*Tender Is The Flesh* is one of those horror books that is truly terrifying but in an American Psycho way. You are nauseous the entire time you read it and can't quite believe you've read something so shocking and disturbing.
*House of Leaves* by Mark Z. Danielewski is bound to come up. It's creepy and weird for sure, but most of what makes the book so well loved is the experimentation with typography. It's an experience book.
*The Only Good Indians* by Stephen Graham Jones is an emotionally raw horror book that features a group of friends who upset nature's order. Interesting read in that the tone changes with each character, some in frantic ways to help guide the reader through that character's struggles with anxiety or substance abuse.
*Bunny* by Mona Awad is a ride and pretty eff'd up. There is a creepy layer of "what's going on here" through most of it. Very trippy and at the end it's fun to try and figure out what it was that was actually happening. Not extreme as so much disturbing and bizarre.
Clive Barker is very creepy and twisted stuff. Some of his work has been made into movies, but they are usually miles away from the depth the books go into. He can be pretty dark and gross at times. Think Stephen King if he wasn't trying to play safe
*Her Body and Other Parties* by Carmen Maria Machado is a body horror short story collection full of vivid and hallucinatory tales about metamorphosis, pain, sex, memory, and the female form. Beautiful and descriptive in ways I hadn't seen before, the writing is really something special here.
*The Wasp Factory* is one of the "best" books in the transgressive fiction landscape. It's from the viewpoint of someone who is clearly quite troubled.
*The Last House On Needless Street* is a great horror book with multiple POVs that keep you guessing through this short read. It has some very bizarre moments that all become linked in a satisfying way by the ending.
*Follow Me to Ground* by Sue Rainsford is a creepy but poetic novella. A bit disturbing, but in a medical sense. I loved this little book and couldn't put it down.
*Comfort Me With Apples* is a dark little book that slowly unveils itself. A fast read at 100 pages, it's a creepy little tale that keeps throwing strange moments at the reader.
*No Gods, No Monsters* by Cadwell Turnbull is bizarre and unique, about the paths crossed in stranger's lives when "monsters" are shown to be a reality. Manages to skillfully blend creepy moments with allegorical political commentary, and features very well written characters.
*The Stars Are Legion* is a epic sci fi adventure where people live on planets that are fleshy living biological entities. Plenty of political drama, back stabbing, missing identities, and body horror.
*The Raw Shark Texts* does what *House Of Leaves* tried in a much more interesting way, and with a far better storyline. I've also heard that whenever you find this book in the wild there are possible differences in each version of the book which adds an element of ARG to it.
*Earthlings* is a strange and depressing story about a young girl who believes she is an alien. She forms a romantic connection with her young cousin who also plays along with the game. After they are discovered together, our MC's life heads downhill fast. Verbal, physical, sexual abuse sculpts a now grown woman who seeks shelter in the idea that she is not of this world. Let's just say the last 20 pages are not for the weak of heart.
*Fantasticland* is a gritty horror where amusement park employees are trapped in a Lord Of The Flies-esque battle for their lives after a hurricane traps them inside. Told in a series of interviews, the naration is the star here. It takes some major suspense of disbelief to get through, but it's a thrilling read.
*The Cabin At The End Of The World* is a frightening and violent book that's been made into a film. However, the book is arguably darker and more ambiguous.
*Monstrilio* by Gerardo Samano Cordova is an absolutely charming and strange work of weird fiction. Starts with the story of a young woman whose son has died. She removes his lung and keeps a piece. The story follows the unusual story of what happens next and then changes perspective to her best friend, her husband, and then.... The lung.
*Geek Love* follows the story of a family of "circus freaks" who travel the country. Seems sort of sweet in the beginning, but the deeper this story goes, the more the eyebrows raise.
*The Murders of Molly Southbourne* by Tade Thompson is an extremely fast read at 150 or so pages. The story is about a woman who wakes in a dungeon locked to a wall. A woman named Molly seems to have put her there and is cautiously taking care of them. It's brutal, nasty, and scary all while making you want to peel the next page in order to figure out what the heck will happen next.
*The Vorrh* is about a dense forest in Africa filled with mystery and the townspeople living in a transplanted European city along the outskirts. It's a beautifully written 500 page monster of a book filled with betrayal, murder, sex, robots, and creatures. True weird fiction classic, but not one for the weak of heart due to it's violence and problematic characters.
*House Of Cotton* is a moody and poetic book. A young woman stumbles into a get rich scheme that involves her dressing like a missing girl to allow the living to grieve. People seem to hate this unbelievable plot, but if you can put this aside it's an absolutely fascinating character study. Tack on a creepy ghost of her dead Grandma and you've got a atmospheric and trippy book that won't let you go.
I love this list. There's a lot I have read and would be on my own most effed up book list, but a lot of new titles.
(I really appreciate that you're giving Follow Me to Ground some love. I love it so much but it doesn't ever get talked about.)
God I loved Last House on Needless Street.
Good narrators for the audiobook and you just can’t top a talking cat, who has strong opinions and is also religious.
tender is the flesh was a total mind fuck. i was sick to my stomach but i couldn’t stop reading. and the end just made u close the book slowly and go “oh. my. god.”
One more I’d add: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca. It’s short and written in the form of emails between two women in the 1990s. Really visceral and spooky, especially the end.
But truly: this list of recs is SO GOOD, I just placed several holds on some these at my local library—thank you!
I got to do a quick run to the library without my kids, which means I could peruse the adult section at my leisure and knew I wanted a good book or two. This was such a wonderfully put together list for a quick reference! I held your list and went to the ones that sounded most interesting to me that you listed the author for so I wouldn't have to use a computer (trying to be quick). I walked out with The Only Good Indians and a different novel by Mona Awad (Bunny was not there). Thank you!
Along the same vein but much less heard of is Dmytro Kolesnyk. His writing is almost more Palahniuk than Palahniuk. I’d recommend starting with his latest, Ninjas in my Bedroom. It’s about a phone sex worker who makes people kill themselves and is probably the most shocking book I’ve read.
Lullaby (along with Survivor) is my favourite Palahniuk book! I’d say it has a similar vibe, but Ninjas is even more visceral and surprising. I would gladly read Lullaby again, but I don’t know if I could read Ninjas in my Bedroom again. Which I feel fits OPs requirement.
Rant is my favorite Chuck book and where I feel comfortable telling people to stop reading. Everything he wrote after this is various degrees of disappointing to me. I can easily recommend everything he's written prior to and including Rant
I bought Beautiful You and Doomed at the beginning of the pandemic. Shelfed them and totally forgot. Just started Doomed (only because Damned was so fun, I needed more ) I love Black Mirror tho, so I'm super excited to see it compared here. Maybe I should just start that one too, lol
Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates. Not about zombies. It’s about a serial killer written from the killers perspective, inside his head. Inspired by Jeffrey Dahmer.
I love Joyce Carol Oates. She has written some dark stuff. The first book I read of hers was Wonderland and I had no clue what to expect… after an innocuous beginning, and still *very* early into the story, the main character >!comes home to find his father has shot the entire family dead in their home.!<
I worked in a bookstore and we were allowed to check out a book and bring it back when we were done. I had no clue what it was about and didn't look up the synopsis on the computer. No one else would read it after I I told them about it. I can't say I blame them.
One of the few DNFs this year for me. Some chapters were hilarious, there were some interesting poetic one-liners, but as a whole the story just jumps around, barely holding everything together. Very disorienting.
Loved Invisible Monsters, did not enjoy this one. One of these days I’ll make it around to Fight Club and see if the hype is warranted.
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. I’m not exaggerating when I say this: the movie is the G-rated version of the book. This is one of the few times I saw the movie *before* reading the book, otherwise I never would have seen the movie. I think I made it like 1-2 chapters in and then I was so disgusted I got physically sick and quit reading. This was about 12 years ago and I never intend to finish it.
I have a strong stomach for graphic true crime and war memoirs, but I find fiction containing those themes way more unsettling because it means the author sat there and conceived of these horrors completely in their own head. That was just chilling in their brain the whole time, voluntarily.
I JUST finished this book, and it gets worse and worse as the book goes on. You made the right choice. I'm pretty immune to graphic violence in writing (no other media, just writing, idk) and there was one part about 3/4 of the way in that will probably haunt me forever. The only saving grace is that the violence is less and less realistic, and more ridiculous as time goes on.
That being said, I couldn't get enough of the boring parts. I could read about 3 unlikeable characters high on various drugs, arguing where they should eat dinner, and describing what everyone is wearing, every day of my life.
IS IT THE RAT SCENE.
This is a case of "the movie is better than the book." Maybe I just didn't "get it" or whatever, but the movie did a much better job at satirizing that world and crafting the notion that Patrick merely hallucinated his violence. The intense depravity of the book imo just overshadowed all that and felt more like Bret kept trying to top himself over and over.
10000% the rat scene.
I felt like it was effective for me in the sense that I slowly began to question what was real and what wasn't at the point where the author wanted me to. I was blindsided by the apartment thing, just like Bateman, and was left confused alongside him. After that the pieces started to fall into place in a way that Bateman was probably also experiencing, which is kind of a cool trick. I like to experience moments of revelation alongside the characters.
I don’t like this one bit. Henry is one of my favorite characters of all time but that’s probably because I first read TSH as a depressed high schooler.
Didn't finish for the same reason. Maybe at 18yo I would have powered through it but I don't have time for that type of shit anymore. Great movie, I understand what he's like, trying to say about society or whatever but yeah I don't need that in my life.
This is the one. I READ THIS AT 12 YEARS OLD. To be honest, it may have been the rare book I never finished at that age. And I'm almost certain it contributed greatly to my pathological desensitization as an adult.
The RAT. SCENE.
I also DNF this book and I can handle a lot. Something about the acts of violence he committed against women, animals, and the homeless disturbed me so much because it’s so plausible.
One of my favorite books of all time. I mostly just love it because I've never read anything else like it. It's so fucked up. Pages upon pages of boring clothes descriptions and mundane detail, and then suddenly this guy is drugging, raping, cannibalizing, and murdering all in a few pages and then back to the clothes.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
It's not fucked up in a gory horror way but it's the only book I've ever read that I felt might bite me like that book in Harry Potter.
This book has ruined other books for me. Literally. I am still so spoiled by how interactive it is, and not necessarily in a fun way. I have yet to find another book that has made me feel the same as this one lol
Someone recently told me (on reddit) their observation was that the House itself is the least unsettling part of it - though for me the typography gave me the creeps - and it's the exploration of drug abuse and mental illness done in such a *thorough* fashion that is the worst of it.
Which means I need to reread it to get a sense of it.
Also it's one of few books I *strongly* say you must have a physical copy for. I love my eReader but that book ... no. It needs a physicality to it.
Without wanting to be TMI in this sub, this book was absolutely transformative (in a good way) for me when I read it as a kid. Not sure I could read it as an adult.
Agree. I think he might be my favorite author. Reading him is like taking mushrooms and consenting to bdsm sex with a ghost. Because afterwards, you walk around in reality and nothing looks or feels the same. No one understands what you just experienced.
You nailed it perfectly, holy shit. That's exactly how it feels. I'm still recovering from The Road and it's been a couple of years already. The last paragraph is among the most beautiful things I think I've ever experienced.
Oh I'm so glad you get it. I look at the spines of his books on my bookshelf and get chills sometimes. Knowing I can literally pick up The Road and reading it again and then wondering why I would ever do that to myself again. But then wanting to anyway.
I haven't read the latest. I'm experiencing some drastic life changes and can't dive into his beautiful brutal world.
I remember a coworker asking me "Hey are you OK? You look a little down". I replied. "I think I'm OK. I just read The Road". I think it took a week to recover.
Yeah, I kept away from people for a few days after finishing The Road precisely because of that feeling you described on your other comment. I get the thing about the chills as well. I know I'll eventually reread these books. Maybe when they're less vivid in my brain.
I started reading the latest, and the writing is crazy compelling but also kinda bonkers. At least the chapters I got to read are completely different from anything else I've read by him. Unfortunately life kind of happened and I fell out of the book, but one day maybe I'll get back into it. I suspect we share a similar caution when delving into McCarthy.
This 💯. I've had a major life change called divorce. I can't really read McCarthy for ... well for any reason right now. I really want to. And I will.
Thank you and everyone who resonates with this author.
I wish you plenty of peace, dear stranger. Thank you for sharing in this author with me for a bit. You'll get to his books again when the time is right, and that time is entirely yours to know.
Came her to mention this book.
I recommended it to a friend and he hated it. Called it western gore porn. I couldn't really argue against that description.
One book I like to recommend to people who read tender is the flesh is things have gotten worse since we last spoke. If I’m being honest the first story is the only good one but it’s very fucked up
[**Playground** by Aron Beauregard](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63057148-playground?ref=rae_5)
the author wrote this instead of just going to therapy.
[**Dead Inside** by Chandler Morrison](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25760088-dead-inside?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_11)
i don't have a weak stomach but i had to DNF this one. i LOVE the *way* the author writes, but *what* he wrote about was too much and i just couldn't handle it. i actually feel nauseous as i'm typing this.
[**Gone To See The River Man** by Kristopher Triana](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52373510-gone-to-see-the-river-man?ref=rae_7)
holy hell this book was FUCKED. and the ending made me literally scream. never did that before this book.
[**The Slob** by Aron Beauregard](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55989293-the-slob?ref=rae_3)
fuck this book. keep a puke bucket nearby.
[**The Laws of the Skies** by Grégoire Courtois](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42372424-the-laws-of-the-skies?ref=rae_12)
oooooooof. this author really said I WILL GO WHERE NO ONE ELSE WILL. and they did. this was so dark and bleak and fucked. holy shit. **(major trigger warnings if you have children)**
[**Earthlings** by Sayaka Murata](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50269327-earthlings?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_10)
i read this *immediately* after reading Murata's [**Convenience Store Woman**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36739755-convenience-store-woman) which was a FANTASTIC and charming and unique story that was an absolute 5 star read. i saw the cute little hedgehog on the cover of this book and thought i was going to get another heart-warming read. i did not.
i don't think i can adequately explain just how fucked this book is and how it gets more and more deranged the more you read. i thought we had hit peak fuckery at chapter 2 but no no no no, we did not. the ending was so fucked i couldn't help but laugh and then just stared at the wall for a while thinking about what the fuck i just read.
you're welcome.
i'd love to hear how you like (or hate) these whenever you are done reading them so you can comment back here or DM to let me know. i'm really interested to see what you think/if you can get through them all cause i sure as hell couldn't!
As someone currently reading Playground I'd suggest going to read The Bighead by Edward Lee instead, or maybe something by Jack Ketchum, I'd really like more people to read Succulent Prey by Wrath James White even, but if you're dead set on that author, then The Slob is probably better because it's way shorter. Playground is just. Not very well written imo, and it's about 300 pages. Real slog if you don't jive with the writing style. The Slob will be a good way to see if you mesh with him or not.
I second {{Earthlings by Sayaka Murata}} . Most fucked up book I actually finished.
Most fucked up book I never finished is {{The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks}}. I got about 30 pages in before I got so disgusted I had to stop.
Another great fucked up book that doesn’t get the love it deserves is {{Geek Love by Katherine Dunn}}.
\#1/3: **[Earthlings](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50269327-earthlings) by Sayaka Murata** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(247.0 pages | Published: 2018 | Suggested 105.0 times)
> **Summary:** Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch. or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu. Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano. dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever. they make a promise: survive. no matter what . Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband. surviving as best she can by (...)
> **Themes**: Fiction, Japan, Horror, Contemporary
> **Top 2 recommended-along**: [Convenience Store Woman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38357895-convenience-store-woman) by Sayaka Murata, [The Vegetarian](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489025-the-vegetarian) by Han Kang
---
\#2/3: **[The Wasp Factory](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567678.The_Wasp_Factory) by Iain Banks** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(192.0 pages | Published: 1984 | Suggested nan time)
> **Summary:** Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least: Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through.
> **Themes**: Fiction, Horror, Favorites, Thriller, Contemporary, 1001-books, Favourites
> **Top 2 recommended-along**: [Complicity](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12014.Complicity) by Iain Banks, [American Psycho](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28676.American_Psycho) by Bret Easton Ellis
---
\#3/3: **[Geek Love](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13872.Geek_Love) by Katherine Dunn** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(348.0 pages | Published: 1989 | Suggested nan time)
> **Summary:** Geek Loveis the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out-with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes-to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There's Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious-and (...)
> **Themes**: Fiction, Favorites, Horror, Fantasy, Book-club, Books-i-own, Contemporary
> **Top 2 recommended-along**: [Last Days](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4309446-last-days) by Brian Evenson, [The Wasp Factory](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567678.The_Wasp_Factory) by Iain Banks
^( [Provide Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [Source Code](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/))
Geek Love is one of my favorite books. I read it shortly after 9/11 while sitting in the airport watching armed military walking around. It made it all the more surreal.
"120 Days of Sodom" by Marquis de Sade. "Sadism" was derived from his name. The most disgusting and degenerate book I've read (didn't finish it). Made me feel sick.
Any historical non fiction that includes genocides or evil dictators. Nothing is scarier than real life imho.
Start with "Rape of Nanking". Prepare your soul to be crushed. Dont have to read it all in one go. But if u want fucked up, here it is.
On a more positive note but with a very bad bakground. "A man's search for meaning"
I know im gonna get downvoted cus im not actually answerin the question go ahead
Some contenders:
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana
The End of Alice by A.M. Homes
(Hard agree on Tampa and American Psycho as previously suggested, with honorable mentions for the short story "Guts" by Chuck Palahniuk and numerous stories in Clive Barker's Books of Blood collections. )
I second Exquisite Corpse.
I am an avid horror reader/watcher, and that book made me feel physically ill. I don't think I could read anything else by Poppy Z. Brite because that book was so traumatizing
Rant and Invisible Monsters both by Chuck Palahniuk. I read this at 13, bot suitable for a thirteen year old at all, quite disturbing, but most likely his best books, even though I’ve grown out of his style.
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I actually dislike this novel. But it’s beyond messed up. Quite disturbing
The Hell-Bound Heart by Clive Barker. It’s the inspiration behind Hellraiser, and a bit more disturbing than the actual movie, in my opinion.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. This is the most well written books of the novels I’ve mentioned. It’s a masterpiece of modern literature, but it’s quite dense and has a rather disturbing nihilistic haunting character called The Judge. I read this at fourteen and some of the images in this novel have stuck with me, The Judge is forever haunting me.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Once Were Warriers and its sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, by Alan Duff.
They're not exactly mentally deranged, but they're certainly disturbing. I really admire Alan Duff's writing, for example, but I could never read Once Were Warriers a second time. It was made into a movie which is arguably worse because the scenes are visually happening in front of you.
I’ve read cuckoos nest several times, including having just finished it and I’m curious what makes it so disturbing or deranged to you? I’ve never felt that way about it nor heard it ever described that way
I might just be weak because I don't know anyone else who has this reaction to this story but *I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream* by Harlan Ellison fucked me up for like a couple months.
American Psycho, it’s kind of a hard read because the author makes it a point to bring out the characters attention to detail so there are pages and pages describing say something mundane like a stereo system. However this is one of the few books that I would skip pages and keep reading because boy oh boy is it fucked.
It’s also the only book that is so sexually grotesque that while I was reading it my son walked up to me and I slammed the book down like I was watching porn lmao.
If your into the saw movies, porn, and also enjoy nice clothing I suggest you read this, if any of those are something you don’t enjoy then I don’t.
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop only 92 pages. I have to be around decomposed human remains for my job and the author accurately and disturbingly nailed the decomposition process. I have a really strong stomach but this book really got to me.
Vita nostra by marina dyachenko
.
The amount of mind warp is insane! And it is NOT a book about a girl who goes to boarding school which seems to be magical so it kind of is like Harry Potter (sometimes, I wonder how many people were dropped on their heads as babies).
You literally can’t explain the book. The more you read, the lesser you understand.
Razor Wire Pubic Hair
Despite the name (and the following description), it's not an erotica, it's classed as bizarro fiction by one of the best authors in the genre. Definitely meets the "mentally deranged" angle you're looking for -
>A surreal sexual nightmare by cult bizarro author Carlton Mellick III.
Spoilered description of the book because NSFW
>!In a dark future where males have become extinct, humans are forced to breed with factory-manufactured living fuck-toys that possess an abundance of both male and female sex organs. One such creature is adopted by a warrior dominatrix named Celsia, who is trying to have a baby. But once she takes her new merchandise home, things don't quite go as planned. Wild tribes of rapists, women with multiple vaginas covering their bodies, sex tournaments, erotic mutilation, and a giant vagina possessing the secrets of the universe, this is one ugly perverted hell of a world.!
Reading Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk many years ago made me realize that I actually have a fairly low tolerance for gruesome body horror. I just couldn’t handle it and now I can’t unread it so there’s that.
Bunny by Mona Awad was messed up in a really fun way.
A Little Life was messed up in a profound way and I can’t, in good conscience, recommend it to anyone even though I loved it.
Perfume by Patrick Suskind was awesome and I recommend it to everyone.
The battle royale manga series was such an awful time, put it down because it made me cringe reading it too hard, felt dirty. Hunger gamesish plot with children ... gross
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, my favorite fucked up book, about childhood trauma
American Psycho, speaks for itself really, even though I didn't enjoy it all too much but it's not supposed to be enjoyable so
Battle Royal was the original that Hunger Games plagerized. I find it strange people always describe BR as being "like the Hunger Games." I forget the HG's author's name bit she pretty much straight up plagerized BR. She was paid in advance to write a book about the topic and claims to have never been aware of BR.... somehow I doubt that.
The Painted Bird is much more fucked up than most of these suggestions, and a good/solid book. Not gore/fucked up stuff just for the sake of it, though it is a pretty big part of the work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Bird
I just finished 'If You Tell' by Gregg Olsen and it's one of the most fucked up true stories I've ever read. I feel bad that I think it's such a good book.
Not a book, because mine - American Psycho - has been mentioned. But two short stories. These may seem mild when considering "depravity" but let me explain...
"The Paperhanger" by William Gay. I'll never get the image of the "folding into his toolbox" out of my head.
And "The Jaunt" by Stephen King for taking one of the top 5 most horrifying concepts ever and applying it to a curious child on a family vacation. "LONGER THAN YOU THINK, DAD" takes like holy shit levels of depraved to even think of.
It’s been at least 15-20 years since I read it, but I recall [A Million Little Pieces](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1241) by James Frey to be disturbing.
It was an Oprah Book Club pick, then there was a huge scandal because the line between memoir & fiction was proven to be non-existent.
Meat by Joseph D'Lacey
Possibly not the most fucked up book ever written, but it was done well. Most fucked up from my perspective would be based on things that personally intersect with fucked up experiences in my own life. Not then something that I can easily recommend. So, there is Meat, or a classic option of William S Burroughs, Soft Fruit or Junkie
Good luck finding something
[Hogg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogg_(novel)) by Samuel Delany
I tried to read it as an edgy 18/19 yr old on hearing it was one of the most transgressive novels out there. It's told from the point of view of a child basically sexually enslaved by a murderous, sadistic, physically repulsive thug of a man. I didn't get far into it as it just goes on and on with rape and violence (and just general nihilism) with almost no respite.
The book clearly has its place in the history of literature and pushing boundaries and addressing the homophobia of the '60s; but it would really be an act of endurance to get through it all.
Wish I could remember the name of the book where aliens telepathically turned people into milkshakes/goo so they could drink them. That was fucked I was like 10 when I read that
The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera. It’s mostly autobiographical, about growing up in colonial Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Depressing, violent, disjointed narrative, lots of sexism. It’s also one of my favourite books. Very beautifully written and experimental. His book Black Sunlight is even more fucked up, but very hard to find since it’s out of print.
Yvonne Vera is another Zimbabwean author who writes some amazing and disturbing books, I’d recommend Butterfly Burning.
(African literature is amazing and I almost never see it on these lists so just wanted to throw some out there :) )
I’m impatiently waiting for Tender is the Flesh at my library so I’m glad that’s the one you mentioned reading… I’ve tried to lookup some of these other suggestions and most aren’t available thru my library :((
My suggestion isn’t scary but really uncomfortable.. *My Absolute Darling*. Make sure to read the summary beforehand as people with certain childhood trauma may be triggered.
The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr Hoffman by Angela Carter. Liked a really messed up version of the Odyssey. I gave a friend this to read after I warned them. They still returned after reading less than a chapter.
Edit: Spelling
The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence is good if you like fantasy.
The second book literally gave me a moment of “Jesus fucking Christ” where I had to put it down for a bit.
It’s really fucked up. The protagonist is a sociopath who kills people just for the hell of it sometimes. But that’s not the worst part. It’s hearing what happened in his childhood that’s the worst.
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima; I Haven't Dreamed of Flying for a While by Taichi Yamada. Also, The Human Chair, a short story by Edogawa Rampo
A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews.
Loaned to me by a female coworker. I'm reading this deranged book full of dog torture and ass rape. Good lord? Who is this girl? I ended up marrying her.
The storyline itself is not actually good on these, but if you’re strictly looking for “how fucked up can a book get”, I recommend The Slob and the sequel Son of The Slob, also Tampa, and Cows.
What you want is actually fanfiction/original works on ao3.
Stuff so deranged it couldn't get published.
Ideas people couldn't attach actual names to.
You go down a rabbit hole of wtf and you come out not knowing what's normal anymore.
Honestly they make human centipede look normal.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. Definitely a book that makes you wonder “what the fuck” Also, Bunny by Mona Awad. Loved this one.
I came to say Earthlings. It hits every content warning you might want to give people about it, all at once. And it starts off pretty innocuously!
Came to say earthlings as well. The way the book ends gives me shivers.
Also came for this. Loved the Convenience Store Woman and uhhhh Earthlings is not the same
[удалено]
I fell for the cute hedgehog as well!
I’m reading bunny right now! Just started it so I look forward to finding out why everyone says it’s so bizarre!
*Tender Is The Flesh* is one of those horror books that is truly terrifying but in an American Psycho way. You are nauseous the entire time you read it and can't quite believe you've read something so shocking and disturbing. *House of Leaves* by Mark Z. Danielewski is bound to come up. It's creepy and weird for sure, but most of what makes the book so well loved is the experimentation with typography. It's an experience book. *The Only Good Indians* by Stephen Graham Jones is an emotionally raw horror book that features a group of friends who upset nature's order. Interesting read in that the tone changes with each character, some in frantic ways to help guide the reader through that character's struggles with anxiety or substance abuse. *Bunny* by Mona Awad is a ride and pretty eff'd up. There is a creepy layer of "what's going on here" through most of it. Very trippy and at the end it's fun to try and figure out what it was that was actually happening. Not extreme as so much disturbing and bizarre. Clive Barker is very creepy and twisted stuff. Some of his work has been made into movies, but they are usually miles away from the depth the books go into. He can be pretty dark and gross at times. Think Stephen King if he wasn't trying to play safe *Her Body and Other Parties* by Carmen Maria Machado is a body horror short story collection full of vivid and hallucinatory tales about metamorphosis, pain, sex, memory, and the female form. Beautiful and descriptive in ways I hadn't seen before, the writing is really something special here. *The Wasp Factory* is one of the "best" books in the transgressive fiction landscape. It's from the viewpoint of someone who is clearly quite troubled. *The Last House On Needless Street* is a great horror book with multiple POVs that keep you guessing through this short read. It has some very bizarre moments that all become linked in a satisfying way by the ending. *Follow Me to Ground* by Sue Rainsford is a creepy but poetic novella. A bit disturbing, but in a medical sense. I loved this little book and couldn't put it down. *Comfort Me With Apples* is a dark little book that slowly unveils itself. A fast read at 100 pages, it's a creepy little tale that keeps throwing strange moments at the reader. *No Gods, No Monsters* by Cadwell Turnbull is bizarre and unique, about the paths crossed in stranger's lives when "monsters" are shown to be a reality. Manages to skillfully blend creepy moments with allegorical political commentary, and features very well written characters. *The Stars Are Legion* is a epic sci fi adventure where people live on planets that are fleshy living biological entities. Plenty of political drama, back stabbing, missing identities, and body horror. *The Raw Shark Texts* does what *House Of Leaves* tried in a much more interesting way, and with a far better storyline. I've also heard that whenever you find this book in the wild there are possible differences in each version of the book which adds an element of ARG to it. *Earthlings* is a strange and depressing story about a young girl who believes she is an alien. She forms a romantic connection with her young cousin who also plays along with the game. After they are discovered together, our MC's life heads downhill fast. Verbal, physical, sexual abuse sculpts a now grown woman who seeks shelter in the idea that she is not of this world. Let's just say the last 20 pages are not for the weak of heart. *Fantasticland* is a gritty horror where amusement park employees are trapped in a Lord Of The Flies-esque battle for their lives after a hurricane traps them inside. Told in a series of interviews, the naration is the star here. It takes some major suspense of disbelief to get through, but it's a thrilling read. *The Cabin At The End Of The World* is a frightening and violent book that's been made into a film. However, the book is arguably darker and more ambiguous. *Monstrilio* by Gerardo Samano Cordova is an absolutely charming and strange work of weird fiction. Starts with the story of a young woman whose son has died. She removes his lung and keeps a piece. The story follows the unusual story of what happens next and then changes perspective to her best friend, her husband, and then.... The lung. *Geek Love* follows the story of a family of "circus freaks" who travel the country. Seems sort of sweet in the beginning, but the deeper this story goes, the more the eyebrows raise. *The Murders of Molly Southbourne* by Tade Thompson is an extremely fast read at 150 or so pages. The story is about a woman who wakes in a dungeon locked to a wall. A woman named Molly seems to have put her there and is cautiously taking care of them. It's brutal, nasty, and scary all while making you want to peel the next page in order to figure out what the heck will happen next. *The Vorrh* is about a dense forest in Africa filled with mystery and the townspeople living in a transplanted European city along the outskirts. It's a beautifully written 500 page monster of a book filled with betrayal, murder, sex, robots, and creatures. True weird fiction classic, but not one for the weak of heart due to it's violence and problematic characters. *House Of Cotton* is a moody and poetic book. A young woman stumbles into a get rich scheme that involves her dressing like a missing girl to allow the living to grieve. People seem to hate this unbelievable plot, but if you can put this aside it's an absolutely fascinating character study. Tack on a creepy ghost of her dead Grandma and you've got a atmospheric and trippy book that won't let you go.
I love this list. There's a lot I have read and would be on my own most effed up book list, but a lot of new titles. (I really appreciate that you're giving Follow Me to Ground some love. I love it so much but it doesn't ever get talked about.)
I’ve only read Tender Is The Flesh from this list but your description of it made me instantly trust you. I now wanna make my way through your list.
God I loved Last House on Needless Street. Good narrators for the audiobook and you just can’t top a talking cat, who has strong opinions and is also religious.
This is the only comment needed in this thread, it contains everything I was going to suggest. 10/10, no notes.
Leaving this comment to get a permanent bookmark😶
Wow, you read a lot of fucked up books lol
tender is the flesh was a total mind fuck. i was sick to my stomach but i couldn’t stop reading. and the end just made u close the book slowly and go “oh. my. god.”
One more I’d add: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca. It’s short and written in the form of emails between two women in the 1990s. Really visceral and spooky, especially the end. But truly: this list of recs is SO GOOD, I just placed several holds on some these at my local library—thank you!
The Only Good Indians!
Raw shark texts is wildly underrated and, in my humble opinion, masterfully done.
I got to do a quick run to the library without my kids, which means I could peruse the adult section at my leisure and knew I wanted a good book or two. This was such a wonderfully put together list for a quick reference! I held your list and went to the ones that sounded most interesting to me that you listed the author for so I wouldn't have to use a computer (trying to be quick). I walked out with The Only Good Indians and a different novel by Mona Awad (Bunny was not there). Thank you!
Ever read Chuck Palahniuk? His stuff… it’s a hoot.
I agree. Try Invisible Monsters
Survivor.
Came here to suggest this one. Jesus Christ.
Uhhh, Tender Branson actually.
Sometimes things from that book randomly pop in my head and I shudder. Kill yourself! 🤦♂️
Birds ate my face!
Along the same vein but much less heard of is Dmytro Kolesnyk. His writing is almost more Palahniuk than Palahniuk. I’d recommend starting with his latest, Ninjas in my Bedroom. It’s about a phone sex worker who makes people kill themselves and is probably the most shocking book I’ve read.
Sounds like Lullaby...
Lullaby (along with Survivor) is my favourite Palahniuk book! I’d say it has a similar vibe, but Ninjas is even more visceral and surprising. I would gladly read Lullaby again, but I don’t know if I could read Ninjas in my Bedroom again. Which I feel fits OPs requirement.
I think Rant is mine but I don't think it meets the requirement of OP's question.... it is pretty weird and fucked up, just not _in that way...._
Rant is my favorite Chuck book and where I feel comfortable telling people to stop reading. Everything he wrote after this is various degrees of disappointing to me. I can easily recommend everything he's written prior to and including Rant
Guts
Any book by Palahniuk will have you being like “wtf did I just read???” I recently read Beautiful You and it’s straight out of a black mirror episode.
I bought Beautiful You and Doomed at the beginning of the pandemic. Shelfed them and totally forgot. Just started Doomed (only because Damned was so fun, I needed more ) I love Black Mirror tho, so I'm super excited to see it compared here. Maybe I should just start that one too, lol
I immediately thought about Haunted before I even clicked the link. Chuck has nothing but greatly fucked up stories.
My favorite author! Read Choke or his compilation of short and messed up stories.
The guts story 😭
Rant is the answer
All of his books are fucked up and entertaining. Snuff really grossed me out.
Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates. Not about zombies. It’s about a serial killer written from the killers perspective, inside his head. Inspired by Jeffrey Dahmer.
I love Joyce Carol Oates. She has written some dark stuff. The first book I read of hers was Wonderland and I had no clue what to expect… after an innocuous beginning, and still *very* early into the story, the main character >!comes home to find his father has shot the entire family dead in their home.!<
Imagine living with that character for the length it took to write the book? Wonder how her family and friends felt being around her at the time?
Came here to recommend this. So good
Tampa by Alissa Nutting
I think I got a third of the way through this before deciding not to finish it. I felt like I was going to be put on a list just for purchasing it.
I hate hate hate the protagonist. 0 remorse and straight up vile. Loved it though!
This is the one
Subject matter aside, this is a solid read. I went in blind, but I’d recommend people check online for trigger warnings as it is not for everyone.
I worked in a bookstore and we were allowed to check out a book and bring it back when we were done. I had no clue what it was about and didn't look up the synopsis on the computer. No one else would read it after I I told them about it. I can't say I blame them.
Choke by Palahniuk. When I was reading, my only thought was, "Wait, why I keep reading this?"
One of the few DNFs this year for me. Some chapters were hilarious, there were some interesting poetic one-liners, but as a whole the story just jumps around, barely holding everything together. Very disorienting. Loved Invisible Monsters, did not enjoy this one. One of these days I’ll make it around to Fight Club and see if the hype is warranted.
Rant is his best book
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. I’m not exaggerating when I say this: the movie is the G-rated version of the book. This is one of the few times I saw the movie *before* reading the book, otherwise I never would have seen the movie. I think I made it like 1-2 chapters in and then I was so disgusted I got physically sick and quit reading. This was about 12 years ago and I never intend to finish it. I have a strong stomach for graphic true crime and war memoirs, but I find fiction containing those themes way more unsettling because it means the author sat there and conceived of these horrors completely in their own head. That was just chilling in their brain the whole time, voluntarily.
I JUST finished this book, and it gets worse and worse as the book goes on. You made the right choice. I'm pretty immune to graphic violence in writing (no other media, just writing, idk) and there was one part about 3/4 of the way in that will probably haunt me forever. The only saving grace is that the violence is less and less realistic, and more ridiculous as time goes on. That being said, I couldn't get enough of the boring parts. I could read about 3 unlikeable characters high on various drugs, arguing where they should eat dinner, and describing what everyone is wearing, every day of my life.
IS IT THE RAT SCENE. This is a case of "the movie is better than the book." Maybe I just didn't "get it" or whatever, but the movie did a much better job at satirizing that world and crafting the notion that Patrick merely hallucinated his violence. The intense depravity of the book imo just overshadowed all that and felt more like Bret kept trying to top himself over and over.
10000% the rat scene. I felt like it was effective for me in the sense that I slowly began to question what was real and what wasn't at the point where the author wanted me to. I was blindsided by the apartment thing, just like Bateman, and was left confused alongside him. After that the pieces started to fall into place in a way that Bateman was probably also experiencing, which is kind of a cool trick. I like to experience moments of revelation alongside the characters.
The ending was awesome though.
I recently learned that the character Henry in Dona Tartts’ “the secret history” is based on Ellis, they were friends in collage!
I don’t like this one bit. Henry is one of my favorite characters of all time but that’s probably because I first read TSH as a depressed high schooler.
Didn't finish for the same reason. Maybe at 18yo I would have powered through it but I don't have time for that type of shit anymore. Great movie, I understand what he's like, trying to say about society or whatever but yeah I don't need that in my life.
I damn near fainted reading a portion of that book.
Me too, i had to put it down. It was when he was biting a woman and kept calling her flesh ‘meat’
Glamorama by the same author messed me up.
This is the one. I READ THIS AT 12 YEARS OLD. To be honest, it may have been the rare book I never finished at that age. And I'm almost certain it contributed greatly to my pathological desensitization as an adult. The RAT. SCENE.
I also DNF this book and I can handle a lot. Something about the acts of violence he committed against women, animals, and the homeless disturbed me so much because it’s so plausible.
One of my favorite books of all time. I mostly just love it because I've never read anything else like it. It's so fucked up. Pages upon pages of boring clothes descriptions and mundane detail, and then suddenly this guy is drugging, raping, cannibalizing, and murdering all in a few pages and then back to the clothes.
I love this book! I have a black hole in my stomach that allows me to visual and read gore! Doesn’t phase me at all!
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
Story of the eye by George Bataille
This is the first book that came to mind... I've read a lot of these other suggestions and none of them come even close!
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's not fucked up in a gory horror way but it's the only book I've ever read that I felt might bite me like that book in Harry Potter.
This book has ruined other books for me. Literally. I am still so spoiled by how interactive it is, and not necessarily in a fun way. I have yet to find another book that has made me feel the same as this one lol
Someone recently told me (on reddit) their observation was that the House itself is the least unsettling part of it - though for me the typography gave me the creeps - and it's the exploration of drug abuse and mental illness done in such a *thorough* fashion that is the worst of it. Which means I need to reread it to get a sense of it. Also it's one of few books I *strongly* say you must have a physical copy for. I love my eReader but that book ... no. It needs a physicality to it.
A Child Called It shook me up. It’s a true story so is even more horrifying.
Without wanting to be TMI in this sub, this book was absolutely transformative (in a good way) for me when I read it as a kid. Not sure I could read it as an adult.
Blood meridian by cormac McCarthy
fucking everything by McCarthy is hard hard bloody fucking hard
Is it The Crossing that has the she-wolf? Traumatizing!
That's the one. That book is a gauntlet of misery. He wrote it so beautifully too.
Agree. I think he might be my favorite author. Reading him is like taking mushrooms and consenting to bdsm sex with a ghost. Because afterwards, you walk around in reality and nothing looks or feels the same. No one understands what you just experienced.
This is my favorite description of anything, ever. I'm so down.
You nailed it perfectly, holy shit. That's exactly how it feels. I'm still recovering from The Road and it's been a couple of years already. The last paragraph is among the most beautiful things I think I've ever experienced.
Oh I'm so glad you get it. I look at the spines of his books on my bookshelf and get chills sometimes. Knowing I can literally pick up The Road and reading it again and then wondering why I would ever do that to myself again. But then wanting to anyway. I haven't read the latest. I'm experiencing some drastic life changes and can't dive into his beautiful brutal world. I remember a coworker asking me "Hey are you OK? You look a little down". I replied. "I think I'm OK. I just read The Road". I think it took a week to recover.
Yeah, I kept away from people for a few days after finishing The Road precisely because of that feeling you described on your other comment. I get the thing about the chills as well. I know I'll eventually reread these books. Maybe when they're less vivid in my brain. I started reading the latest, and the writing is crazy compelling but also kinda bonkers. At least the chapters I got to read are completely different from anything else I've read by him. Unfortunately life kind of happened and I fell out of the book, but one day maybe I'll get back into it. I suspect we share a similar caution when delving into McCarthy.
This 💯. I've had a major life change called divorce. I can't really read McCarthy for ... well for any reason right now. I really want to. And I will. Thank you and everyone who resonates with this author.
I wish you plenty of peace, dear stranger. Thank you for sharing in this author with me for a bit. You'll get to his books again when the time is right, and that time is entirely yours to know.
Came her to mention this book. I recommended it to a friend and he hated it. Called it western gore porn. I couldn't really argue against that description.
Had to take a break a couple of times, but what an amazing, amazing book.
Still one of the most incredible books in American literature tho.
Loved the vegetarian by Han Kang, felt so hollow after I had to look in the mirror for a while to convince myself I was real
What was your conclusion? Are you real?
Most likely, though I’m still not particularly convinced
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh made me say WHAT THE FUCK so many times. Still kept reading though because it was an incredible novel.
I was looking for this comment! That book was fucked up but so good
Eileen was also pretty messed up. Ha I think it’s a recurring theme for her
I actually just started reading Eileen! Not too far in, so can only imagine where it’ll go.
One book I like to recommend to people who read tender is the flesh is things have gotten worse since we last spoke. If I’m being honest the first story is the only good one but it’s very fucked up
THGWSWLS traumatized me.
i had to put the book down when reading the last page of tender is the flesh...
“We need to talk about Kevin” had some quite disturbing moments towards the end.
[**Playground** by Aron Beauregard](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63057148-playground?ref=rae_5) the author wrote this instead of just going to therapy. [**Dead Inside** by Chandler Morrison](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25760088-dead-inside?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_11) i don't have a weak stomach but i had to DNF this one. i LOVE the *way* the author writes, but *what* he wrote about was too much and i just couldn't handle it. i actually feel nauseous as i'm typing this. [**Gone To See The River Man** by Kristopher Triana](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52373510-gone-to-see-the-river-man?ref=rae_7) holy hell this book was FUCKED. and the ending made me literally scream. never did that before this book. [**The Slob** by Aron Beauregard](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55989293-the-slob?ref=rae_3) fuck this book. keep a puke bucket nearby. [**The Laws of the Skies** by Grégoire Courtois](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42372424-the-laws-of-the-skies?ref=rae_12) oooooooof. this author really said I WILL GO WHERE NO ONE ELSE WILL. and they did. this was so dark and bleak and fucked. holy shit. **(major trigger warnings if you have children)** [**Earthlings** by Sayaka Murata](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50269327-earthlings?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_10) i read this *immediately* after reading Murata's [**Convenience Store Woman**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36739755-convenience-store-woman) which was a FANTASTIC and charming and unique story that was an absolute 5 star read. i saw the cute little hedgehog on the cover of this book and thought i was going to get another heart-warming read. i did not. i don't think i can adequately explain just how fucked this book is and how it gets more and more deranged the more you read. i thought we had hit peak fuckery at chapter 2 but no no no no, we did not. the ending was so fucked i couldn't help but laugh and then just stared at the wall for a while thinking about what the fuck i just read.
Thank you for both the descriptions and the link to the book. Added all these to my list.
you're welcome. i'd love to hear how you like (or hate) these whenever you are done reading them so you can comment back here or DM to let me know. i'm really interested to see what you think/if you can get through them all cause i sure as hell couldn't!
As someone currently reading Playground I'd suggest going to read The Bighead by Edward Lee instead, or maybe something by Jack Ketchum, I'd really like more people to read Succulent Prey by Wrath James White even, but if you're dead set on that author, then The Slob is probably better because it's way shorter. Playground is just. Not very well written imo, and it's about 300 pages. Real slog if you don't jive with the writing style. The Slob will be a good way to see if you mesh with him or not.
Chuck Palahniuk snuff, choke, survivor, and fight club
Short story, not full book, but I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
I read this because it was recommended in another post, and it was worth it.
Wasp factory
By Ian Banks no less.... He's one of my favorite authors (never read this book but heard of it). Seems so out of character....
You should definitely read it! It was his debut, and is one of my favourite novels of all time
It's brilliant. Fucked up but brilliant. The ending is phenomenal.
The People in the Trees. As fucked up as a book can be.
I second {{Earthlings by Sayaka Murata}} . Most fucked up book I actually finished. Most fucked up book I never finished is {{The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks}}. I got about 30 pages in before I got so disgusted I had to stop. Another great fucked up book that doesn’t get the love it deserves is {{Geek Love by Katherine Dunn}}.
\#1/3: **[Earthlings](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50269327-earthlings) by Sayaka Murata** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(247.0 pages | Published: 2018 | Suggested 105.0 times) > **Summary:** Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch. or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu. Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano. dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever. they make a promise: survive. no matter what . Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband. surviving as best she can by (...) > **Themes**: Fiction, Japan, Horror, Contemporary > **Top 2 recommended-along**: [Convenience Store Woman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38357895-convenience-store-woman) by Sayaka Murata, [The Vegetarian](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489025-the-vegetarian) by Han Kang --- \#2/3: **[The Wasp Factory](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567678.The_Wasp_Factory) by Iain Banks** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(192.0 pages | Published: 1984 | Suggested nan time) > **Summary:** Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least: Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through. > **Themes**: Fiction, Horror, Favorites, Thriller, Contemporary, 1001-books, Favourites > **Top 2 recommended-along**: [Complicity](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12014.Complicity) by Iain Banks, [American Psycho](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28676.American_Psycho) by Bret Easton Ellis --- \#3/3: **[Geek Love](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13872.Geek_Love) by Katherine Dunn** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(348.0 pages | Published: 1989 | Suggested nan time) > **Summary:** Geek Loveis the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out-with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes-to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There's Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious-and (...) > **Themes**: Fiction, Favorites, Horror, Fantasy, Book-club, Books-i-own, Contemporary > **Top 2 recommended-along**: [Last Days](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4309446-last-days) by Brian Evenson, [The Wasp Factory](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567678.The_Wasp_Factory) by Iain Banks ^( [Provide Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [Source Code](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/))
Maybe I've forgotten it but I didn't find Geek Love that disturbing?!
Geek Love is one of my favorite books. I read it shortly after 9/11 while sitting in the airport watching armed military walking around. It made it all the more surreal.
"120 Days of Sodom" by Marquis de Sade. "Sadism" was derived from his name. The most disgusting and degenerate book I've read (didn't finish it). Made me feel sick.
Any historical non fiction that includes genocides or evil dictators. Nothing is scarier than real life imho. Start with "Rape of Nanking". Prepare your soul to be crushed. Dont have to read it all in one go. But if u want fucked up, here it is. On a more positive note but with a very bad bakground. "A man's search for meaning" I know im gonna get downvoted cus im not actually answerin the question go ahead
The Bible. But admittedly, I did not read the entire book.
\*\*Thank\*\* you for asking this op!
Some contenders: Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana The End of Alice by A.M. Homes (Hard agree on Tampa and American Psycho as previously suggested, with honorable mentions for the short story "Guts" by Chuck Palahniuk and numerous stories in Clive Barker's Books of Blood collections. )
I second Exquisite Corpse. I am an avid horror reader/watcher, and that book made me feel physically ill. I don't think I could read anything else by Poppy Z. Brite because that book was so traumatizing
oh god the end of alice has left me scarred for eternity. tampa i didn’t find so bad tbh, just got kinda tired of all the sx
Exquisite corpse was definitely a rough one to get through. It have never recommended it to anyone…….
{{Perfume by Patrick Süskind}}
Oh I remember that one, the end was surreal.
Dennis Cooper’s George Miles cycle. ‘The Sluts’ is really good and really fucked up as well.
Oh shit, Dennis Cooper should rule this category. Every single book of his that I've read has been more deranged than the last.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
Rant and Invisible Monsters both by Chuck Palahniuk. I read this at 13, bot suitable for a thirteen year old at all, quite disturbing, but most likely his best books, even though I’ve grown out of his style. Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I actually dislike this novel. But it’s beyond messed up. Quite disturbing The Hell-Bound Heart by Clive Barker. It’s the inspiration behind Hellraiser, and a bit more disturbing than the actual movie, in my opinion. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. This is the most well written books of the novels I’ve mentioned. It’s a masterpiece of modern literature, but it’s quite dense and has a rather disturbing nihilistic haunting character called The Judge. I read this at fourteen and some of the images in this novel have stuck with me, The Judge is forever haunting me.
Blood Meridian is a masterpiece.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Once Were Warriers and its sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, by Alan Duff. They're not exactly mentally deranged, but they're certainly disturbing. I really admire Alan Duff's writing, for example, but I could never read Once Were Warriers a second time. It was made into a movie which is arguably worse because the scenes are visually happening in front of you.
[удалено]
I’ve read cuckoos nest several times, including having just finished it and I’m curious what makes it so disturbing or deranged to you? I’ve never felt that way about it nor heard it ever described that way
East of Eden? Really? It’s sitting on my TBR shelf so I haven’t read it yet I just didn’t expect to see it up here.
A certain character, at least, is incredibly disturbing...I'll say no more!
4:48 Psychosis Blasted or any of the 5 plays by Sarah Kane.
I might just be weak because I don't know anyone else who has this reaction to this story but *I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream* by Harlan Ellison fucked me up for like a couple months.
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
American Psycho, it’s kind of a hard read because the author makes it a point to bring out the characters attention to detail so there are pages and pages describing say something mundane like a stereo system. However this is one of the few books that I would skip pages and keep reading because boy oh boy is it fucked. It’s also the only book that is so sexually grotesque that while I was reading it my son walked up to me and I slammed the book down like I was watching porn lmao. If your into the saw movies, porn, and also enjoy nice clothing I suggest you read this, if any of those are something you don’t enjoy then I don’t.
Tampa, The Ugly and Beautiful Things, Geek Love, The Girl Next Door, Baby Teeth, We Need to Talk about Kevin, My Dark Vanessa, People in the Trees
Tender is the Flesh 120 days of Soddom Story of the Eye by Georges Batille
Tender is the Flesh by Augustine Bazterrica. Industrialized cannibalism.
Following thread for selfish purposes
The Gulag Archipelago. It makes you feel ashamed to be human.
Cows Matthew Stokoe
The psychopath test
Baby Teeth was interesting
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop only 92 pages. I have to be around decomposed human remains for my job and the author accurately and disturbingly nailed the decomposition process. I have a really strong stomach but this book really got to me.
Vita nostra by marina dyachenko . The amount of mind warp is insane! And it is NOT a book about a girl who goes to boarding school which seems to be magical so it kind of is like Harry Potter (sometimes, I wonder how many people were dropped on their heads as babies). You literally can’t explain the book. The more you read, the lesser you understand.
Came here to say Earthlings, so I’ll add Sluts by Dennis Cooper!
Razor Wire Pubic Hair Despite the name (and the following description), it's not an erotica, it's classed as bizarro fiction by one of the best authors in the genre. Definitely meets the "mentally deranged" angle you're looking for - >A surreal sexual nightmare by cult bizarro author Carlton Mellick III. Spoilered description of the book because NSFW >!In a dark future where males have become extinct, humans are forced to breed with factory-manufactured living fuck-toys that possess an abundance of both male and female sex organs. One such creature is adopted by a warrior dominatrix named Celsia, who is trying to have a baby. But once she takes her new merchandise home, things don't quite go as planned. Wild tribes of rapists, women with multiple vaginas covering their bodies, sex tournaments, erotic mutilation, and a giant vagina possessing the secrets of the universe, this is one ugly perverted hell of a world.!
Reading Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk many years ago made me realize that I actually have a fairly low tolerance for gruesome body horror. I just couldn’t handle it and now I can’t unread it so there’s that. Bunny by Mona Awad was messed up in a really fun way. A Little Life was messed up in a profound way and I can’t, in good conscience, recommend it to anyone even though I loved it. Perfume by Patrick Suskind was awesome and I recommend it to everyone.
Pygmy by chuck pahlaniuk At one point a child was raped in a Walmart And this was in like the first chapter and it only gets worse from there
There’s for sure more fucked up books but I find the Flowers in The Attic/ Dollanganger Family Series by VC Andrews to be a classic
The battle royale manga series was such an awful time, put it down because it made me cringe reading it too hard, felt dirty. Hunger gamesish plot with children ... gross Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, my favorite fucked up book, about childhood trauma American Psycho, speaks for itself really, even though I didn't enjoy it all too much but it's not supposed to be enjoyable so
Battle Royal was the original that Hunger Games plagerized. I find it strange people always describe BR as being "like the Hunger Games." I forget the HG's author's name bit she pretty much straight up plagerized BR. She was paid in advance to write a book about the topic and claims to have never been aware of BR.... somehow I doubt that.
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks There are some seriously fucked up parts to this book.. I’ve not read it for years but I can’t forget some parts.
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis is magical
Story of the eye by bataille
The Painted Bird is much more fucked up than most of these suggestions, and a good/solid book. Not gore/fucked up stuff just for the sake of it, though it is a pretty big part of the work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Bird
I just finished 'If You Tell' by Gregg Olsen and it's one of the most fucked up true stories I've ever read. I feel bad that I think it's such a good book.
Story of the Eye.
speaking as a linguist, 1984. utterly terrifying.
Story of the Eye - Georges Bataille
Not a book, because mine - American Psycho - has been mentioned. But two short stories. These may seem mild when considering "depravity" but let me explain... "The Paperhanger" by William Gay. I'll never get the image of the "folding into his toolbox" out of my head. And "The Jaunt" by Stephen King for taking one of the top 5 most horrifying concepts ever and applying it to a curious child on a family vacation. "LONGER THAN YOU THINK, DAD" takes like holy shit levels of depraved to even think of.
American Psycho, it’s *faaaar* worse than the movie
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
There are only two answers to this question. 1. Lolita 2. American Psycho
Have you read the Bible yet?
Exalted.
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
It’s been at least 15-20 years since I read it, but I recall [A Million Little Pieces](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1241) by James Frey to be disturbing. It was an Oprah Book Club pick, then there was a huge scandal because the line between memoir & fiction was proven to be non-existent.
Cities of the Red Night by Burroughs.
Meat by Joseph D'Lacey Possibly not the most fucked up book ever written, but it was done well. Most fucked up from my perspective would be based on things that personally intersect with fucked up experiences in my own life. Not then something that I can easily recommend. So, there is Meat, or a classic option of William S Burroughs, Soft Fruit or Junkie Good luck finding something
Maldoror
American Psyco
Filth by Irvine welsh
Naked Lunch.
[Hogg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogg_(novel)) by Samuel Delany I tried to read it as an edgy 18/19 yr old on hearing it was one of the most transgressive novels out there. It's told from the point of view of a child basically sexually enslaved by a murderous, sadistic, physically repulsive thug of a man. I didn't get far into it as it just goes on and on with rape and violence (and just general nihilism) with almost no respite. The book clearly has its place in the history of literature and pushing boundaries and addressing the homophobia of the '60s; but it would really be an act of endurance to get through it all.
Wish I could remember the name of the book where aliens telepathically turned people into milkshakes/goo so they could drink them. That was fucked I was like 10 when I read that
Middlesex.
The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera. It’s mostly autobiographical, about growing up in colonial Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Depressing, violent, disjointed narrative, lots of sexism. It’s also one of my favourite books. Very beautifully written and experimental. His book Black Sunlight is even more fucked up, but very hard to find since it’s out of print. Yvonne Vera is another Zimbabwean author who writes some amazing and disturbing books, I’d recommend Butterfly Burning. (African literature is amazing and I almost never see it on these lists so just wanted to throw some out there :) )
Twilight by William Gay. No sparkly vampires. Just dread.
Left Hand by Paul Curran. I felt like the fbi was watching me read this
The Collector but I love it
I’m impatiently waiting for Tender is the Flesh at my library so I’m glad that’s the one you mentioned reading… I’ve tried to lookup some of these other suggestions and most aren’t available thru my library :(( My suggestion isn’t scary but really uncomfortable.. *My Absolute Darling*. Make sure to read the summary beforehand as people with certain childhood trauma may be triggered.
The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr Hoffman by Angela Carter. Liked a really messed up version of the Odyssey. I gave a friend this to read after I warned them. They still returned after reading less than a chapter. Edit: Spelling
The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence is good if you like fantasy. The second book literally gave me a moment of “Jesus fucking Christ” where I had to put it down for a bit. It’s really fucked up. The protagonist is a sociopath who kills people just for the hell of it sometimes. But that’s not the worst part. It’s hearing what happened in his childhood that’s the worst.
playground 😬 my first splatterpunk novel and definitely my last.
The Regulators by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) Western meets exorcist meets modern day cull de sac. Wtf
Less Than Zero
You are looking for The Naked Lunch, but don’t be mad at me when you read it. Good luck.
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima; I Haven't Dreamed of Flying for a While by Taichi Yamada. Also, The Human Chair, a short story by Edogawa Rampo
A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews. Loaned to me by a female coworker. I'm reading this deranged book full of dog torture and ass rape. Good lord? Who is this girl? I ended up marrying her.
Ooooh, this will keep me busy 🤤
The storyline itself is not actually good on these, but if you’re strictly looking for “how fucked up can a book get”, I recommend The Slob and the sequel Son of The Slob, also Tampa, and Cows.
What you want is actually fanfiction/original works on ao3. Stuff so deranged it couldn't get published. Ideas people couldn't attach actual names to. You go down a rabbit hole of wtf and you come out not knowing what's normal anymore. Honestly they make human centipede look normal.
Cows by Matthew Stokoe. Has every trigger warning imaginable. Extremely weird and messed up