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what is the most disturbing book/novel you've ever read?

Posted by Viviemortis

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Forum: Books and Stories

I am one for stomach-churning books, and i'd love to hear what all you guys have read!








(my response)


[THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS AND TOPICS THAT AREN'T FAINT OF HEART] 


 I've read my fair share of grotesque pieces of literature, but I've never read something as downright sickly captivating as Chandler Morrison's Dead Inside. the book follows the point of view of a deranged man who has a "disturbingly unique taste in women". (with just that information, I hope you know where i'm pointing at. so, just mentally prepare yourself..)

 the narrator is a college student who works at a hospital as a security guard, who finds himself sharing nights with recently deceased patients. the narrator has a very strong and controversial view on... quite literally, everything. on one of his outings, he encounters a young woman named Helen, who works in the LDR sort of apartment in the hospital. after a bit of nagging and interacting, mostly from Helen, she reveals to the narrator that she cannibalizes the stillborn babies and aborted fetuses. from then, to the end of the book it's just absolute chaos. Helen gets pregnant from the narrator, and it's pretty obvious where that's going to lead to. at the end of the book, the narrator meets a man while trying to practically drink himself to death, and offers some advice to him about his wife. after maybe a week, the two men meet again, and by now, it's obvious how the book is going to end. Helen calls the narrator, telling him that their child was dead, begging him to come to her home. when he gets there, all hell breaks loose. Helen cuts open her stomach while sitting on the floor of her living room, fishing out the dead fetus and EATING IT, eventually dying from blood loss. the narrator, being well... him. endures in probably the most gory and just intense thing I've ever written. the book ends with the man the narrator met in that bar, coming home to find his wife mutilated on the floor with a man ass-naked sitting on his couch with her decapitated head.

when I first read this book, it was mostly just because I wanted to enjoy the thrill of something, well, disgusting. it's been a while after reading that book, maybe 6 months? I can hardly remember. anyways, now that I look back on it, I have a better view and understanding of the whole existence of the book. for short: it was written for shits and giggles, not to be an edge-lord.there were many moments that I did get a few laughs out of: near the start of the book, the narrator's actions are compared to 50 Shades of Grey, saying something that if the reader thought that book was bad, they had no idea what's to come. another one being, the very first sentence of the book, which . around the middle of the book, the narrator describes his... jizz as 'thousands of tiny white soldiers marching to their death'. it shouldn't have been as funny as it was to me at the time...

despite the grotesque content in this book, i genuinely think it's really funny. i mean, hell, the narrator thinks hes better than everyone else because he has sexual relations with corpses! anyways! this may be one of my favorite novels, not for the questionable content, but just how much it gets me thinking






btw please don’t use this against me in court, i’m a normal and healthy human being


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Reply by Alien

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I guess sometimes consuming something absolutely disgusting makes us see the disgusting parts of the real world more tame. Thx for the rec 


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Reply by ⁰✶AᏞᎬᎽᏁᎪ✶⁰

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I guess it's not the same kinda disturbing from ur book, but I read the book 'I have no mouth and i must scream' and loved the way the AI is portrayed! It basically about an evil AI that kills the entirety of humanity but leaves 5 humans alive. The ai changes their bodies physically and mentally. Torturing them for decades.    


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Reply by ken

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'Tender is the Flesh' !


Oh my where to even start with this book... How about the fact that the main character works at a human processing plant in a new world in which humans farm and cannibalize other humans. The question being asked throughout the book is, 'Is it cannibalism if the meat is just meat in the eyes of society?'

Very disturbing, very interesting, extremely thought-provoking. Kept me up at night!

By the way, I loved your note at the end about not using your review against you in court. 


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Reply by Tyler i guess

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just finished Dennis Cooper's Frisk and it probably takes the cake; neck and neck with The Marbled Swarm, but I think TMS's flowery language softens the blow a bit 

i have tried bits and pieces of Peter Sotos and every time have been like nope nope nope not today


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