenes, those were just some of the worst for me.

Night was bad because it all was real.

The Enemy series, partly because zombies freak me out, and partly because it was way too descriptive. I literally couldn't sleep for weeks.

For me, it'd have to be "Promise Not To Tell" by Jennifer McMahon. It took me four days to finish it because I kept having to put it down and look over my shoulder to make sure the Potato Girl wasn't behind me. -A

There are some pretty disturbing scenes in Let The Right One In, but its still an amazing book. My Dad read it after me and was not happy that I'd read it haha :')

Gerald's Game. How could you let a thirteen year old read this?
With kinky sex, almost rape, and 127 hours type trapping, it was just too creepy.

Also, the first book in Darren Shan's Demonata Series. Only because it described a demon using a dead body as some sort of ventriloquist dummy or puppet. It makes me feel a little sick, even now.

House of Evil : An Indiana Torture Slaying. Sadly a true crime story based on the murder of Sylvia Likens. Probably the most disturbing book I've read thus far. Yet it's also one of my favorite cases for some reason. Very tragic and just...evil. Also A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard.

Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik.

Between the crew eating this lady's ass (and her eating it before she died) and the short story in it called Guts, I was scarred for life. Not to mention that the cover glows in the dark and scares the shit outta me, so I keep it locked up in my closet.

I've read a few 'disturbing' books such as New Model Army, By Light Alone, The Shining, Embassytown and the Bas Lag novels, but the book that disturbed me the most was actually a teenage fiction novel called The City of Bones - mainly because I find disturbing things to be people making simple errors and massive ones.

The way a book is written, both well and badly, make either good disturbing or bad disturbing (good being the book meant to, the bad being unintentionally via the authors or outside source related to it). Mortal Instruments is poorly researched, badly characterized and was originally an incest fanfic that glorifies rape i.e. if you're raped, you're pretty.

If I were to touch on the mentioned books, I would note the following:
New Model Army: The way the wounds are described by the name character is just brilliantly done so that it becomes sickening, and the way the protagonist slowly realizes that he joined Pantergral is because he enjoys killing.

By Light Alone: Just makes you hate civilization, really. For the first half the story is with a rich family, who will piss you off more than once. The desperation depicted by the poor is also almost too well done.

The Shining: Enough said, just plain creeped me out.

Embassytown: The way that this whole alien race cannot lie (insert complex language description here), and when they do, people start dying and a whole revelation starts - these things tear their ears off against it. The way it's written makes you start to panic.

Bas Lag: Expect novels filled with disturbing creatures, such and a race that bury themselves in hosts to live, giant moths that stick their tongues down your throat in order to 'eat your mind', some interesting and slightly disturbed expansions of corporeal punishment... well, it's just brilliantly done with some aspects that really make you question what the author was on at the time.