Any genre is fine. To give you an idea of what kind of books I like and have read more than once because I enjoyed them so much:
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* **Beauty is a Wound** by Eka Kurniawan. (no need to suggest **100 Years** though, as that’s already on my TBR list)
* **Dear Senthuran** by Akwaeke Emezi. I love how their dependency and relationship with The Magician was written, despite it being so toxic
* **The** **Women of Brewster Place** and **Mama Day** by Gloria Naylor. With both books, I couldn’t help but read with wide-eyes, thinking “*wtf is happening right now*?” The former due to the >!rape, murder with the brick, and the breaking down the brick wall !<scenes, and the latter due to the description of psychosis.
* **Paradise** by Toni Morrison. The disturbing part (for me) was the persecution of the cult of women, the groupthink and us-vs-them elements, all of which caused tension and suspense.
I have some bookstore coupons I need to use soon, so ***please***, *the more suggestions, the better*. Doesn’t have to fit perfectly with the books I listed. If fits the title (disturbing yet literary), I want to know it. Thank you for any suggestions!
by Low-Appointment-2906
9 Comments
The Vegetarian by Han Kang.
Tender is the Flesh
Girl Interrupted
Revolutionary Road
{{A Little Life}}
{{My Dark Vanessa}}
Betty by Tiffany MacDaniel
*Her Body and Other Parties* by Carmen Maria Machado is a body horror short story collection full of vivid and hallucinatory tales about metamorphosis, pain, sex, memory, and the female form. Beautiful and descriptive in ways I hadn’t seen before, the writing is really something special here.
*The Wasp Factory* is one of the “best” books in the transgressive fiction landscape. It’s from the viewpoint of someone who is clearly quite troubled.
*The Last House On Needless Street* is a great horror book with multiple POVs that keep you guessing through this short read. It has some very bizarre moments that all become linked in a satisfying way by the ending.
*Follow Me to Ground* by Sue Rainsford is a creepy but poetic novella. A bit disturbing, but in a medical sense. I loved this little book and couldn’t put it down.
*Earthlings* is a strange and depressing story about a young girl who believes she is an alien. She forms a romantic connection with her young cousin who also plays along with the game. After they are discovered together, our MC’s life heads downhill fast. Verbal, physical, sexual abuse sculpts a now grown woman who seeks shelter in the idea that she is not of this world. Let’s just say the last 20 pages are not for the weak of heart.
*Monstrilio* by Gerardo Samano Cordova is an absolutely charming and strange work of weird fiction. Starts with the story of a young woman whose son has died. She removes his lung and keeps a piece. The story follows the unusual story of what happens next and then changes perspective to her best friend, her husband, and then…. The lung.
*House Of Cotton* is a moody and poetic Southern Gothic book. A young woman stumbles into a get rich scheme that involves her dressing like a missing girl to allow the living to grieve. People seem to hate this unbelievable plot, but if you can put this aside it’s an absolutely fascinating character study. Tack on a creepy ghost of her dead Grandma and you’ve got a atmospheric and trippy book that won’t let you go.
Blood Meridian
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, Bunny by Mona Award, When We Were Villains by ML Rio, or Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield