10 Most Disturbing Books of All Time

[J.D.]

1. Blindness by Jose Saramago
2. Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.
3. Naked Lunch The Restored Text by William S. Burroughs
4. We Need to Talk About Kevin A Novel by Lionel Shriver
5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
6. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
7. Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
8. The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade
9. Turner Diaries by Andrew MacDonald
10.The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

[Lisa]

I want to read 'Blindness' and 'Johnny Got His Gun.' Haven't thought too much about the rest of them though.

[new_user]

I didn't really consider Johnny disturbing. Strong though.

[Barbara]

I guess I am glad to say I have never read any of them.

[stormhawk]

1. Blindness by Jose Saramago

Haven't read the book yet, but my boyfriend recommended the movie to me. Creepy, indeed.

3. Naked Lunch The Restored Text by William S. Burroughs

Read it every couple of years, just in case it changes while I'm not looking at it.

5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I must be made of sterner stuff. Didn't find it particularly disturbing.

6. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Thought to be disturbing by people who wimped out at quite reading at the first grimmy bit. What's really disturbing is the self-absorption of the 1980s.

7. Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo

Just weird. Pretty typical anti-war fare.

9. Turner Diaries by Andrew MacDonald

Actually one of MacDonald's milder books, in the grand scheme of things. Reading it can be instructive. You want to think that some of the events can't happen, but the city nearest me has a "Human Rights Commission" (yeah, sounds like a good thing to you, but in the context of the book it has darker undertones).