Dark, disturbing, and transgressive fiction
I have to admit that I am not entirely comfortable publishing this list. It’s not that I think any of the included books are so repulsive or distressing that they should never be mentioned; rather, I feel weird seeing them all grouped together under one heading. The implication is that these books are worth reading because they are disturbing, and not because of some other qualities. It all seems a little tasteless and juvenile; but the truth of the matter is that I made this list for my own reference and that I’m not above succumbing to morbid curiosity every now and then. If you want to join me in this murky territory, I can only advise you to proceed with caution, be aware of your own limits, and maintain a well-balanced reading diet.
My book lists tend to be eclectic, and this one is no exception. While transgressive fiction is a relatively well-defined genre, descriptors such as “dark” and “disturbing” are rather vague and highly subjective. For a book to qualify as disturbing, it is sufficient that someone, somewhere, felt disturbed by it – and it makes little sense to dispute their claim because it’s all down to their psychological makeup, social background, and life experiences. This accounts for the large variety of the listed titles, which span different eras and literary traditions, from avant-garde experimental fiction, through “respectable” best-sellers favored by mainstream critics, to lurid and trashy potboilers.
This variety also makes it impossible to compare the listed books in terms of the perceived “extremity” of their content. While some readers may be interested in finding “the most disturbing books out there”, this would be a fool’s errand. How does one begin to juxtapose the story of a Holocaust survivor or a domestic abuse victim against a supernatural splatterpunk horror novel written for escapist entertainment, no matter how macabre? And are detailed descriptions of graphic violence and sexual excess any more disturbing than a harrowing account of someone suffering solely from psychological distress in a truly precarious situation? Such things are clearly incommensurable. In any case, please keep in mind that my lists are ranked by popularity, so the top items here are not necessarily the “darkest” ones (whatever this entails).
My goal was to limit this list to works of fiction, so I excluded books that are primarily described as nonfiction or memoirs. I did, however, make a couple of exceptions for books that describe real-life events but are written in a decidedly literary rather than documentary style.
I also published a more focused list of disturbing and depressing science fiction. And if your interests in taboo subjects and gruesome thrills extend to the medium of comic books, I can recommend my list of violent, disturbing, and transgressive comics.
Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue
by Marquis de Sade
(1791)
4.5 figs out of 5
Story of the Eye
by Georges Bataille
(1928)
4 figs out of 5
Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn
(1989)
4 figs out of 5
House of Leaves
by Mark Z. Danielewski
(2000)
4 figs out of 5
Last Exit to Brooklyn
by Hubert Selby Jr.
(1964)
4 figs out of 5
The Room
by Hubert Selby Jr.
(1971)
4 figs out of 5
Requiem for a Dream
by Hubert Selby Jr.
(1978)
4 figs out of 5
Steps
by Jerzy Kosinski
(1968)
4 figs out of 5
Hogg
by Samuel R. Delany
(1969/1995)
4 figs out of 5
The Girl Next Door
by Jack Ketchum
(1989)
4 figs out of 5
Off Season
by Jack Ketchum
(1980)
4 figs out of 5
Cows
by Matthew Stokoe
(1998)
4 figs out of 5
High Life
by Matthew Stokoe
(2002)
4 figs out of 5
Marabou Stork Nightmares
by Irvine Welsh
(1995)
4 figs out of 5
The Songs of Maldoror
by Comte de Lautréamont
(1869)
3.5 figs out of 5
Frisk
by Dennis Cooper
(1991)
3.5 figs out of 5
The Sluts
by Dennis Cooper
(2004)
3.5 figs out of 5
The Marbled Swarm
by Dennis Cooper
(2011)
3.5 figs out of 5
The Metamorphosis, In The Penal Colony, and Other Stories
by Franz Kafka
(1909–1924)
3.5 figs out of 5
In the Miso Soup
by Ryu Murakami
(1997)
3.5 figs out of 5
Coin Locker Babies
by Ryu Murakami
(1980)
3.5 figs out of 5
I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream
by Harlan Ellison
(1967)
3 figs out of 5
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
(2005)
3 figs out of 5
The Torture Garden
by Octave Mirbeau
(1899)
3 figs out of 5
Proxy
by Peter Sotos
(1991–2000)
3 figs out of 5
Selfish, Little: The Annotated Lesley Ann Downey
by Peter Sotos
(2004)
3 figs out of 5
The Cement Garden
by Ian McEwan
(1978)
3 figs out of 5
The Necrophiliac
by Gabrielle Wittkop
(1972)
3 figs out of 5
The Obscene Bird of Night
by José Donoso
(1970)
3 figs out of 5
Eden, Eden, Eden
by Pierre Guyotat
(1970)
3 figs out of 5
Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers
by Pierre Guyotat
(1967)
3 figs out of 5
Let's Go Play at the Adams'
by Mendal W. Johnson
(1974)
3 figs out of 5
And the Ass Saw the Angel
by Nick Cave
(1989)
2.5 figs out of 5
Blood and Guts in High School
by Kathy Acker
(1978/1984)
2.5 figs out of 5
Out
by Natsuo Kirino
(1997)
2.5 figs out of 5
Grotesque
by Natsuo Kirino
(2003)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Notebook Trilogy: The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie
by Ágota Kristóf
(1986–1991)
2.5 figs out of 5
Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami
(1999)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Library at Mount Char
by Scott Hawkins
(2015)
2.5 figs out of 5
Books of Blood
by Clive Barker
(1984–1985)
2.5 figs out of 5
Death on Credit (Death on the Installment Plan)
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
(1936)
2.5 figs out of 5
Teatro Grottesco
by Thomas Ligotti
(2006)
2.5 figs out of 5
Header
by Edward Lee
(1995)
2.5 figs out of 5
Woom
by Duncan Ralston
(2016)
2.5 figs out of 5
Story of O
by Pauline Réage
(1954)
2.5 figs out of 5
Gone to See The River Man
by Kristopher Triana
(2020)
2.5 figs out of 5
Babyfucker
by Urs Allemann
(1992)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Butterfly Garden
by Dot Hutchison
(2016)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Piano Teacher
by Elfriede Jelinek
(1983)
2.5 figs out of 5
Lust
by Elfriede Jelinek
(1989)
2.5 figs out of 5
Wonderful, Wonderful Times
by Elfriede Jelinek
(1980)
2.5 figs out of 5
Cleansed
by Sarah Kane
(1998)
2.5 figs out of 5
Blasted
by Sarah Kane
(1995)
2.5 figs out of 5
“Trilogy” (Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable)
by Samuel Beckett
(1951–1953)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Complete Fiction
by H.P. Lovecraft
(1917–1935)
2.5 figs out of 5
Assisted Living
by Nikanor Teratologen
(1992)
2.5 figs out of 5
The White Hotel
by D.M. Thomas
(1993)
2.5 figs out of 5
Querelle of Brest
by Jean Genet
(1947)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Balcony
by Jean Genet
(1956, 1960, and 1962)
2.5 figs out of 5
Dead Inside
by Chandler Morrison
(2015)
2 figs out of 5
Survivor
by J.F. Gonzalez
(2004)
2 figs out of 5
A Sentimental Novel
by Alain Robbe-Grillet
(2007)
2 figs out of 5
The Maimed
by Hermann Ungar
(1923)
2 figs out of 5
Penpal
by Dathan Auerbach
(2012)
2 figs out of 5
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
(1951)
2 figs out of 5
Platform
by Michel Houellebecq
(2001)
2 figs out of 5
The Elementary Particles (Atomised)
by Michel Houellebecq
(1998)
2 figs out of 5
The Damned (Là-Bas)
by Joris-Karl Huysmans
(1891)
2 figs out of 5
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
by Tadeusz Borowski
(1946)
2 figs out of 5
On the Beach
by Nevil Shute
(1957)
2 figs out of 5
John Dies at the End
by David Wong
(2007)
2 figs out of 5
