Disturbing Books...

disturbingbooks @ 2008-07-12T12:47:00

2008-07-12T19:55:19Z

...Hi. I'm new to this community and I have a book to recommend.

"OUT" by Natsuo Kirino is a criminal fiction that I could not put down. It's really interesting and, yes, disturbing. The plot is in the suburb area of Tokyo and follows the lives of four women and other characters that they come across throughout the novel. I'll get down to it then; one of the women kills her husband and the others help chop him up and distribute him throughout the area.

I won't spoil it but I have to say that the story gets intense after the murder and more disturbing things (rape, more murder, torture, stalking, etc.) take place in the story. It also gives different views on life and why everyone is the way they are and how it's like being an outcast. I'll stop rambling now. It's really good. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

Here's the link --> http://www.amazon.com/Out-Novel-Natsuo-Kirino/dp/1400078377/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215892409&sr=8-1

Chuck Palahniuk - Choke (THE MOVIE!)

2008-06-09T01:34:04Z

It's coming!

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/choke/

Revisiting "Perfect Victim" and "Snuff". (...and a mention of "Choke"!)

2008-05-30T17:48:38Z

A long-overdue hello from your humble moderator! Gladdened as always to see our numbers a-risin' and the great recs coming our way (not to mention how good you guys are at helping people figure out the titles of books/stories for which they're hunting!). I've gotten our Memories section updated completely, so every title and author that's been mentioned here is now archived & hopefully easy to find. I've also made sure each entry is tagged, although if you've made an entry & you think I've missed an appropriate tag for the book, please do feel free to add whatever's missing!

I'm here not with a new rec, per se, but I thought these ones bore revisiting since I finally have copies of my own & can speak to their...disturbing-ness. (That should be a word, if it isn't already.)

Ages ago, my dear friend obvious told me that, among the most intensely disturbing books she'd ever read, "Perfect Victim: The True Story Of The Girl In The Box" was at the top. I finally followed her advice and am six chapters in, so I wanted to make mention of it again for our newer members who might've missed the first post about it:

TITLE: PERFECT VICTIM: The True Story of "The Girl in the Box" by the D.A. That Prosecuted Her Captor
AUTHOR(s): Christine McGuire and Carla Norton
WHAT'S IT ABOUT? The first mention of it in our community sums it up very well; for more in-depth info, look behind the cut.

From Amazon.com:
Some may find it unbelievable that a 20-year-old Oregon woman could be enslaved by a sexual sadist for seven years--that even after being able to move freely during the day, she would allow him to lock her into a wooden box every night. Perhaps it's a minor failing of this book that the authors do not elaborate on the psychology that made her such a "perfect victim." In other respects, though, the story is well told, with an impressive accumulation of details: the woman's capture, the tortures she endured, the brainwashing techniques, the fiendish contraptions her captor constructed, the slave contract he made her sign, and the increasingly strained relations within the peculiar family that included master, slave, wife, and child, all inside a single-wide trailer. As well-known attorney and author Vincent Bugliosi writes, "A gripping and disturbing story of the secret life of apparently normal people. At once, horrific and engrossing."

From Publisher's Weekly:
Hitchhiking from Eugene, Ore., through northern California in 1977, 20-year-old Colleen Stan thumbed a ride into hell. Her kidnappers - a sadistic lumber mill worker, Cameron Hooker, and his battered wife Janice - subjected her to seven years of torture and sensory deprivation. She was made a sex slave, kept locked in a wooden box and brainwashed into believing that an underground network of sadists would recapture her if she attempted to escape. Did Colleen fall in love with Cameron and make herself a willing partner in a love triangle, as the Hookers' defense lawyer asserted? The jury found otherwise, convinced by the evidence marshalled by coauthor McGuire, state prosecutor in the case, a trial that journalist Norton attended in 1984. Not for the squeamish, this harrowing tale shuttles between the courtroom and the grisly doings in the Hookers' basement.

[the emphasis on "not for the squeamish" is mine; if it's bothering ME as much as it is, and I've only just hit chapter 6, I figure it's worth underscoring.]

For even more in-depth info about the case (and I would recommend you look into it before you decide to read this book, because it is very, very difficult to read), check out the Wikipedia article on Colleen Stan, the victim. Perhaps more helpful would be to read the entry about the case at TruTV.Com/CrimeLibrary.Com.

For those of you who've read it, does it get worse?? I've had to put it down only six chapters in, and that's not like me! But I'm curious to know how many of you got through it, and if you found it as...strangely suffocating to read as I'm finding it. NOT for the faint of heart.

My second re-recommendation is a predictable one from the likes of me!

TITLE: SNUFF
AUTHOR: Chuck Palahniuk
WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Oh, goodness. Where to begin?? The story is told from the perspective of four participants in what is meant to be the "swan song" of porno queen Cassie Wright - the biggest gang-bang ever filmed in history. Each chapter is narrated by one of these four characters: Sheila, the "talent wrangler" whose job it is to keep the 600 men waiting to go down (uh...so to speak) in infamy on celluloid with their ultimate fantasy woman; Mr. 72, a young fellow who seems to be more interested in saving Cassie Wright from this degrading last shot at fame; Mr. 137, a C-list TV star who seems more interested in getting Cassie's autograph on a stuffed animal (and possibly reviving his acting career) than actually having sex with her; and Mr. 600, who's had a very colourful past with Cassie, to say the least. All the book says on the back is this:

"Six hundred dudes. One porn queen. A world record for the ages. A must-have movie for every discerning collector of things erotic.

Didn't one of us on purpose set out to make a snuff film."

I whipped through this book in under 4 hours; I couldn't put it down. It's about as blackly funny as they come; the truly disturbing elements lie in some of the cold, hard realities about the adult film business, and the oppressively bleak backdrop Chuck paints for the reader as we watch these men waiting their turn in the Green Room. And then, of course, there's the knowledge that someone at this shoot has every intention of making it Cassie's last act - on film and in life. It's fascinating to watch things unfold and see just who that person (or perhaps "those people"?) might be - it looks obvious at some points, but in true Chuck form, he doesn't take you where you're expecting to go. But he certainly does take you WAY over the top.

From Amazon:
Cassie Wright, porn priestess, intends to cap her legendary career by breaking the world record for serial fornication. On camera. With six hundred men. Snuff unfolds from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, and Mr. 600, who await their turn on camera in a very crowded green room. This wild, lethally funny, and thoroughly researched novel brings the huge yet underacknowledged presence of pornography in contemporary life into the realm of literary fiction at last. Who else but Chuck Palahniuk would dare do such a thing? Who else could do it so well, so unflinchingly, and with such an incendiary (you might say) climax?

From Publishers Weekly:
Palahniuk's audacious ninth novel tells the story of Cassie Wright, an aging porn queen who intends to put an exclamation point on her career by having sex with 600 men in one day on film. The story begins with Mr. 600 — the pornosaur who introduced Cassie to the business — as he describes the other 599 actors awaiting their moment on screen. The perspective then shifts to Mr. 72, an adopted Midwestern 20-something who is one of the many young men claiming to be Cassie's long-lost son. Mr. 137, a has-been television star hoping to revive his career, wants to ask Cassie's hand in marriage so that the two can star in a reality TV show. But for a novel centered around a gargantuan gangbang, there's surprisingly little action; the small amount of narrative movement takes place backstage, where the characters attempt to get a sense of one another while waiting for their number to be called. There are sharp moments when Palahniuk compassionately and candidly examines the flesh-on-film industry, but mostly this reads like a cross between the Spice Channel and Days of Our Lives.

Needless to say, I disagree with Publishers Weekly. I thoroughly enjoyed every page, and the reactions they elicited from me (be that gagging or squealing in horror or giggling madly). It definitely deserves to be in this community; I can't imagine anyone being able to read the seriously gross and almost always perverted stuff that goes on between the covers without being disturbed by SOMETHING!

For some bonus material - like a truly bizarre video clip of Chuck chatting it up with "Cassie", as well as an audio interview with the author himself - check out the Amazon.Com product page. It's far from his best book, but for what it is - a quick and dirty read - I recommend it.

Oh, and for all you Chucky P fans out there who haven't seen it yet: the movie trailer for CHOKE is online! (CHOKE truly deserves its own entry; I'm sure one of us will post one in the near future, now that the film is upon us. If you want to be the one to do it, by all means, forge ahead!)

Help Finding a short story

2008-05-26T20:12:24Z

I don't know the title or the author.

It's a short story about this family driving in their car in either the 50's or 60's on this side road. They get into a car accident and these guys come upon them. The grandmother keeps talking about some murderer I believe is named "The Bandit". I tried punching it in on google and wiki but found nothing.

Help?

New here, blah blah blah

2008-05-14T23:50:14Z

Hola. Found this place through an interests search. I'll really read just about anything. Except for 1100+ page long fantasy epics or crappy romance novels. I'm especially fond of weird/surreal stuff (as you can probably guess from my username), so I guess that's why I decided to join.

Anyways, here's a novel I recently read for school, AKA the end of senior year.

TITLE: The God of Small Things
AUTHOR: Arundhati Roy
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?: From Wikipedia: "The story primarily takes place in a town named Ayemenem or Aymanam now part of Kottayam in Kerala state of India. The temporal setting shifts back and forth from 1969, when Rahel and Estha, a set of fraternal twins are 7 years old, to 1993, when the twins are reunited at age 31."

Cut for spoilers:

The cover looks all pretty and stuff, and you're think, 'oh, maybe it's heartwarming and a bit philosophical!' If you assume this, you are sorely, sorely mistaken. This book is chock full of disturbing things. It gets particularly cringe worthy when a man Estha buys a drink from a man, who then forces Estha to fondle his penis, which has such lovely descriptions as "The penis was soft and shriveled like an empty leather change purse." The rest doesn't get nearly as graphic, but progressively the author manages to put every last character you found the least bit sympathetic through all kinds of heartbreak and turmoil, most of which completely undeserved. The level of torture and psychological damage the cast goes through is almost enough to rival the last few episodes of Evangelion. If the climax doesn't make you want to kill yourself, then you'll probably be grossed out at the end by the incest scene.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the graphic stuff that disturbed me about this book. No, it was the fact that it shows just how cruel and spiteful people can be. So cruel, in fact, that not even children are immune to it. And yet you still feel sorry for all the characters who are cruel toward others. Yes, the characterization is that good. It's definitely the novel's strong point.

So really, it's a disturbing book, but rather than just because of gorey imagery, it's also because of level of abuse and horror the characters are put through. It's depressing enough to make The Great Gatsby look like a kid's book in comparison.

request

2008-05-13T14:09:37Z

I have a book that is disturbing me, but more in a way that I simply cannot remember the author or the name of the book. When I was a teen, I read a book about the holocaust. I am almost completely positive the book was fiction, and I remember the cover: I believe it was green, and it had a drawing of a camp and the prisoners were lined up in front of it, all in the uniform/shaved heads. The book would have been made sometime in the 1990's but might have been reproduced with a new cover.

The premise of the book, if I remember right, was a young girl going into a camp with her family, and it was the story of their life there with her siblings and watching various atrocities. I may be mistaken but I know the premise is roughly accurate, I just remember the cover vividly in my mind.

If anyone knows of a story similar to this or knows of the book I am looking for, ANY help would be super appreciated. I've searched my house and numerous websites and can't find it anywhere, and it is driving me mad.

note: it's not number the stars.

Edit: Book found, it was "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen.

William Faulkner.

2008-05-03T06:03:51Z

Has anyone else read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner? It was part of my required reading for Honors English this year, junior year. Normally, I'm quite a slacker and don't read the books assigned (generally, they're sort of boring, like The Natural), but this year, I read them all because most were simply amazing. Yet none of them had such an affect as As I Lay Dying. I mean, wow, this book is so haunting and absurd, it's just fantastic.

The novel follows the Bundren family on their quest to bury their mother. No cremation, no preservation, they're just lugging her corpse across the countryside in a wagon. These aren't spoilers, by the way - they're on the back of the book. :) My personal favorite character is Darl Bundren, the second oldest child - he had a depth I couldn't find in the others. Anyhoo, this book is set in the deep South, and it's somewhat hard to read, as anyone who's familar with Faulkner will know. But if you're into symbolism and you're up for a bit of a challenge, I highly, highly recommend it.

Now, the other book I've read by him, The Sound and the Fury, is even harder than As I Lay Dying. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it said scholars studied Quentin Compson's section, because it was so obscure and impossible to understand. Once again, though, if you want a challenge and love obscure symbolism, really, these books are amazing. :)

If you're craving more information, I'd suggest lookin' these two novels up on Wikipedia. Thanks for listening!

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

2008-04-20T17:56:05Z

Find it here.

I just finished reading this (it's 3am if that's any indication of how enthralling this novel is) and... wow. Just wow. DEVASTATING. I've gotta say, guys, this book is beyond chilling. By the time I reached the epilogue, I was shaking uncontrollably and bawling my eyes out. I know I tend to get pretty emotional over characters (who doesn't, right?) but, honestly, I don't think a novel has really had an impact like this novel has. It was really just an entirely different level of disturbing. I think the fact that it's based on real life events makes it that much more haunting.

Did anyone else have a strong reaction? What are your thoughts/feelings on the book? I'd think it's definitely not for someone who wants to continue wearing their rose coloured glasses haha =). But despite this, I still give it 5/5 stars, because any book that can stir that much emotion in a person deserves an applause. I'm so glad I read it.

Now to sit through the movie...

The Autobiography of Joe Shit the Ragman

2008-04-17T15:49:12Z

Hello!

Half of my recent novel, "The Autobiography of Joe Shit the Ragman" was written on yellow legal pads while I was homeless in the streets of LA.

You can read "The Autobiography of Joe Shit the Ragman" for free at

http://www.freewebs.com/donaldodonovan/index.htm

I was fortunate enough to get a sparkling review by a friend who read the manuscript. This will give you an idea of what the book is about.

The Autobiography of Joe Shit the Ragman

by Donald O’Donovan

Set against the backdrop of a crumbling civilization and orchestrated in the theater of homelessness, The Autobiography of Joe Shit the Ragman is a picaresque romp hammered out on a garbage can lid with a nine-inch stiletto.

The Autobiography, written from day to day as it was lived, chronicles Donald O’Donovan’s attempt (September 2005-May 2007) to quit writing for good. The book is, in and of itself, prima facie evidence of the failure of that attempt. In the opening line the picaro (that would be O’Donovan), a penny-a-word BDSM author, declares his intention to “crush the Demon of Creativity,” since he has no hope of getting his real work published and longs to pursue a “normal” life.

Although normal proves to be a distant shore for O’Donovan, he manages to keep his boat afloat by posing as a psychiatrist, busting suds at Mike’s Diner, doing some freelance plumbing, joining a demolition crew, making donuts and finally by serving a hitch as Frankenstein in a carnival joint called the Monster Mansion.

A loyal friend, Juan Tomás, who publishes an anarchist newspaper in Esperanto, La Voĉo de l’Popolo, gives O’Donovan some exposure at last when he prints the first section of O’Donovan’s book (this book) in his rag:

Kiel disbati la Demonon de kreivo? Ci tiu estas la problemo Mi estas luktado kun nun. Jacob luktita kun li angelo kaj gajn. Sed Jacob venis de de bona reputacio. Mia familio estis makulita kun frenezeco. ne miskomprenu min. Ili estis bonaj ovoj, almenau plejparte. Sed iuj estis iomete krakis.

“It loses something in the translation,” O’Donovan comments. “But it gains something too. A word like ‘frenezeco,’ for example. Frenezeco. What a gem!”

Following a disastrous love affair with a prostitute, O’Donovan, factored out of the human equation and homeless in the streets of LA, lands in a safe haven, the Belovodiah Cat Sanctuary near Studio City, where he spends his days with a kitchen strainer and a plastic bag, sifting through the litter boxes for “truffles.” Nursing a broken heart but comfortably ensconced as it were in the eye of the hurricane, he confidently declares that he has achieved his aim, that of crushing the Demon of Creativity.

“I think I can stop writing now. The Dybukk is a dying cockroach. The world has dissolved me like a wafer.”

But a letter arrives from his great friend Juan Tomás: “I know your type, Old Sport. The incurable Romantic. The woman must be far away, unattainable, completely beyond your reach. You need to be emotionally distraught, in despair, agonizing over a lost love. To you, that’s living!”

O’Donovan: “He’s right, Juan Tomás. He’s right about me. And it’s true, I do write better when I’m sad.”

And of course he begins scribbling again.

Tizanzia DeForrest-Gallant

http://www.freewebs.com/donaldodonovan/index.htm

Thanks for reading!

Donald O'Donovan

disturbingbooks @ 2008-04-16T01:40:00

2008-04-16T05:55:13Z

Hey everyone. Before I start babbling excitedly, I'd like to thank the maintainer, as well as everyone who posts in this wonderful community. I've checked out many of your recommendations and they definitely were a trip and a half.

I especially loved Kelly Braffett's Josie & Jack and confirm that recommendation for everyone. It's the type of book you eat up in one or two sittings and sit there stunned when it is over. I also read The End of Alice by AM Holmes but was unable to finish it. That book is something else indeed.

Now, a few recommendations of my own:

"'Diary' is written in the form of a coma diary, kept by Misty Tracy Wilmot, whose husband Peter lies in a coma after a failed suicide attempt. Shortly after the suicide, the phone calls begin. Peter was a contractor, and his customers are calling to complain that they've found the missing closets and rooms that disappeared after he worked on the house. Inside those rooms, Peter has scrawled vile and disturbing messages, some of them apparently meant for Misty. Misty gave up her dreams of being an artist and married the wealthy Peter only to end up working as a hotel maid on Waytansea Island as the family money slowly dried up. Now she's being threatened with lawsuits from dozens of homeowners. Her creepily possessive mother-in-law is offering advice that strikes her as both weird and unhelpful. 'Diary' documents her struggle to stay solvent and keep her child fed, clothed, housed and alive."

"Here are 13 daring and innovative tales dealing with "skinheads, x-ray patients, whores, lovers, fetishists, and other lost souls" who populate landscapes as diverse as ancient Babylon, India, and contemporary San Francisco. Part fiction, part reportage, these narratives are laced with a bleak and bitter humor, and portray a dazzling array of characters."

Enjoy!

Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald.

2008-04-16T03:13:28Z

Another entry from teh n00b! :D I love this place. I read way too much but I never get the chance to discuss what I'm reading, and you guys have been awesome to discuss books with :D So as suggested in my previous post, I figured I might as well blog about Fall On Your Knees.

Find it on Amazon here. You'll have to buy it used though. I couldn't find it in any local bookstores, but I did find it on the local bookstores' websites so that might be the way to go for you.

A sprawling saga about five generations of a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Fall on Your Knees is the impressive first fiction from Canadian playwright and actor Ann-Marie MacDonald. This epic tale of family history, family secrets, and music centers on four sisters and their relationships with each other and with their father. Set in the coal-mining communities of Nova Scotia in the early part of this century, the story also shifts to the battlefields of World War I and the jazz scene of New York City in the 1920s.

I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd post this excerpt I found here. The excerpt on Amazon doesn't do this novel justice.

Silent Pictures

THEY'RE ALL DEAD NOW.

Here's a picture of the town where they lived. New Waterford. It's a night bright with the moon. Imagine you are looking down from the height of a church steeple, onto the vivid gradations of light and shadow that make the picture. A small mining town near cutaway cliffs that curve over narrow rock beaches below, where the silver sea rolls and rolls, flattering the moon. Not many trees, thin grass. The silhouette of a colliery, iron tower against a slim pewter sky with cables and supports sloping at forty-five-degree angles to the ground. Railway tracks that stretch only a short distance from the base of a gorgeous high slant of glinting coal, toward an archway in the earth where the tracks slope in and down and disappear. And spreading away from the collieries and coal heaps are the peaked roofs of the miners' houses built row on row by the coal company. Company houses. Company town.

Look down over the street where they lived. Water Street. An avenue of packed dust and scattered stones that leads out past the edge of town to where the wide, keeling graveyard overlooks the ocean. That sighing sound is just the sea.

Here's a picture of their house as it was then. White, wood frame with the covered veranda. It's big compared to the miners' houses. There's a piano in the front room. In the back is the kitchen where Mumma died.

Here's a picture of her the day she died. She had a stroke while cleaning the oven. Which is how the doctor put it. Of course you can't see her face for the oven, but you can see where she had her stockings rolled down for housework and, although this is a black and white picture, her housedress actually is black since she was in mourning for Kathleen at the time, as well as Ambrose. You can't tell from this picture, but Mumma couldn't speak English very well. Mercedes found her like that, half in half out of the oven like the witch in Hansel and Gretel. What did she plan to cook that day? When Mumma died, all the eggs in the pantry went bad -- they must have because you could smell that sulphur smell all the way down Water Street.

So that's the house at 191 Water Street, New Waterford, Cape Breton Island, in the far eastern province of Nova Scotia, Canada. And that's Ma on the day she died, June 23, 1919.

Here's a picture of Daddy. He's not dead, he's asleep. You see that armchair he's in? That's the pale green wingback. His hair is braided. That's not an ethnic custom. They were only ethnic on Mumma's side. Those are braids that Lily put in his hair while he was asleep.

There are no pictures of Ambrose, there wasn't time for that. Here's a picture of his crib still warm.

Other Lily is in limbo. She lived a day, then died before she could be baptized, and went straight to limbo along with all the other unbaptized babies and the good heathens. They don't suffer, they just sort of hang there effortlessly and unaware. Jesus is known to have gone into limbo occasionally and taken a particularly good heathen out of it and up to heaven. So it is possible. Otherwise....That's why this picture of Other Lily is a white blank.

Don't worry. Ambrose was baptized.

Here's one of Mercedes. That opal rosary of hers was basically priceless. An opal rosary, can you imagine? She kept it pinned to the inside of her brassiere, over her heart, at all times when she wasn't using it. Partly for divine protection, partly out of the convenience of never being without the means to say a quick decade of the beads when the spirit moved her, which was often. Although, as Mercedes liked to point out, you can say the rosary with any objects at hand if you find yourself in need of a prayer but without your beads. For example, you can say it with pebbles or breadcrumbs. Frances wanted to know, could you say the rosary with cigarette butts? The answer was yes, if you're pure at heart. With mouse turds? With someone's freckles? The dots in a newspaper photograph of Harry Houdini? That's enough, Frances. In any case, this is a picture of Mercedes, holding her opal rosary, with one finger raised and pressed against her lips. She's saying, "Shshsh."

And this is Frances. But wait, she's not in it yet. This one is a moving picture. It was taken at night, behind the house. There's the creek, flowing black and shiny between its narrow banks. And there's the garden on the other side. Imagine you can hear the creek trickling. Like a girl telling a secret in a language so much like our own. A still night, a midnight clear. It's only fair to tell you that a neighbor once saw the dismembered image of his son in this creek, only to learn upon his arrival home for supper that his son had been crushed to death by a fall of stone in Number 12 Mine.

But tonight the surface of the creek is merely as Nature made it. And certainly it's odd but not at all supernatural to see the surface break, and a real live soaked and shivering girl rise up from the water and stare straight at us. Or at someone just behind us. Frances. What's she doing in the middle of the creek, in the middle of the night? And what's she hugging to her chest with her chicken-skinny arms? A dark wet bundle. Did it stir just now? What are you doing, Frances?

But even if she were to answer, we wouldn't know what she was saying, because, although this is a moving picture, it is also a silent one.

All the pictures of Kathleen were destroyed. All except one. And it's been put away.

Kathleen sang so beautifully that God wanted her to sing for Him in heaven with His choir of angels. So He took her.

So yes. I think it really paints a picture. The first time I read the above passage sent shivers down my spine. By reading the book all the things that don't make sense in the excerpt start to come together, and it really blows you away how twisted this family is. You'll be floored by the end; MacDonald really takes you for a ride as you struggle to piece together the small bits of info she throws at you.

Once again, incesty, so maybe not the book for you if you can't stomach that. And it's also subtly disturbing... it creeps up on you, I must admit. You don't quite realise what you're in for until you're nose to nose, and by then you can't back away. The father is especially.. *shudders*

-Christina

New member here, and The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan :)

2008-04-15T06:47:12Z

Hey guys, another newbie here. I'm ~~a bit of~~ a huge fan of the strange, the disturbing and the wacky (I'm apart of the Palahniuk cult, what do you expect?!) I'm also so excited about this community because it helped me find the Jersey Devil story! I read the short piece years and years ago in a magazine and it horrified me to death, but I've never been able to find it since and, annoyingly, I could never quite remember the ending of the story. Stupidly, it was also 3am when I found this comm the other night so... thanks for that, guys! No sleep for the stupid, haha!

Anyway, I wanted to bring to you Haunted by Palahniuk (my diehard favourite!), but I have a feeling it's already been heavily discussed on here ;) so insteaaaad I'll bring to you...

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan.

Because I suck at descriptions, I'll snag this from Amazon:
"In the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere of an old house, one of the few left standing in a London urban renewal area strewn with rubble, a family of four children, ranging in age from six to seventeen, try to survive on their own after the death of their father, first, and then, their mother. Because the three younger children will have to go into "care" if their mother's death is known, they dispose of her body themselves in the basement of their decaying house and carry on as if their parents are still alive."

I think I'd have to describe it as one of those subtly disturbing novels. The concept freaked me out the moment I heard it and I just had to read it. I think what makes this book so disturbing is the fact that these children are so convincing - they believe what they're doing is the right course of action, that burying their mother in a pile of cement is perfectly normal. I don't want to give anything away - although I'm pretty sure the amazon reviews already do - but this book is ~~slightly~~ very incestuous, as a warning in case you can't stomach that sort of thing.

It's also pretty short - you'll be able to finish it off in an afternoon, but it leaves such an impact on you. It ends on such a big BANG. There's also a movie which I haven't seen - if anyone has, please let me know what you think!

I'd love to know if anyone has read this. I haven't been able to convince anyone to read it and I'm dying to hear other people's thoughts.

Also, and since I'm here (LOL gotta love how I'm avoiding writing an essay by writing a mini one)... what are everyone's thoughts on incest in fiction? I personally find it unbelievably fascinating and disturbing all at once. It's such a huge car crash - you can't watch but you can't look away either. Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie Donald would be another disturbing incesty novel (I could write another review on this if anyone wants it?).

-Christina

The "Sleeping Beauty" books by A.N. Roquelaure (a.k.a. Anne Rice)

2008-04-05T02:12:51Z

I know that the Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice (under a pseudonym) is meant to be filed under "erotic", but while I like a little S&M just as much as the next girl (umm...TMI, there? Heh. Sorry.), I actually found these books to be kind of...upsetting. It could be just my ignorance of the true inner workings of a D/s relationship, so it might only count as "disturbing" to me, but I know that there were many, many scenes that made me feel very uncomfortable and have stuck with me for years.

I hope my posting this as "disturbing" doesn't offend anyone in a D/s relationship; I'm by no means condemning anything here at all! It's the content of the books, specifically - and perhaps the way Rice wrote them - that left me feeling unsettled and weirded out. I'm certainly far from the most knowledgable person on the planet about the dynamics of a legitimate D/s relationship, but the heavy emphasis of rape and extreme degradation and such in these books didn't feel properly representative to me at all.

I'll post a bit about each of the three books here, rather than lumping them all into one or doing three separate entries.

TITLE: The Claiming Of Sleeping Beauty
AUTHOR: Anne Rice (as A. N. Roquelaure)
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?: (quoted from Amazon) In the traditional folk tale "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire.

---

An erotic rendition of the traditional folktale integrates elements of sexual desire, as the Prince awakens Beauty with sexual initiation, rather than with a simple kiss.

TITLE: Beauty's Punishment
AUTHOR: Anne Rice (as A. N. Roquelaure)
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?: (from Amazon) An erotic novel of discipline, love, and surrender for the enjoyment of men and women.

This sequel to The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, the first of Anne Rice's elegantly written volumes of erotica, continues her explicit, teasing exploration of the psychology of human desire. Now Beauty, having indulged in a secret and forbidden infatuation with the rebellious slave Prince Tristan, is sent away from the Satyricon-like world of the Castle. Sold at auction, she will soon experience the tantalizing punishments of "the village," as her education in love, cruelty, dominance, submission, and tenderness is turned over to the brazenly handsome Captain of the Guard. And once again Rice's fabulous tale of pleasure and pain dares to explore the most primal and well-hidden desires of the human heart.

TITLE: Beauty's Release
AUTHOR: Anne Rice (as A. N. Roquelaure)
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?: (from Amazon) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty and Beauty's Punishment took readers and listeners only partway through Anne Rice's explicit, teasing exploration of the psychology of human desire. Now her elegantly written, erotically charged retelling of the Sleeping Beauty myth concludes, taking listeners through a doorway that leads to the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.

In Beauty's Release, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. As this voluptuous adult fairy tale moves toward conclusion, all Beauty's encounters with the myriad variations of sexual fantasy are presented in a sensuous, rich prose that intensifies this exquisite rendition of love's secret world, and makes the Beauty series an incomparable study of erotica.

---

Kidnapped by enemy soldiers, Beauty is sent across the sea to become a sexual slave in the exotic harem of a mysterious Sultan, in the erotic sequel to The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty and Beauty's Punishment.

It's been a lot of years since I read these, and (apparently unfortunately for me, since they now seem to be worth a small fortune) I no longer have them in my possession, as a friend who was a sub in her relationship at the time borrowed and never returned them. She did comment, however, on a few of the same things that disturbed me about the stories - the brutality of so much of it. After a point, at least for her and for me, the books stopped being erotic and started being kind of...stomach-turning.

I don't know; this could all be a very, VERY personal sort of opinion to have on the books. But being that I'm open to BDSM and have dabbled in the "fetish party" lifestyle here and there, and I have friends who live very happy and fulfilled lives as Doms or subs, I know that S&M and D/s relationships aren't at all a problem for me. There is something about these books in particular that has haunted me for nearly 10 years now.

Has anyone else here read these? Am I off the mark, or did you feel kind of squicked by the stories, too? etlafilledanse posted an entry a while back about "The Story Of O", and remarked on how it might not be disturbing to some but it definitely hits a nerve; I'm genuinely curious about how you guys feel about the Beauty series.

[A NOTE TO ALL: I should probably mention, too, in case anyone's thinking about tracking any of these books down, that there are particular things about it that might not sit well with everyone - bestiality, for one (which is why I felt it necessary to add the "animal cruelty" tag to the entry; some would consider that to count, after all), as well as ephebophilia - so if you have certain aversions to that sort of thing, these stories are decidedly NOT for you!]

Still on the subject of Chucky P....

2008-04-05T01:32:34Z

I'm sick in bed with a wicked case of strep throat, so I finally got 'round to properly adding the last few entries to our ever-growing Memories section. Thanks, guys, for coming up with ever more worthwhile reading material!

And yeah, I know not everyone here is a Chuck Palahniuk fan, and I know my icon shows my bias (hee), but I thought it was worth mentioning, for those who weren't already aware, that there's a second Chuck movie in the can already and a third in production. If you're a big movie buff as well as a fan of books, may I present to you Chuck's growing filmography:

"Fight Club" (the film)
"Choke" (the film)
"Invisible Monsters" (the film)

So...yay! I can't WAIT to see how they translate onto film!

I'm still holding out hope that the studio who optioned "Survivor: A Novel" (still my favourite of Chuck's books) will revive the project; it got shelved right after 9/11, for obvious reasons (it was "too controversial", it was said), but maybe enough time has passed...? (I mean, there really aren't any major similarities, other than it being about a guy wanting to crash a plane.)

And I will now set about making a proper entry that is actually about books and is NOT about Chuck. :)

[ETA: I thought I should mention, as Head Mod *rolls eyes at the pretentious title*, that you guys are a very interesting and diverse group, and I've really enjoyed all of your posts thus far. You never have to worry about "getting off topic" or posting something that you don't think is "disturbing enough"; I wouldn't ever delete that sort of thing! Just because it might not appeal to me doesn't mean that it won't be of interest to someone else in our growing community. So please do feel free to put up anything that YOU think is worth mentioning, whether it's a book/story itself or just something related or otherwise of interest to the community. It's your comm, too, so don't ever be shy to pipe up!]

I just wanted to say...

2008-04-04T16:41:03Z

I'm listening to an audio version of Chuck Palahniuk's Rant, and I'm enjoying it so far (up to chapter 4, I think), and I'm hoping that the characters will come together somehow... they're starting to, but I started out really confused. Is it easier to read, or listen to?

I'm going to be getting some of his other books in regular book form, and I just hope I can come up with time to read them. An hour commute each way gives me a lot of time to listen, though. I've gotten through so many books that way, and I love it!

Anyone else like the audiobooks? Is Chuck Palahniuk better in audio form or in book form?

Just looking for opinions:)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

2008-03-28T00:29:48Z

TITLE: The Giver
AUTHOR: Lois Lowry

I looked in the Memories and was very surprised when I didn't find this novel in there. A lot of my friends had to read this in High School - I didn't but I got along well with my 10th grade English teacher and we made a deal that she would read my favorite novel if I read hers; she handed me this novel.

7 years after originally reading it I came upon it in a discount/overstock store for $2.50 and grabbed it immediately. I re-read it and still feel that it is very powerful and definitely disturbing in the way that 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World are.

The Giver is a novel written by Lois Lowry and published on April 16, 1993. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian; therefore, it could be considered anti-utopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. Jonas' society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a plan which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor—-the "Giver"-—he discovers how shallow his community's life has become.

-Wikipedia

In reference to "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

2008-03-20T02:39:36Z

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson was mentioned in October HERE and HERE - if you're not familar with the short story or the short film then this won't make much sense...

Usually South Park is very hit or miss for me - either I think the episode is hilarious and clever or I think it's just flat out disgusting and stupid; this episode left me chilled...

The episode used the paparazzi's obsession with Britney Spears and tied that in with a weird twist taken right from "The Lottery" - this may sound odd but I've never felt this sickened and upset from watching this show. I almost cried at a few points - it's hard to explain.

Just thought I'd share because it relates to how distrubing the original story by Shirley Jackson is - if this doesn't really belong I won't be offended if it gets deleted.

To all you writers out there...

2008-03-19T15:22:57Z

prettyh said that it would be okay if I posted this here...

My friend raincollector and I have started a community for writers who would like to be able to get honest feedback on their work. Writers of all skill levels are welcome. Come on over to killer_fiction and check it out.

disturbingbooks @ 2008-03-11T09:33:00

2008-03-11T13:37:53Z

Title: Battle Royale
Author: Koushun Takami
What it's about: Kids are forced to kill one another for a reality program, The Game. It's gruesome and awesome. There's a movie, book and graphic novel, but I'm going to recommend the graphic novel, since it spares nothing in its imagery. There's squashed kitty brains, frightening drowing people, really weird sexual content and lots and lots of murder.

Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death

2008-03-02T18:34:35Z

Oooh, two posts in one day! Thanks to my well-read friend, I'm now armed with the details of the book about death etc. that I just mentioned in the last entry. And it sounds good.

TITLE: Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death
AUTHOR: Katherine Ramsland
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?: Having not read it myself yet (but you'd better believe I will - after how creeped out I was by "Body Brokers", I think this is right up my alley, and some of yours, too), I shall just go with what's on the Amazon page:

From Publishers Weekly:
The recent success of HBO's funeral home comedy Six Feet Under proves the power of the macabre over public imagination. "[A]mused, disturbed, and delighted by the range of human behavior surrounding the subject of death," Ramsland (Ghost, Forecasts, Aug. 20; etc.) undertook a pop-anthropological survey of "cemetery culture" by interviewing graveyard caretakers, "death-care" consultants, funeral directors, grave diggers, monument dealers and mortuary assistants. This rambling, anecdotal account traces burial traditions such as embalming, cremation (30% of all funerals), corpse preparation, restorative techniques, cadaver cosmetics and unconventional funerals like the one attended by the deceased's fellow nudists. At Houston's National Museum of Funeral History and the annual National Funeral Directors Association's convention, Ramsland, a Rutgers professor, learns about mortuary schools and entrepreneurial schemes like hologram tombstones, the $65,000 mummification procedure and cemetery kiosks with touch-screen biographies of the deceased. Along with instructions on gravestone rubbing, artistic grave markers and unusual epitaphs, the book introduces "taphophiles," who visit cemeteries as a hobby. The book's closing section recounts ghastly tales of ghouls, corpse abuse, necrophilia and people buried alive, and fascinating interviews with people who grew up in funeral homes. Although it's "the corpseless soul that inspires the most fear," those with weak stomachs might want to skip the graphic description of autopsy procedures, botched reinterments and adipocere ("body cheese"). A bibliography and list of Web sites provide further resources. (Oct.) Forecast: This should see a brief spike in sales at Halloween (aided by promotion at Grim Rides, an elegant online bookstore specializing in death-related volumes [www.geocities.com/grimrides].

And now for the Book Description:

Never look at a grave the same way again.

Admit it: You're fascinated by cemeteries. We all die, and for most of us, a cemetery is our final resting place. But how many people really know what goes on inside, around, and beyond them?

Enter the world of the dead as Katherine Ramsland talks to mortuary assistants, gravediggers, funeral home owners, and more, and find out about:
Stitching and cosmetic secrets used on mutilated bodies
Embalmers who do more than just embalm
The rising popularity of cremation art
Ghosts that infest graveyards everywhere

If you've ever scoffed at the high price of burying the dead, or ever wondered how your loved ones are handled when they die, or simply stared at tombstones with morbid fascination, then take a trip with Katherine Ramsland and learn about the booming industry -- and strange tales -- that surround cemeteries everywhere.

There are excerpts available on Amazon, so go browse. I hit "surprise me!" and got page 63, and...eugh. *shudder* Apparently there's quite a bit in the way of necrophilia, as well as (according to one reviewer, who warns that no child should ever see this book on a coffee table) various other creative ways people abuse corpses. I can scarcely imagine.

Also, that website they mention sounds promising: [www.geocities.com/grimrides]

Enjoy, my morbid friends!

Chuck Palahniuk & Jack Ketchum news

2008-03-02T17:56:40Z

Long time no post! Apologies for that - I'm a bad mod.

Two - no, actually, THREE - things of note:

1) For my fellow Chuck Palahniuk fans, there's a new and twisted book on the horizon! In case you hadn't yet heard, "SNUFF" will be released on May 20th, 2008! Here's the description we have so far:

"Six hundred dudes. One porn queen. A world record for the ages. A must-have movie for every discerning collector of things erotic."

"Didn't one of us on purpose set out to make a snuff movie."

Cassie Wright, porn priestess, intends to cap her legendary career by breaking the world record for serial fornication. On camera. With six hundred men. SNUFF unfolds from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, and Mr. 600, who await their turn on camera in a very crowded green room. This wild, lethally funny, and thoroughly researched novel brings the huge yet underacknowledged presence of pornography in contemporary life into the realm of literary fiction at last. Who else but Chuck Palahniuk would dare do such a thing? Who else could do it so well, so unflinchingly, and with such an incendiary (you might say) climax?

Also important to know is that, if you want Chuck to inscribe your copy personally, you can contact his favourite store, St. Helens Book Shop (near Portland, OR), as he'll be stopping by in May to sign copies of "SNUFF" as well as his other works. I've dealt with St. Helens many times to get gifts for friends, and they're wonderful, so I would highly recommend any hardcore Chuck fans to go through them...especially if it means getting a personalized copy of your favourite book from him! The cost is $26.95 US, which is actually pretty bloody amazing considering it'll be a first edition that you can keep forever with a note from Chuck inside the cover! (He sent me a copy of "HAUNTED" for my birthday 2 years ago & it was a fantastic surprise to read his birthday wishes to me inside.)

You also might want to check out this short video clip of a speech from Chuck, about the origins for "SNUFF", but I warn you, it gives away some plot details you might prefer not to know ahead of time, AND it's NSFW! (for expletives)

2) On a related note, I'm currently reading a book that's been mentioned here before: "THE GIRL NEXT DOOR" by Jack Ketchum. Yes, it really is as unsettling as our fellow members have warned us it would be. For those who are interested, there's actually an interview with Jack Ketchum on Chuck Palahniuk's website, where it is also revealed that we can expect a newly revised short story collection from him on March 4th, 2008: "BROKEN ON THE WHEEL OF SEX". If anyone here has read it already (or if you know anything about Lucky McKee's film adaptation of Ketchum's book "RED"), we'd love it if you made a separate post about it!

Also, I know xterminal knows more about the film adaptation of "THE GIRL NEXT DOOR" than I do, so I'll defer to him to fill in the blanks. I haven't seen it, nor can I recall if it's under a different title... Help?

3) There's a recommendation I'd LIKE to make, ~~but the friend who's read the book in question has yet to tell me who wrote it OR what the title is! Gah! So I'm sending you guys on a hunt.~~ She says it's easily the most disturbing thing she's ever read, but all she's told me so far is that it's a book about death/dying and different death practices (presumably some about the Tibetan Sky Burial ritual, as that's how we got to talking about it...but if not, you should look that up, too, if you're interested in that sort of thing...and if there are in fact books about it!), and that it's written by the same person who has apparently written a sort of encyclopedia/unofficial guide/lexicon kind of thing for Anne Rice's works. Does this ring a bell for anyone?? If so, PLEASE post about it!! I haven't turned anything up, and I don't doubt it would make a great addition to our list here.

ETA: My dear friend just emailed me the info - I shall make a separate post about it now!

That's all from me. Now get out there & start ~~hunting/~~reading/posting!

Roald Dahl Omnibus

2008-01-29T12:32:45Z

This collection came up some time ago here, and I've been meaning to post it separately since then. Anyway, I found my copy the other day, which has prompted me to post this.

Title: Omnibus - Kiss Kiss, Someone Like You, Switch Bitch, Over to You, Four Tales of the Unexpected, and My Uncle Oswald.
Author: Roald Dahl
About? A collection of short stories. Some of them surreal, some of them cruel, some darkly funny, but all disturbing in their own way. This is quite a large collection, so it is difficult to summarise. We have murder, intrigue, revenge, manipulation, animal and human cruelty, crazy schemes and inventions, ethically dubious practices of sperm harvesting, infidelity, despair, war stories, reincarnated classical composers and the story that inspired my long-time suspicion of rabbits. And that's not even scratching the surface.

Some Amazon reviews here.

I also want to include a picture of my copy (which I now see may actually have been worth something if not for...well, you'll see.) My brother's dog came across it one day, had a few bites of it, and the results were... amusing.

First post - Uzumaki (Spiral Into Horror)

2008-01-27T23:38:29Z

Hello there, I'm still fairly new to this community, so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I hope we're allowed to also suggest Japanese manga (graphic novels), because that is what I bring today.

Title: Uzumaki - Spiral into Horror
Author: Junji Ito
What it's about: From the back of the first volume - Kurozu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral - the hypnotic secret shape of the world. It manifests itself in everything from seashells and whirlpools in water to the spiral marks on people's bodies, the insane obessions of Shuichi's father and the voice from the cochlea in our inner ear. As the madness spreads, the inhabitants of Kurozu-cho are pulled ever deeper into a whirlpool of no return!

There are three volumes that I know of, and I am in possession of the first two.

Now, as a girl who read Chuck Palahniuk while she was still in elementary school, things stopped disturbing me at a very early age. But this has definitely done it. I am currently 60 pages into the first volume and several times I have had to close the book and put it down for fear that I really would vomit. Unfortunately, it has me so riveted that I just as soon pick it back up and continue reading against my better judgement. In a word, it's grotesque, though not exactly in the gory type of way. But definitely not for those with weak stomachs.

New to the Community.

2008-01-26T05:24:34Z

I hope I'm doing this right, lol. But if not I'm very sorry.Well I'm new to this Community and Livejournal, so Please say hello. But anyways I'm so glad I came apon this Community I am a huge Horror movie and Book fan. I've read so many that I kinda lost count and forget what I read sometimes. But lets skip all that and go onto a book that I really enjoyed to the point where I have read it over and over again. Its by the author http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/
She's is truely amazing but if your not into Sexual books than you might wanna stay away from all of her's.

The book is Calling The http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Anita/TheHarlequin.html Harlequin.And below is the plot of the book.

Anita blake is about to face the challenge of her life. Into her world--a world already overflowing with power--have come creatures so feared that powerful, centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names. It is forbidden to speak of The Harlequin unless you've been contacted. And to be contacted by The Harlequin can mean three things. It can mean that they're watching, or that they're tormenting, or that they're going to kill you. The Harlequin belong to Marmee Noire, the Mother of Darkness, a figure so old, it's not known whether she's a vampire or a lycanthrope or something else.

Long-time rivals for Anita's affections, Jean-Claude Master Vampire of the City, and Richard Zeeman, Ulfric of the local werewolf pack, will need to become allies. Wereleopards Nathaniel and Micah will have to step up their support. And then there's Edward. In this situation, Anita knows that she needs to call the one man who has always been there for her, but he responds in a way that she didn't anticipate.

Its a very amazing book.And I can't wait to see what everyone thinks about it and what not.

The "Maus" books

2008-01-10T22:12:48Z

Hot on the heels of my last post, and having mentioned/recommended it in the comments, I thought the "MAUS" books deserved a post of their own. I studied them extensively in some history classes in university, and it was the first time I'd ever seen graphic novels put across such a heartbreaking story in such an effective way. I'd guess I took that class about 11 years ago, and yet I still think about Art Spiegelman's story often. I'm not trying to steer things toward a Holocaust theme or anything; it just happens that these books keep reminding me of yet another distressing memoir or account of Nazi Germany.

TITLE:

AUTHOR: Art Spiegelman
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Spiegelman has turned his family's history in the concentration camps into a very clever, and very moving, set of graphic novels.

From Amazon.Com:
Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Therefore, as it recedes and the people able to bear witness die, it becomes more and more essential that novel, vigorous methods are used to describe the indescribable. Examined in these terms, Art Spiegelman's Maus is a tremendous achievement, from a historical perspective as well as an artistic one.

Spiegelman, a stalwart of the underground comics scene of the 1960s and '70s, interviewed his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor living outside New York City, about his experiences. The artist then deftly translated that story into a graphic novel. By portraying a true story of the Holocaust in comic form--the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs, the French frogs, and the Americans dogs--Spiegelman compels the reader to imagine the action, to fill in the blanks that are so often shied away from. Reading Maus, you are forced to examine the Holocaust anew.

This is neither easy nor pleasant. However, Vladek Spiegelman and his wife Anna are resourceful heroes, and enough acts of kindness and decency appear in the tale to spur the reader onward (we also know that the protagonists survive, else reading would be too painful). This first volume introduces Vladek as a happy young man on the make in pre-war Poland. With outside events growing ever more ominous, we watch his marriage to Anna, his enlistment in the Polish army after the outbreak of hostilities, his and Anna's life in the ghetto, and then their flight into hiding as the Final Solution is put into effect. The ending is stark and terrible, but the worst is yet to come--in the second volume of this Pulitzer Prize-winning set. --Michael Gerber

From School Library Journal:
YA Told with chilling realism in an unusual comic-book format, this is more than a tale of surviving the Holocaust. Spiegelman relates the effect of those events on the survivors' later years and upon the lives of the following generation. Each scene opens at the elder Spiegelman's home in Rego Park, N.Y. Art, who was born after the war, is visiting his father, Vladek, to record his experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland. The Nazis, portrayed as cats, gradually introduce increasingly repressive measures, until the Jews, drawn as mice, are systematically hunted and herded toward the Final Solution. Vladek saves himself and his wife by a combination of luck and wits, all the time enduring the torment of hunted outcast. The other theme of this book is Art's troubled adjustment to life as he, too, bears the burden of his parents' experiences. This is a complex book. It relates events which young adults, as the future architects of society, must confront, and their interest is sure to be caught by the skillful graphics and suspenseful unfolding of the story. --Rita G. Keeler, St. John's School, Houston</i>

It's quite haunting to see how carefully Speigelman picked out which animals would - perhaps satirically - represent which ethnicities; obviously he has his family, Polish Jews, drawn as mice (the Nazis are cats). There's a more complete study of the meanings behind the drawings at Wikipedia, but I think the most effective way to take it all in is to get your hands on a copy of these books ASAP and marvel at the unique way one man has of telling a story that has, tragically, been told too many times before.

I still think of Vladek and Anja to this day.

[a couple of excerpts now in comments.]