Novels that alter your mental state

There are plenty of works that incorporate the psychological aspect of human behavior as a dominant theme, but what I'm wondering is have any of you read something that made you question you sanity? A work that after you put it down you seem to develop a tormenting fear of your own thoughts. I don't think I'm throughly insane, however after reading The Blind Owl by Hedayat I am questioning things a bit more. So like I said I'm curious to see if any of you guys know what I'm talking about and if so what book evoked those thoughts and what aspect of the book influenced this sort of thinking?

After reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman I seriously had to question patriarchal notions of the female role- particularly those of wife and mother. As a mother, it actually made me question my attitude to maternal "instinct".

Crime and Punishment was excellent but really bothered me, because I have a similar "if I can think it I can do it" outlook on life... and while I would never do something like Raskolnikov it did make me question what I was capable of at the time.

I know that killing oneself is forbidden in religions, but after reading Lord Jim I didn't understand why he should have thrown himself into the sea and die with the people who were onboard the ship.

Novels do not influence my thinking. I love to read the classics, but they do not influence my life decisions.

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Originally Posted by Katy North

Crime and Punishment was excellent but really bothered me, because I have a similar "if I can think it I can do it" outlook on life... and while I would never do something like Raskolnikov it did make me question what I was capable of at the time.

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I felt the same when I read it. I couldn't put it down because I felt that I owed it total devotion.

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Originally Posted by NisreenS

I know that killing oneself is forbidden in religions, but after reading Lord Jim I didn't understand why he should have thrown himself into the sea and die with the people who were onboard the ship.

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Because Conrad wrote it.

"American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis. I loved it, however I must not praise it anymore in order to punish it for turning me the way I am. (see signature)

I can totally why The Yellow Wallpaper would make you feel that, her frantic narrative style really does make start thinking in a frantic way and I loved Crime and Punishment, it's my favorite piece of literature, it had a very similar effect on me as well.

Anything by Dostoyevsky. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he really knows how to get into the mind of a reader. Whilst reading Crime and Punishment, I began having dreams that I was Raskilnikov and that I was killing a pawnbroker :eek:

I might say Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I felt revolted by it the first time I read it. And angry. Later on I found I had to go back to it and realised how good the writing was and how funny it was at times. But it was the follow-up, The Soft Machine, that really made me feel nuts because that was where Burroughs started using the cut-up technique.

I know it is a biography and not a novel per se, but Into the Wild rocked me at my core.

Existential literature is always very though provoking I find. Dostoesvky first and foremost, then Nausea by Sartre and The Stranger by Camus.

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Originally Posted by Katy North

Crime and Punishment was excellent but really bothered me, because I have a similar "if I can think it I can do it" outlook on life... and while I would never do something like Raskolnikov it did make me question what I was capable of at the time.

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^ What I was going to say. Only Dostoyevsky comes to my mind.

Anything by Borges.