Darkest book you've ever read

House of Leaves

Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading it because of the challenge it presented (anyone who has read it knows what I mean).

Many areas of the book were stimulating, but when it came to the actual main characters, I felt they were mostly lost souls.

Who else out there has read this?

Zola's Nana--which is just as bleak as Crime and Punishment--and the Russians can be very bleak.

I read "House of Leaves" and I agree with your assesment of it, Chai Tea.

I'm picking up a copy of "The Historian" today - it promises to be pretty dark.

By far the darkest book I ever read was the one with the "word a day" killer. It was not a mystery or a thriller, not at all, and I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me right now. I know that I can't hear someone sing "Did you ever see a lassie swing this way and that way" without getting the shivers.

"The End of Alice" was another very creepy book.

I went to search it out -- it's called "Dear Mr. Capote" by Gordon Lish. A very disturbing book.

Oh - another dark and depressing book is by that young man TJ LeRoy - The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.

He had an absolutely HORRIBLE childhood, it's a wonder he hasn't killed himself.

I understand that many under 25ers are really impressed by him, almost like a cult following.

Looking at it from the prospective of a 46 year old - after a while it was just more abuse stories piled on top of more abuse stories - You got immune after a while - which is what TJ did to get through it all.

I don't know though - just too much without much of a recovery for him. I mean, I know this is real life, but this guy is going to need a lot more therapy, for many many years.
I'm not sure he at a place where he can really try to make himself whole.

Ok, I'm rambling.

God - Another one - Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs - It actually has a really dark humor - but again, after a while, you think, OK, what next, what other perverse thing is going to happen.

jeez - reading this it sound like I read an awful lot about sexual deviants.

I'm just VERY eclectic

Divine Comedy by Dante

I don't know about an entire book. I usually don't read to many that are on that sort but there are parts of Dennis LeHane's "Darkness Take My Hand" that are about as bleak as it can get.

"I dreamed once that I was stranded on a planet of the whitest sand. And the sky was white. That was all there was - Me, spilling drifts of white sand as wide as oceans, and a burning white sky. I was alone and small. After days of wandering I could smell my own rot, and I knew I'd die in these drifts of white under a hot sky, and I prayed for shade. And eventualy it came and it had a name. "Come" Darkness said, "come with me." but I was weak, I was rotting, I couldn't rise to my knees. "Darkness" I said, "take my hand. Take me away from this place." And Darkness did."

The Bible

The Martian Chronicles, Brave New World.

It's interesting that these two books are sci-fi.

Ray: There's a lot that's dark about The Martian Chronicles, but it ends with a glimmer of hope as the last remaining humans accept their new identity as Martians. Brave New World also, but I'm surprised 1984 didn't top the list. Not only does it portray a dark and hopeless world, but its main character, after learning the truth and rebelling against it, is made to 'learn' and internalize the 'reality' of Big Brother.

I'd probably go with A Farewell to Arms. Although Hemingway wrote about "grace under pressure", the general mood of the entire book is pretty bleak. It's definitely the most depressing ending I've ever come accross.

Probably "The Painted Bird," by Jerzy Kozinski (if I remember right). Loosely (or not-so-loosely) based on his experiences as a wandering lone child in Poland during WWII. Pretty damn grim.



Nowhere near the darkest, but surprisingly grim and cynical, especially toward the end: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Shocked, I was; as a schoolkid, we, um, didn't exactly get the whole story...

Ahh, you reminded me of Night by Elie Wiesel.

patiodog--

I agree on The Painted Bird. It is grim--but necessary--reading.

...perfect for a bright summer afternoon...

Some crossover content here:

Disturbing Books

"Le parfum" (The perfume ?)-Süskind
"La vie devant soi"-Romain Gary
"Germinal" -Zola
(Sorry, I don't know the english titles )

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward was bleak for me.

I haven't read 1984 yet... I've been told repeatedly that it's frustrating.

I was unaware that there's a glimmer of hope at the end of a Brave New World... The thing that disturbs me the most was near the end where the savage kept whipping himself and then all the other people was looking at him and imitating him...