Young Writers Society

I read Deathday and Earthrise by William C. Dietz...and both contain some disturbing material. Three of the main characters are a white supremist skinhead who kills ethnic minorities during the book, a hispanic pervert who brutally rapes and kills one of the books' female characters, and lastly a white security officer who falls in love with the black wife of the U.S. President. Not only disturbing, but poorly-written sci-fi.

Also, some war books I read can be graphic and mentally disturbing sometimes.

Like your sig, Teufelshund.

I was gonna put something form the SEALs on mine - "The more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war" - but Dune won out.

I haven't actually read it myself (sue me) but I've heard of this book called "The Jungle" through a lot of people. It's about a meat factory in Chicago (I believe) that puts human parts in their products. At least that's what I've been told.

I want to read it.

the book "For Edgar" was really weird but it had a good story line

I found 1984 disturbing....does that count? I generally stay away from disturbing books though. I'm already disturbed enough as it is. Although, that being said, the "Tomorrow" series by John Marsden is also disturbing. And I loved them, lol.

I don't know the name of it, but I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. about how in the future people will all be "equal." And by "equal" i mean that nobody is allowed to be smarter than the dummest person or more beautiful than the most ugly person, etc. Everybody has to wear ipod style earbuds (it was written before these sorts of things were invented--almost seems like a prophesy, lol) which constantly play a government radio station fillled with propoganda, and when the person gets an intellectual thought they are given a jolt so that they forget the thought and are once again stupid. And beautiful people must wear masks, and strong people must carry around weights chained to their legs.

And then the story is about a husband and wife watching ballet on tv, except the ballerinas (sp?) are wearing masks and weights. Then their son jumps on the stage (they watch him do it on tv) and begins dancing with a ballerina. He takes off both of their weights and masks and everything the government put on them, and they just dance, until a special enforcer of those laws comes and shoots him with a shotgun. The husband went to get a beer during this time, so he misses the death of his son. When he gets back, his wife is crying. He asks her why is she crying, and she responds "I can't remember."

Some of my facts might be wrong as I read this a couple years ago, but I really enjoyed the story and thought it was disturbing because it seems like our country is heading in this direction. Not nearly that radical, but it still gets you thinking and fearing what might happen.

You know what? I don't think I've read anything that's disturbed me, save maybe something or two from the newspaper. I read mostly fantasy and non-fiction. Well actually, I just finished reading a paragraph in this book I'm reading about a Muslim peeling a Serb priests skin of with pliers, trying to get him to tell names-well of course the priest refuses, and he's publicly beheaded the next day. However I'm trying to think of an entire novel that I found...'abnormal' if you will; I'll have to get back to this...

I'm gonna have to say A Long Hard Road Out Of Hell, Marilyn Manson's biography. And before you make assumptions, no it wasn't his life that creeped me out, he's a really normal guy (surprise!) it was his Grandfather's life.. which if you ever get your hands on this book, is the first chapter.

Read it and you'll know what I mean.

Ok I have read several books the could be classed as disturbed,
'I Am Legend' by Richard Matherson has got to be one of them - its about the only man left alive after a huge pandemic that turned everybody into vampires and it's basically about what he does.
I've got to agree with Bubblewrapped, the 'Tomorrow Series' by John Marsden is quite disturbing.
'Mercy' (forgot the authors name) is quite disturbing at the end because its about the brutality of people and also how easily people forget some of the most important things in ther life when they leave certain places.
'Ugly' by Constance Briscoe is disturbing because its a true story about a child being really badly abused by her mother.
Thats all I can think of at the moment though.

I've yet to read any truly disturbing books, but fanfiction? Oh yes.

I never found 1984 all that disturbing, probably because it didn't seem too unrealistic or impossible; having studied psychology and sociology, what was disturbing was how much that kind of brainwashing can and already is happening today.

IceCreamMan: the Kurt Vonnegut story was Harrison Bergeron, and I agree - it was absolutely brilliant. Again, it didn't disturb me too much, probably because it resembles modern-day America a little too much :p

I think the most distubing book I've ever read is Vellum by Hal Duncan: the characters can be absolutely horriffic, and while some of the concepts are mindblowing, some are mindblowingly dark and twisted. I'd recommend it to anyone who's willing to slog through an immensely difficult piece of genius, but I wouldn't even open it if you're in low spirits: it's just the kind of book to put you square on the road to depression.

backgroundbob wrote:I never found 1984 all that disturbing, probably because it didn't seem too unrealistic or impossible; having studied psychology and sociology, what was disturbing was how much that kind of brainwashing can and already is happening today.

Ah, but that is precisely why it disturbed... I couldn't reason it away as fantasy; I could see the ideas in every day conversations; in government; in ignorance.

Joeducktape wrote:I've yet to read any truly disturbing books, but fanfiction? Oh yes.

Amen.

Sorry to let you down, Sambo, since I know this is one of your all time favourite books, but I read The Red Tent in seventh grade and it disturbed me to no end.

I know you're more mature now than I was at that age (thirteen), but dang some of those sex scenes are explicit. I should probably read it again, because I remember that whenever someone wasn't having sex that I really liked Diamant's (sp?) writing style. I find it easier to recall Bible stories and keep up with all the names after reading a fictionalized account of the events. For almost two years I could name all of Jacob's sons, so at least I got something out of it.

HAHAHA, when someone...wasn't...having sex?

*flips through book* Can't find it.

That was a very good book...and I must say, the sex did really give a perspective on the culture. If you read it like that, then it doesn't seem so bad.