Disturbing Books

[linared]

On a similar note, it's disturbing that the popular historical mystery writer, Anne Perry, committed murder when she was a teenager.

What especially interests me about Anne Perry is that it is rumored (although denied by Perry and the other woman) that they had a lesbian relationship and the lesbian relationship was one of the motivating factors behind the murder. The rumor was that the parent suspected or knew that the relationship was a lesbian one and that is why they wanted to separate the girls. I have no idea if these rumors are true but it interests me that the the murderer in the first book was a woman who murdered woman who she was sexually attracted to. She could not cope with these feelings as they were not acceptable during her time period and she resorts to murder. I'm not sure if there is any connection to Anne Perry's real life but it does seem strange.

[kanding]

snarkriffic said:

For my money the most disturbing read was "Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy. There was such a public outcry after that book was published that Hardy never wrote another novel. It really is wonderful (in a f*cked up way).

"Done because we are too menny." **shudder**


linared, I've read similar stories about Anne Perry. I suspect that even if the girls didn't act on their desires, there was a strong sexual attraction between them. I saw a brief interview with Anne Perry in 1995 after she had been "found" by the press after "Heavenly Creatures" opened. It was hard to believe that the woman could ever have murdered someone.

[kateln]

Yeah, reading Jude seriously disturbed me. I went on a major mindless fluff/chick-lit binge afterwards to cleanse my pallet.

[Smilla]

I went on a major mindless fluff/chick-lit binge afterwards to cleanse my pallet.

HA HA. I've done that. 'S good remedy for the pain of a brush against a disturbing book. So is reading mindlessly dull non-fiction.

[Shanmac]

kanding said:

On a similar note, it's disturbing that the popular historical mystery writer, Anne Perry, committed murder when she was a teenager.

And the Kate Winslet movie Heavenly Creatures -- which is really disturbing too -- is based on that crime.

Wow, I didn't know that about Lois Duncan. Eek.

From AP's Web site:

She was selected by the Times as one of the twentieth century's "100 Masters of Crime.

You don't say. Heh. I'm a jerk.

[Deleted]

Actually, the information about Lois Duncan is not true. Her mysteries have been published since the late 1960s, and her daughter was murdered in the late 1980s. Somewhere in my childhood library I have Lois Duncan's autobiography, written after she was already a popular author and years before her daughter's death.

I was really disturbed by the book she wrote about the circumstances of her daughter's murder, though.

[dnt]

The new True Crime thread reminded me that a few months ago, I read Invisible Darkness, about Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. I don’t usually read true crime books, but there was some discussion about how this case had inspired a couple of different Law & Order: SVU episodes over at TWOP and I sort of remembered some mention of the case during the trial, so I took the book out of the library.

Sweet Jesus. It was so disturbing. For a few weeks after I read it, I felt generally sad, and I kept flashing back on parts of the book and feeling sick. If I’d owned the book, I would have thrown it away just because it made me feel so bad. I don’t believe in the death penalty as a matter of public policy, but this is the kind of case where you want to see it applied because the people in question don’t deserve to walk among us, even behind bars (or in Karla’s case, now freely). The book was just so graphic; I’m glad that it’s not so vivid in my memory anymore, but I think the author should have taken the feelings of the victims’ families under consideration when he was writing it and been a little more…euphemistic.

[pellacan]

winnifer said:

Actually, the information about Lois Duncan is not true. Her mysteries have been published since the late 1960s, and her daughter was murdered in the late 1980s. Somewhere in my childhood library I have Lois Duncan's autobiography, written after she was already a popular author and years before her daughter's death.

I was really disturbed by the book she wrote about the circumstances of her daughter's murder, though.

I thought I read (this was a few years ago) that her daughter was in a wrong-place wrong-time situation and that's how she was murdered. I didn't know Lois Duncan wrote a book about it.

One of her books (argh! what was it titled?) was about a group of young teens in a special boarding academy that, unknown to them, cultivated their psychic abilities. It made me long for boarding school and kept me peeking in the closet for spirits.

[Deleted]

That sounds like Down a Dark Hall. I read a lot of Duncan when I was 11 or so, and I refused to have that book in my room. I think my mother eventually gave it to Goodwill.

[pellacan]

jane said:

That sounds like Down a Dark Hall. I read a lot of Duncan when I was 11 or so, and I refused to have that book in my room. I think my mother eventually gave it to Goodwill.

That's the one! There was something very creepy yet alluring about the book's premise.