Tell me about a book that disturbed, distressed, shocked, traumatized, or unsettled you in any way. Please elaborate on why it does.
The Real Story and Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen Donaldson. The man is so utterly casual about rape as plot progression that it leaves me with serious questions about the author.
The Handmaid’s Tale. I started reading it recently, but it’s too much like current events. I had to stop reading. (Haven’t seen the show, either.)
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I haven’t read this since high school so I don’t remember much. It was required reading at the time. Now it’s probably banned. It deserves a reread. There was one line that described how one of the prisoners had to put his own father’s body into the crematory oven. It’s probably been 20 years since I read it, but the horror of that image has stuck with me.
The Road - Cormac McCarthy. Except I haven’t been able to finish it. I know the story, through watching the film, but the imagery in the book is so much more depressing and powerfully disturbing. When I watched the film I felt it for at least a week afterwards. I was getting that feeling each time I’d go to pick up the book of a night. I really want to read it completely, but I just can’t work myself up to it.
RIP Cormac McCarthy. I was able to read all of The Road, but only a little bit at a time. It’s so bleak, and so realistic.
That’s my answer as well. The book is just so bleak. I read it over a decade ago, and I have thought about re-reading it, but can’t bring myself to do it. It is a really good read though.
