The Most "Screwed-Up" Book/Story You've Ever Read?

[Masonwire]

I remember when that came out a lot of interest was generated through the "autobiographical" elements that fuelled the narrative. It is interesting how many people were fooled by that.

[njhorror]

Quote Originally Posted by Masonwire

I remember when that came out a lot of interest was generated through the "autobiographical" elements that fuelled the narrative. It is interesting how many people were fooled by that.

From brilliance to manufactured rubbish. I've seen similar stories that were no doubt nothing more than imaginative fantasies.

[ToALonelyPeace]

Quote Originally Posted by njhorror

Quote Originally Posted by Masonwire I remember when that came out a lot of interest was generated through the "autobiographical" elements that fuelled the narrative. It is interesting how many people were fooled by that. From brilliance to manufactured rubbish. I've seen similar stories that were no doubt nothing more than imaginative fantasies.

Thanks for the link, this blows my mind. I always assume that this story has at least some truth since the boy's narration sounds so painfully naive. What did I know about literature? Turns out the author is a 30 years old mom getting her 'materials' from phone-sex lines and child-protection plank calls.

To further the absurdity, she looks like a rock star instead of the shy, awkward boy she hires someone else to be

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Well, Albert was badly abused and I guess that is why she written and did a lot of the things she did.

[Justin Isis]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

Well, Albert was badly abused and I guess that is why she written and did a lot of the things she did.

I wouldn't necessarily take that at face value either. Her former partner who assisted her with the Leroy thing has described her as a sociopathic liar, and Albert has admitted that she'd never even visited a truck stop before writing the books. I don't doubt she had personal problems, but people who consistently and compulsively lie about everything (especially for the purpose of, um, getting attention and free presents from celebrities who believe you're an HIV-positive teenage boy prostitute) tend to be unreliable right across the board. I'm a big fan of hoaxes when they're done right (see: Isaac Bickerstaff, or Ern Malley), but this one strikes me as really pretty boring when it comes down to it.

[ramonoski]

Probably something by Shintaro Kago, a manga artist. He writes-and-draws short stories that take a strange or disturbing premise (for instance, "what if having abortions became a fashion statement") and takes it to its ultimate conclusion, often with world-changing or devastating effects. He has a story about constipation—or rather, the many different methods, from kitchen utensils to explosives, people use to relieve themselves—that did made me feel physically ill. But a story that comes to mind right now is "drafting a water goddess". In it a number of villages settle disputes via water racing... but the racers are the rotting, bloated corpses of young girls who are picked, raped by the men in their respective village (to 'fill them with vitality') and killed ten days before the event. The bodies are placed on a river and the decomposition gases act as the propellent to push the corpses forward, thus the "race" aspect. It's an insane premise and SK's drawings are fittingly disturbing.

[Kevin]

Quote Originally Posted by ramonoski

Probably something by Shintaro Kago, a manga artist. He writes-and-draws short stories that take a strange or disturbing premise (for instance, "what if having abortions became a fashion statement") and takes it to its ultimate conclusion, often with world-changing or devastating effects. He has a story about constipation—or rather, the many different methods, from kitchen utensils to explosives, people use to relieve themselves—that did made me feel physically ill. But a story that comes to mind right now is "drafting a water goddess". In it a number of villages settle disputes via water racing... but the racers are the rotting, bloated corpses of young girls who are picked, raped by the men in their respective village (to 'fill them with vitality') and killed ten days before the event. The bodies are placed on a river and the decomposition gases act as the propellent to push the corpses forward, thus the "race" aspect. It's an insane premise and SK's drawings are fittingly disturbing.

Insane, and incredibly imaginative.

[Nemonymous]

'Screwed up' to the nth degree is my own novel 'Nemonymous Night'; every time I re-read it, the further it tries to get away from me.

Even more 'screwed up' is it for an author to mention his own work on this thread!