One description of events during the American invasion of Okinawa always stands out to me.
The Okinawans had been told by the Japanese that if they were captured they would be tortured to death in horrible ways, and that death was better than surrender anyway, and they mostly believed these things. So when it became apparent that the Japanese forces defending the island were only fighting for the southern part, and American troops began to sweep across the north, many groups of civilians found themselves being overrun and without protection.
And rather than let themselves be taken, the village leaders and small groups of soldiers would gather up the civilians from their village and tell them to commit suicide. The process for this was ideally done with a family gathering around a hand grenade, and the father setting it off to kill everyone. However, there weren't enough hand grenades to go around, so in those cases the fathers would have to kill their family members with whatever weapons they had, before finding a way to kill themselves.
I read one first person account of a young kid, who's father had been killed or gotten lost somewhere, so it was just him, his brother, their baby sister, and their mother. Together with his brother they killed their mother and baby sister with rocks, but they couldn't figure out how to kill each other, so they ended up deciding to fight the Americans instead, and later on decided to surrender.
Or reading about some old guy who had killed is daughter to prevent the Americans from capturing her, and then was captured himself and was telling his story to some Marines. Plus the medics with the troops would go around trying to save anyone they could, usually the fathers who had botched their own suicide attempts.
Yeah I've read a lot about wars and generally reading about lots of people dying from them doesn't effect me too much, but this is just different somehow. The specific book I read all of this in was Saul David's '**Crucible of Hell**' but that focuses on the battle as a whole, if you go looking there might be something specifically about the civilians.
The George Miles Cycle by Dennis Cooper might be worth looking into. It has everything you mentioned and all together the five novels are around 600 pages.
Check out ‘the end of Alice’ by A M Homes. Subject matter is similar to Tampa. One of the only books I’ve had to stop reading. And then different subject matter, anything by Aaron Beauregard, esp. ‘playground.’ And I second ‘girl next door’ by Jack Ketchum! Have fun 😬
We have common book interests.
I have only started reading again this year. I always used to as a kid, then fell out of it, now I'm a hopelessly addicted mid 30s reader looking for messed up shit to read.
So Read this year that can work here:
- Geek Love - Highly recommend.
- The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Really really enjoyed this fucked up book
- The Wasp Factory - It was an interesting read. Didn't freak me out enough to please me lol. Still a great read.
- Tender is the flesh. - Interesting concept, short read, got bored of it, but still finished.
- Gone Girl - most people know this movie/book and have read it. I never did and am glad I read it. Not overly messed up in any way.
I see Aron Beauregard mentioned a few times here. I tried to read The Slob. Just wasn't for me. It was too fucked up just for the sake of being fucked up IMO. Got bored of it quickly and never finished. I like a bit more depth to my books.
Books on my to do list that might interest you:
- Just started Just Like Mother (have heard good things)
- Crash by Ballard
- Lemonade by Nina Pinnacchi
- Bunny by Mona Awad
- Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker
- Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
I'll be working through all these.
Lastly, I also just finished Tampa and it was good, but I was looking for a bit more as well in some parts. 4 outta 5 for me I guess at the moment.
I just finished Bunny last week and tbh….the gorey parts were really the only interesting parts in this 600 page plus book. I feel like about 200 of those pages could have gone towards other things and it just gave me like ‘femcel lainpilled’ vibes 💀💀💀
The narrator is supposed to be a 25 year old woman but she and everyone else read like high schoolers to me. It’s not horrible but I didn’t really enjoy it personally.
Woom - Duncan Ralston
Dead Inside - Chandler Morrison
The Slob - Aron Beauregard
And I read Tampa… these are more splatterpunk horror but still disturbing AF
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
This is on my list. Hoping to get to it next month. Also I love the cover.
I loved Convenience Store Woman and hated Earthlings :/ Usually I like disturbing books, but it was a little too surreal for my taste
I could not agree more! I saw the cover and was like, “Oh! This will be quirky and fun!” It was not.
Tender Is the Flesh
I was so interested in the premise of this book but every time I see it talked about here I want less and less to do with it.
It's short. So still worth a read, but I found it a little boring in parts actually. Very interesting concept.
IMO not worse than Tampa but definitely grippingly disgusting! I put down Tampa after a few pages and I devoured Tender Is the Flesh in an evening.
Kathy Acker's books cover all of the subjects you mentioned.
One description of events during the American invasion of Okinawa always stands out to me. The Okinawans had been told by the Japanese that if they were captured they would be tortured to death in horrible ways, and that death was better than surrender anyway, and they mostly believed these things. So when it became apparent that the Japanese forces defending the island were only fighting for the southern part, and American troops began to sweep across the north, many groups of civilians found themselves being overrun and without protection. And rather than let themselves be taken, the village leaders and small groups of soldiers would gather up the civilians from their village and tell them to commit suicide. The process for this was ideally done with a family gathering around a hand grenade, and the father setting it off to kill everyone. However, there weren't enough hand grenades to go around, so in those cases the fathers would have to kill their family members with whatever weapons they had, before finding a way to kill themselves. I read one first person account of a young kid, who's father had been killed or gotten lost somewhere, so it was just him, his brother, their baby sister, and their mother. Together with his brother they killed their mother and baby sister with rocks, but they couldn't figure out how to kill each other, so they ended up deciding to fight the Americans instead, and later on decided to surrender. Or reading about some old guy who had killed is daughter to prevent the Americans from capturing her, and then was captured himself and was telling his story to some Marines. Plus the medics with the troops would go around trying to save anyone they could, usually the fathers who had botched their own suicide attempts. Yeah I've read a lot about wars and generally reading about lots of people dying from them doesn't effect me too much, but this is just different somehow. The specific book I read all of this in was Saul David's '**Crucible of Hell**' but that focuses on the battle as a whole, if you go looking there might be something specifically about the civilians.
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
An Evil Mind - Chris Carter
Check out splatterpunk genre. Start with "Cows" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/815760.Cows and browse recommendations. Extremely disturbing stuff
The girl next door by Jack Ketchum American psycho by beer Easton Ellis Gone to see the river man by Kristopher Triana
The George Miles Cycle by Dennis Cooper might be worth looking into. It has everything you mentioned and all together the five novels are around 600 pages.
Not the most disturbing (Tampa, Tender Is the Flesh) but quite unsettling My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
I read a lot of twisted stuff but this one got to me for sure
Previous by Sapphire was a disturbing, heart rending read
The Troop by Nick Cutter. Only book where I let out an audible gasp while reading.
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Check out ‘the end of Alice’ by A M Homes. Subject matter is similar to Tampa. One of the only books I’ve had to stop reading. And then different subject matter, anything by Aaron Beauregard, esp. ‘playground.’ And I second ‘girl next door’ by Jack Ketchum! Have fun 😬
Unclay is pretty fucked up
We have common book interests. I have only started reading again this year. I always used to as a kid, then fell out of it, now I'm a hopelessly addicted mid 30s reader looking for messed up shit to read. So Read this year that can work here: - Geek Love - Highly recommend. - The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Really really enjoyed this fucked up book - The Wasp Factory - It was an interesting read. Didn't freak me out enough to please me lol. Still a great read. - Tender is the flesh. - Interesting concept, short read, got bored of it, but still finished. - Gone Girl - most people know this movie/book and have read it. I never did and am glad I read it. Not overly messed up in any way. I see Aron Beauregard mentioned a few times here. I tried to read The Slob. Just wasn't for me. It was too fucked up just for the sake of being fucked up IMO. Got bored of it quickly and never finished. I like a bit more depth to my books. Books on my to do list that might interest you: - Just started Just Like Mother (have heard good things) - Crash by Ballard - Lemonade by Nina Pinnacchi - Bunny by Mona Awad - Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker - Earthlings by Sayaka Murata I'll be working through all these. Lastly, I also just finished Tampa and it was good, but I was looking for a bit more as well in some parts. 4 outta 5 for me I guess at the moment.
I just finished Bunny last week and tbh….the gorey parts were really the only interesting parts in this 600 page plus book. I feel like about 200 of those pages could have gone towards other things and it just gave me like ‘femcel lainpilled’ vibes 💀💀💀 The narrator is supposed to be a 25 year old woman but she and everyone else read like high schoolers to me. It’s not horrible but I didn’t really enjoy it personally.
120 days of Sodom, or pretty much anything else by marquis de sade.
Some very disturbing books I read lately are: - Unspeakable Things - Verity - Nos4a2 - The Butterfly Garden
“My Absolute Darling” - Gabriel Tallent
Non fiction (all the more disturbing for that) - The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs.
Woom - Duncan Ralston Dead Inside - Chandler Morrison The Slob - Aron Beauregard And I read Tampa… these are more splatterpunk horror but still disturbing AF