| Author | Message | ||
     Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.10.7.83 |
Do we agree? Any other candidates? http://www.popcrunch.com/the-10-most-disturbing-books-of-all-time/ | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I certainly agree with #1. That book scarred me for life. Some interesting choices there, and it's great that the entire top 10 wasn't produced in the last couple of years (the norm for this kind of list). | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
IMO, NAKED LUNCH is both too funny and too boring to count as disturbing. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is okay, but of the genre I prefer Jim Shepard's PROJECT X. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR never did much for me -- but then again, I grew up near where the real events happened (my mother went to high school with some of the participants), and I'd heard the story many times before I read Ketchum's novelized version. So probably I was too desensitized to fully appreciate the book. For my money, I prefer Ketchum's OFF SEASON. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Er ... I got a security warning not to follow that link when I tried it - danger of infecting my PC. Watch out folks, you might have caught something nasty.  | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
You found NAKED LUNCH boring, Chris? I'd call the book many things, but certainly not that. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.204.111.196 |
The list is a little too 'film-heavy' for my liking. Can't think of any alternatives, though... | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.92.49.149 |
Some fine choices, I think. Ketchum's The Girl Next Door broke something inside me. I felt fractured after finishing that novel. Brilliant. Off the top of my head I'd add Song of Kali by Dan Simmons, The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks, Patrick McGrath's Spider, and Kathe Koja's Skin to the list. I didn't find Naked Lunch disturbing either. It was strange, funny, and unfettered in its creativity, but it never really disturbed me. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
So, am I the only one who gets this security warning with that site then? Or am I the only one who's bothered by it?  | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Only read two of them and they fricking well disturbed me: 'The Naked Lunch' & 'American Psycho'. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.204.111.196 |
Caroline, I didn't get a warning. My laptop knows what kind of sites I tend to look at... | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>My laptop knows what kind of sites I tend to look at...<<  But seriously, this is the warning I get: "www.popcrunch.com/the-10-most-distur bing-books-of-all-time may cause a breach of browser security. Why were you redirected to this page? When we tested www.popcrunch.com/the-10-most-disturbing-books-of-all-time, it attempted to make unauthorized changes to our test computer by exploiting a browser security vulnerability. This is a serious security threat which could lead to an infection of your computer." I'm a coward! When I get security messages like that, I stay well clear. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.204.111.196 |
I would've, as well! Ah, maybe I'll start getting viagra offered at good prices, or notifications that I've won the Nigerian lottery. I'll keep you posted... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.13.188 |
Orwell's ANIMAL FARM and 1984 surely deserve Special Mentions each. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 98.220.97.79 |
>> You found NAKED LUNCH boring, Chris? I'd call the book many things, but certainly not that. I did, actually -- or at least I did twenty years ago. I kind of liked that book, ultimately -- certainly I'm glad I read it -- but it required the sort of endurance I no longer put up with as an adult. In general I find all the Beats boring. I'd rather read one of their biographies than any of their fiction or poetry. Just not to my taste, I guess. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 98.220.97.79 |
Here are a few other contenders (although I suppose it depends on what you mean by "disturbing"): FATELESSNESS by Imre Kertesz THE PAINTED BIRD by Jerzy Kosinsky 2666 by Roberto Bolano THE MAIMED by Hermann Ungar HUNGER by Knut Hamsun BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
It's all about taste, Chris. There is no good or bad; only stuff you like and stuff you don't. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
'Crash' by J.G. Ballard 'Darkness Visible' by William Golding 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks 'Farnham's Freehold' by Robert A. Heinlein 'The Double' by Fyodor Dostoevsky ...anything else by William S. Burroughs In the horror field: The early novels of Ramsey Campbell I find disturbingly intense - particularly 'To Wake The Dead' 'The Books Of Blood' by Clive Barker | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
We need to talk about Kevin is a badly written horror novel with a "clever" twist that anyone who's ever read a horror novel will spot 3 chapters in. It's apallingly badly written. The only disturbing thing about it is that people claim it to be some kind of messianic proclamation on child rearing. Avoid at all costs. The landlord will back me up on this one. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.110.174.71 |
How could I have forgotten Ballard's Crash? Good choice, Stephen. | ||
| Rosswarren (Rosswarren) Username: Rosswarren Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 86.165.2.11 |
The compiler obviously hasn't read Different Skins yet. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
Bless you, Ross. But I'd say the compiler is one of many who hasn't read it, judging by the crap sales figures in the UK small press. |