Disturbing books.

[bailo]

I just read The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe and it was both the most twisted, dark, and insane book I've read in years and one of the best. Really really good and really demented.

[Hank Stamper]

Ginger Man by i forget what's his name

jp donleavy...

[GX4146]

jp donleavy...

yep thanks

[Mag Master 21]

I hear American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis) has what you're looking for, although I must confess that I still haven't read it.

Drop what you're reading now and pick this up...

It is genius.

[Chrysanthus]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I've decided to go with these as they appeal to me the most.

Notes from the Underground, Dostoyevsky.
Therese Raquin, Émile Zola.
The Art of Murder, José Carlos Somoza.
Uncle Silas, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

[mono]

Crime.
And.
Pun.
Ish.
Ment.

Hear, hear! Somewhat gorey, but very psychologically disturbing!
This thread has had a lot of good suggestions; I would further recommend The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (quite possibly the most unsettling thing I have ever read, ironically written by a devout Jesuit), 'Titus Andronicus' by William Shakespeare (yes, even the Bard can whip up some crazy plots!), almost anything by Chuck Palahniuk or H.P. Lovecraft, and Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley.

I almost forgot to mention Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs - a must read for the deep, dark, twisted, violent insanity literature fan.

[Mag Master 21]

I still don't think anyone can match Ellis's insanity... The other recommendations I've seen mentioned don't even come close.

[DisPater]

Elfriede Jelinek - Die Klavierspielerin (The Piano Teacher)

[Bitterfly]

Oh yes, she's disturbing enough! I've read Lust, as well as another one by her, and her writing is often shocking stuff. I wonder whether she isn't a little bit disturbed, actually.

[Mariamosis]

Howard P. Lovecraft.

Although I have barely begun "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories", I hear that it is pretty intense.

[Behemoth]

I tend to divide between "good weird" and "bad weird" when it comes to my books:

Good Weird: anything by Haruki Murakami, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Scarlett Thomas' The End of Mr Y.

Bad Weird: anything by Joyce (!) sorry Joyce fans, and I also had real trouble with Toni Morrison's Beloved, just couldn't work it out at all...

[Wilde woman]

Very interesting topic.

Cosmicomiche by Italo Calvino. It was the first real piece of literature I read in Italian, which made it even weirder.

"The Hunger Artist" by Kafka. I read it for class and was left thinking, damn - that was WEIRD. To me, it was even more bizarre than Metamorphosis.

"The Statement of Randolph Carter" by H.P. Lovecraft. Scared me witless.

Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel.

I loved this book! The magical realism was crafted really well, so I didn't find too ludicrous.

[amb]

At page 49 right now, another vote for Finnegans Wake.

Then The Troika by Stepan Chapman, and Erickson's Days Between Stations.

[bounty]

i say ditto on the hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy. also, the first couple of books in the cs lewis space trilogy (have not read the third), out of the silent planet, and perelandra, were sorta "out there."

[windowfriend]

Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

I felt like squirming the whole time I was reading it. Interesting...but weird.