exactly as the title says! I love books with themes of body horror, depravity, derangement, and sometimes just general weird and unsettling vibes. Some of my recent favorites include:
- My Husband (Maud Ventura)
- Diary of a Void (Emi Yagi)
- Milkfed (Melissa Broder)
- Boy Parts (Eliza Clark)
- Almond (Won-pyung Sohn)
- The Premonition (Banana Yoshimoto)
- I LOVED Earthlings (Sayaka Murata)
- Convenience Store Woman (Sayaka Murata)
- Yellowface (R.F. Kuang)
- Tender is the Flesh (Agustina Bazterrica)
Books I did not enjoy:
– A Good Happy Girl (Marissa Higgins)
– Big Swiss (Jean Beagin)
– Heaven (Mieko Kawakami)
– Patricia Wants to Cuddle (Samantha Leigh Allen)
Thanks in advance!
by Subject_Tadpole5408
20 Comments
The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim! It is very gross, but I would say the horror elements are more slow burn, but once it gets going it is a RIDE
The Vegetarian
You want Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
A female MC, with some Patrick Bateman vibes. Also should hit on all the deranged, gory depravity you’re looking for.
Highly recommend Leech by Hiron Ennes! Gothic setting with plenty of body horror to go around.
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland fits the description down to the body horror. It’s creepy, mysterious and engrossing at the same time.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
*Base Notes*, by Lara Elena Donnelly
In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, maybe?
Stephen King’s Misery
Chuck Palahniuk’s entire oeuvre
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey
Dweller on the Threshold by Skyla Dawn Cameron
The September House by Carissa Orlando
Anything by Richard laymon
The Vegetarian and NightBitch
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder for derangement.
Also LOVED Earthlings. Have you read her short story, Life Ceremony?
This is my absolute favorite genre of books! I’d add on You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, it’s very surreal and bizarre and has a lot of that sense of alienation from your own body and life throughout it. Ottesha Moshfegh is great too, I’d start with My Year of Rest and Relaxation or her short story collection Homesick for another world.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
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Ice by Anna Kavan