Disturbing Readings

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Lee-Lee

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I just read Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. If any of you have read this, I'm sure you understand this post.

The book was one of the most disturbing I've read. The short story Guts has caused 60 people to faint in public readings and for good reason. I won't spoil anything, because you can read the book online for free and should check it out yourself, but let's just say swimming pools aren't my favorite hangout spot anymore.

Some other disturbing books I've read include:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum (True Story!)
Hogg by Samuel R. Delaney (I do not recommend this to anyone. Please read a description before attempting.)

Have you read a disturbing book that gives you chills for days? Has there ever been a time where you just couldn't read a book further, because of the subject matter?

Do you have any more suggestions I should read that would fit this category or any others?
 
I'm currently reading this really nice book on China's long history by Torbjørn Færøvik. Theres a rather long part there that describes the story and culture behind the tradition of chinese women's foot binding. By the end of the chapter I just couldn't finish reading all of it! I can take reading about all the gruesome craziness done by the different Han-, Manchurian- and Mongolian-emperors/empress', but that part just made me feel really really sick to my stomach...
 
Foot Binding is terrifying! Looking at the shoes and the pictures make me get a chill down my back.

It's weird sometimes when you read, because you can just FEEL the pain the character, or masses of women in your case, went through. Even now my toes are curling just thinking of the process of binding.
 
Exactly! I hugged my feet while crying until I fell asleep that night. ;_;
 
When I was first exposed to Foot Binding, I was in school...with a class of 30...I still cried.

I'm a very...empathetic person, I guess you can say xD I share pain well.
 
Well, I was eight or nine when I first read the Demonata series by Darren Shan...mentally scarred me, but I loved it xD The author just describes all the blood and gore so visually, definitely a good series to read, but remember to be age appropriate, kids.

One of the Higurashi arcs, I can't remember which, that one was pretty cringe-worthy, but only at one or two parts in the whole thing.

And of course foot-binding scared the hell out of me
 
Hmm...I would be a whore for a second and say my own writing. My own writing is not professional, is not published, but many who have read my stories say that they are horrified, some say they can't stomach it. Atreju is one of my less disturbing reads, and it isn't finished, probably isn't going to be finished. I am what you would call obsessed with disturbing topics, as well as a disturbing writing style, and Atreju is an example of what most of my writing looks like.

But, my writing isn't that great, especially back then. And I don't think you are looking for amateurs, but if you want to read my bad disturbing draft you can here: http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2860228/1/Atreju

Anyway, if you want disturbing there's plenty of anime with your name on it. As for books, I can't say that any truly disturbed me. Perhaps I'm desensitized by myself, but I haven't read anything that I can recall off the top of my head that left me disturbed. I've read plenty of horror and plenty of interesting subject matter, I've felt briefly scared, felt saddened, but never disturbed for days.
 
EquinoxSol I know that feeling of loving mentally scarring things xD I'm pretty much always finding things that scare or disturb me. I'm a big fan of NoSleep for that very reason! I've never heard of that series but maybe I'll go ahead and read them if I can find it :) I'll add it to my list.

Ekaetriana I would love to read your writing. I am a huge fan of of reading people who are developing writers. Even famous writers grow in their writing if you read closely. I'll be sure to read it. I do hope you finish it though. No matter how bad things are you should finish it.
I'm currently watching Elfen Lied. It's pretty disturbing. And I also watched SpeedGrapher. But I find I like envisioning it myself.
 
I am not disturbed very easily, but graphic descriptions tend to creep me out. I have been the victim of several creepy pastas and surreal stories, which made me very uncomfortable, however, I can only recall one thing that literally sent shivers down my spine. It was a fanfiction by the name of Thousand Shinji. There is a scene in that fanfiction during which I had to pause several times in order to get through it. It was a scene that I would very much like to forget about. You have been warned if you want to still read it.

Now that I think about, there was one other instance when something I read shook me to the core, and that was the Heaven's Feel route of Fate / Stay Night, a Visual Novel. I will not go into details, but let's just say I had to pause and play logic games for two hours in order to get the images out of my mind.
 
lilifersure said:
EquinoxSol I know that feeling of loving mentally scarring things xD I'm pretty much always finding things that scare or disturb me. I'm a big fan of NoSleep for that very reason! I've never heard of that series but maybe I'll go ahead and read them if I can find it :) I'll add it to my list.

Ekaetriana I would love to read your writing. I am a huge fan of of reading people who are developing writers. Even famous writers grow in their writing if you read closely. I'll be sure to read it. I do hope you finish it though. No matter how bad things are you should finish it.
I'm currently watching Elfen Lied. It's pretty disturbing. And I also watched SpeedGrapher. But I find I like envisioning it myself.
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Thanks for giving it a try, I appreciate it. And yeah, there's always something about envisioning it yourself. With me, it seems like the way I picture something is different from the way others picture it.

Elfen Lied is my favorite anime, maybe that says something about me. : / Lol. Higurashi, Barefoot Gen (sometimes funny, but sometimes just depressingly horrific), and Now and Then, Here and There are other faves. (Now and Then isn't as disturbing as it is emotional.) If your intention is to be disturbed by straight violence, there's plenty out there for you. Just look for guro hentai or gore fanfiction and you'll have enough disturbing to last you awhile. XD

But I don't think you're into it as a fetish, you're just curious and want some new reading material, I think? >.>
 
Um, slightly graphic scene in my favorite book, American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I'm not gonna describe it in great detail, I'll just say that it's the opposite of giving birth and it happens during sex. After I read that scene I had to put the book down and I couldn't pick it up again until two months later. I've also read about foot binding when I was little, around middle school. When I mentioned it to my grandmother (btw I'm Chinese, so is she) she empathetically told me that it was true. She said that it wasn't done to her because she wasn't wealthy enough to afford it. But she met other girls who had it done to her. She said that they had to be carried around because they could no longer walk on their feet.

Don't read this next part if you have a fear of dying/death, a weak stomach or just don't like blood and guts.

[SPOILI]Another one of the more disturbing reads that I've encountered is Death's Acre. I can't remember the author but it's written by a famous forensic anthropologist. The book is him recounting cases that he's worked on, while also talking about major life events. One of the things he describes is what happens to a body when it's burned to death. If the body isn't tied down, the body will start to get into a Boxer stance as it's burning up. The arms and legs will clench together, and the arms start to partially cover the face. The back also starts to partially bend. It's one of the ways investigators deduce whether the body was tied up and burned to death or if they were freed. And uh...If there isn't anything in the head to relieve pressure the skull explodes from the built pressure. I can talk and write about it now but while I was reading the book it was extremely disturbing and I had a hard time coming to terms about the gritty reality of death and being a human being. But aside from the disturbing facts, the book is actually very deep, many times it is very sad but I enjoyed reading it because I highly respect this field of study.[/SPOILI]
 
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