ChemicallyEnhanced
Bluelighter
I'm one of those sick people who, for whatever reason, really love extreme and disturbing books (and movies) but wheras I was a bit of a pussy when I started on adult horror (horror for adult, not erotic horror lol) at 12 (I remember the descriptions of the wife's sisters Spinal Meningitis in Pet Semetary freaked me out when I was 13) now I feel like literally nothing fazes me.
Looking for reads, so asking you guys' opinions?
Feel free to post as many or as few books as you like
For me:
1) The Others, James Herbert - The protagonist was a HORRIBLE person in life with movie-star looks. It's starts off with him dead and he is offered a deal to be born again in a new body and to live a new life (with no memory of his previous life or of this deal) and if he is a good person he will not have to go to Hell, but he will be born with severe deformities and will have to endure the hatred and prejudice he had towards others.
The first half describing this life is very reminiscent of the true story of John Merrick ("The Elephant Man") and is incredibly upsetting....but then half-way in, I'm not gonna give anything away as it is actually an amazing book and I don't wanna spoil it for anyone, but the plot really starts and OMG is it disturbing! It makes The Elephant Man look like Pollyanna.
2) The Elephant Man, Tim Vicary - The only book that has ever made me cry. All the more upsetting and disturbing with the knowledge that this is a biographical read and not fiction. Reading the end I swear I actually FELT my heart breaking.
3) The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum - Once again with the true stories here. Sort of. This IS a novel, but it is based on the real life crime case of Sylvia Likens. If you want to read the true story, google "Sylva Likens Crime" and click on the Wiki page. But SERIOUS WARNING: it is extremely disturbing. It is actually very very interesting. I didn't really find this book disturbing (despite the fact it deals with child abuse in a fairly graphic way), but again, reading this knowing it actually happened gives it that edge and is why I have included it. Note: Ketchum actually left out all of the worst stuff that happened (out of respect to Likens' family).
I read this a while ago, so sorry I don't remember names, but in the 1960's two girls are sent to live with a local woman (the call her "Aunt", but she isn't a blood relative) and her children while they are having problems. It is meant to be a few weeks but the kids end up being there way over a year. It starts with both girls being caned because their father sent the Aunt money a week late and moves from there to verbal assaults and general coldness. The Aunt takes particular dislike to the older girl (AKA Sylvia, who is 14 during these events) and focuses all her hatred on her. What happens next are the events that have become known as one of the worst cases of child abuse in U.S. history.
4) Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo - Harrowing anti-war novel (with plenty of REAL statistics). Joe Bonham, a young American soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and all of his face (including his eyes, ears, teeth, and tongue), but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body...
5) Everything by Hubert Selby Jr. He has six novels and they are all very disturbing, particularly The Room, Waiting Period and Requiem for a Dream.
6) Survivor, J.F. Gonzalez - Just. Yeah. Anything and everything considered super-disturbing is in this novel. A young, pregnant woman is kidnapped by a group of people intending to torture her to death for a snuff film they're making. Of course she goes through the worst hell imaginable...but so does everybody else when it turns out she got that Jennifer Hills revenge energy.
Looking for reads, so asking you guys' opinions?
Feel free to post as many or as few books as you like
For me:
1) The Others, James Herbert - The protagonist was a HORRIBLE person in life with movie-star looks. It's starts off with him dead and he is offered a deal to be born again in a new body and to live a new life (with no memory of his previous life or of this deal) and if he is a good person he will not have to go to Hell, but he will be born with severe deformities and will have to endure the hatred and prejudice he had towards others.
The first half describing this life is very reminiscent of the true story of John Merrick ("The Elephant Man") and is incredibly upsetting....but then half-way in, I'm not gonna give anything away as it is actually an amazing book and I don't wanna spoil it for anyone, but the plot really starts and OMG is it disturbing! It makes The Elephant Man look like Pollyanna.
2) The Elephant Man, Tim Vicary - The only book that has ever made me cry. All the more upsetting and disturbing with the knowledge that this is a biographical read and not fiction. Reading the end I swear I actually FELT my heart breaking.
3) The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum - Once again with the true stories here. Sort of. This IS a novel, but it is based on the real life crime case of Sylvia Likens. If you want to read the true story, google "Sylva Likens Crime" and click on the Wiki page. But SERIOUS WARNING: it is extremely disturbing. It is actually very very interesting. I didn't really find this book disturbing (despite the fact it deals with child abuse in a fairly graphic way), but again, reading this knowing it actually happened gives it that edge and is why I have included it. Note: Ketchum actually left out all of the worst stuff that happened (out of respect to Likens' family).
I read this a while ago, so sorry I don't remember names, but in the 1960's two girls are sent to live with a local woman (the call her "Aunt", but she isn't a blood relative) and her children while they are having problems. It is meant to be a few weeks but the kids end up being there way over a year. It starts with both girls being caned because their father sent the Aunt money a week late and moves from there to verbal assaults and general coldness. The Aunt takes particular dislike to the older girl (AKA Sylvia, who is 14 during these events) and focuses all her hatred on her. What happens next are the events that have become known as one of the worst cases of child abuse in U.S. history.
4) Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo - Harrowing anti-war novel (with plenty of REAL statistics). Joe Bonham, a young American soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and all of his face (including his eyes, ears, teeth, and tongue), but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body...
5) Everything by Hubert Selby Jr. He has six novels and they are all very disturbing, particularly The Room, Waiting Period and Requiem for a Dream.
6) Survivor, J.F. Gonzalez - Just. Yeah. Anything and everything considered super-disturbing is in this novel. A young, pregnant woman is kidnapped by a group of people intending to torture her to death for a snuff film they're making. Of course she goes through the worst hell imaginable...but so does everybody else when it turns out she got that Jennifer Hills revenge energy.
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Now I bow to nada.
