What's the darkest YA scene you've read?
- Thread starter MJRevell
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I wish someone more ambitious than me would start this thread (or direct me to where it exists) YA that pushed your limits, made you uncomfortable, and what it was that forced you to keep reading. Those books that, when you were done, you hated that one part, but knew (and why you knew) the book wasn't complete without it.
Yeah, WINTERGIRLS is really disturbing too... but in a different way from THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO. WINTERGIRLS didn't make me want to (semi-spoilers in white) grab hold of my little grumpy canine and never let him out of my sight.
See, that part actually pissed me off because the author ripped that off from a real life event. WARNING: Extremely graphic images, NSFW. This story was really popular in the pro-ana/mia scene back in 2005-07 mostly because me and my friends from the ED community I was in did our best to shove it in the face of every newbie who came into our community going 'Hai gaiz! I ned 2 loose wait 4 prom! how do i ana?'
I shouldn't be mad because I'm sure the signalboosting of those mental images are helping prevent more and more girls from trying 'teh ana/mia diet' but still there's something about just taking someone's story like this and passing it off as your own fictional creation that really rubs me the wrong way.
Sorry for the rant.
I had no idea. I only read Wintergirls recently, after a friend recommended it (I was looking for more books related to "self-harm" and the mentality behind it, since my MC practices it in her own way).
I read LDG recently and I found it disturbing but mostly I just ached for the MC, for the tiny bit of hope she had. Without going into spoiler territory, the ending just wrecked me. I'm being as vague as possible, but the little girl's words to her, right at the end...it killed me.
BUT, I personally find that the books that get to me are the ones where the darkness is a bit unexpected - like, I wasn't expecting it to be so horrifically bleak and hopeless. I was prepared for LDG because so many people had told me how terrible it was, how disturbing and scary and sad - but with THE BUNKER DIARY, I wasn't prepared at all. I thought there was going to be a bit of psychological torture and the MC would escape, maybe not freeing everyone but there would be at least a tiny bit of hope in the ending. Nuh-uh.
Apparently Kevin Brooks wrote it a few years ago, but no publishers bought it (despite him being an auto-buy, bestselling author) because they said it was just too much, too dark - but now, apparently, it's okay!
Oh my gosh, LIVING DEAD GIRL. I'd forgotten about that one. That novel is like a Dementor attack. The one way to recover is to break out the chocolate. Very tough read.
THE BUNKER DIARY sounds intense. I'm going to check that one out.
THE BUNKER DIARY sounds intense. I'm going to check that one out.
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Currently reading The Knife of Never Letting Go, and I now know exactly what is going to happen after reading this thread, so thanks a bunch for that you guys. I need a sulk emoticon.
Agree with
Agree with
Probably the creepiest thing I've ever read in a book, with the exception of Chamber of Secrets when I was about twelve.
This thread is making me want to read and simultaneously not read several of these books.
Living Dead Girl destroyed me, though. I read it before I was a mother and it was heartbreaking and disturbing and just left me aching. I could not read it now.
Living Dead Girl destroyed me, though. I read it before I was a mother and it was heartbreaking and disturbing and just left me aching. I could not read it now.
Rotters is full of rotting corpses. There's a scene where the MC is digging in a grave and has to fight off hundreds of rats. Oh, and some really unpleasant stuff involving his mom is implied.
But I'm not finding it that disturbing, because much of the story is in this heightened, magical realist vein.
The Knife of Never Letting Go started out pretty traumatizing, but I came to like the characters so much that I read all three books in about a week. For me, the key to giving the darkness redemptive value is having a moral center, which isn't the same as getting preachy. There are horror books that just terrorize you, and there are ones that make you feel like you've been through something and emerged stronger.
Anybody read Sara's Face? Now, there is one disturbing, creepy concept and character. It sort of devolves into a ghost story, but the protagonist's obsession with body modification is just plain unsettling.
But I'm not finding it that disturbing, because much of the story is in this heightened, magical realist vein.
The Knife of Never Letting Go started out pretty traumatizing, but I came to like the characters so much that I read all three books in about a week. For me, the key to giving the darkness redemptive value is having a moral center, which isn't the same as getting preachy. There are horror books that just terrorize you, and there are ones that make you feel like you've been through something and emerged stronger.
Anybody read Sara's Face? Now, there is one disturbing, creepy concept and character. It sort of devolves into a ghost story, but the protagonist's obsession with body modification is just plain unsettling.
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I just bought it last week and had to look quickly away from a bunch of posts while covering my eyes and yelling "LALALALALA!" This whole thread is fascinating but rather spoily.
Must learn not to look, must learn not to look... My eyes just sneak to the next word without me having any say in the matter.
I have nearly finished The Knife of Never Letting Go. Can't say I found any of it particularly dark, I thought it was too over the top to be genuinely creepy or depressing.
Although I probably wouldn't describe them as dark, the Old Kingdom series definitely has some creepy moments. The Maze Runner does too.
I really need to finish the Chaos Walking series!
But the darkest thing I've ever read in YA (never gone near horror) is probably Hannah Moskowitz's TEETH, when we realize how Teeth is getting all his injuries. I had to go lie under the covers in the fetal position for a few minutes.
But the darkest thing I've ever read in YA (never gone near horror) is probably Hannah Moskowitz's TEETH, when we realize how Teeth is getting all his injuries. I had to go lie under the covers in the fetal position for a few minutes.
Huge-ass spoiler for WINTERGIRLS in white:
When Emma walks in on Lia's suicide attempt.
I definitely have not written anything that jarring. Which is not to say I wouldn't, if the plot called for it. The only thing I'm currently mulling over that I can see going anywhere near that level is a vampire-ish family saga thing in which one of the protagonists is going to have to eat herself and her sister (I think). In the context of the story that's obviously not fun for anybody, and I hope I can write it in a way that hits the reader pretty hard too, but it's still not quite the same punch as in a contemporary, or even a disturbing scene in a not-contemporary that doesn't hinge on some magical or otherworldly element.
When Emma walks in on Lia's suicide attempt.
I definitely have not written anything that jarring. Which is not to say I wouldn't, if the plot called for it. The only thing I'm currently mulling over that I can see going anywhere near that level is a vampire-ish family saga thing in which one of the protagonists is going to have to eat herself and her sister (I think). In the context of the story that's obviously not fun for anybody, and I hope I can write it in a way that hits the reader pretty hard too, but it's still not quite the same punch as in a contemporary, or even a disturbing scene in a not-contemporary that doesn't hinge on some magical or otherworldly element.
I'm another that bawled my eyes out with Knife of Never Letting Go, but thought the scenes with the Spackle in Monsters of Men was way darker. I had a hard time reading that book and yet I'm glad I've read the series because I want to be properly equipped to talk it over with my kids when they get around to reading them.
And don't throw tomatoes at me for this, but I thought Bella's birth was pretty horrific. I went through a short Twi phase and when I got to that I was like, how in the hell are they going to adapt that into a PG-13 movie?!
And don't throw tomatoes at me for this, but I thought Bella's birth was pretty horrific. I went through a short Twi phase and when I got to that I was like, how in the hell are they going to adapt that into a PG-13 movie?!
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I agree, MONSTERS OF MEN was easily the darkest book in that series.
Though overall I don't think I found the series very scary. It was certainly dark and disturbing but not enough to make me feel sick or stomach-churningly upset. I didn't freak out all that much in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO (outside of crying at, well, you know) and now I'm wondering if there's something wrong with me...
Although I never read BREAKING DAWN I have heard enough about that scene to completely agree.
Someone actually recommended that to me a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to pick it up...
Jumping in late here...
Maybe I live in a box, but I haven't read much dark YA. I get my fix with Stephen King and Karen Slaughter in other genres. I love dark things. Although what you guys are describing in YA sounds truly horrible! I think adult angst is different than teen angst, and teen angst is totally over the top.
Anyways, I have dark things in my YA. Not as much as some of the stuff mentioned here, but it enhances the plot. The plot wouldn't be the same if those dark things went away.
Maybe I live in a box, but I haven't read much dark YA. I get my fix with Stephen King and Karen Slaughter in other genres. I love dark things. Although what you guys are describing in YA sounds truly horrible! I think adult angst is different than teen angst, and teen angst is totally over the top.
Anyways, I have dark things in my YA. Not as much as some of the stuff mentioned here, but it enhances the plot. The plot wouldn't be the same if those dark things went away.
I know it's cliche, but there's some pretty horrid stuff in THE HUNGER GAMES. And I'm not talking about all the bloody deaths. The bit that truly gave me the whillies was when Katniss was sitting, waiting to go up to the arena. I mean, come on! Being what, seventeen, and pretty much knowing that the moment you stepped into that arena you'd be condemning yourself to death? Holy crap. For me, inevitability is absolutely terrifying, so that might just be personal preference, but I had to put the book down for a minute.
As for myself? I write dark themes, but nothing too dark. Death, violence, but nothing mentally or graphically disturbing. Though, that's mainly down to the fact I don't think I could write it well enough. I do love me some grittiness.
As for myself? I write dark themes, but nothing too dark. Death, violence, but nothing mentally or graphically disturbing. Though, that's mainly down to the fact I don't think I could write it well enough. I do love me some grittiness.
Since a lot of the "regular" dark scenes have already been mentioned (violence and abuse and death etc), I thought I'd throw a horror scene into the mix. In ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD, when the MC is in the basement and the eyes in the dead bodies turn towards him, and then the basement is flooded and he's stuck in that rotting-bodies-soup? Yeah, that scene almost had me throw up.
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Damn, now I want to read this book. And I shall...when I get my hands on it.
Danielle Vega's THE MERCILESS has some pretty dark scenes. In fact, the whole book is pretty dark. There's a tortured cat, and a tortured teenage girl, and some murder.
One scene where a girl takes a knife and slides it under another girl's fingernail until it pops off is particularly cringe inducing. She also cuts off part of the girl's finger.
ETA: The story is more than just the gore aspects. A group of girls think another girl is possessed, so they kidnap and torture her to exorcise the "demon" inside her. There are some psychological aspects too, but it is definitely horror!
One scene where a girl takes a knife and slides it under another girl's fingernail until it pops off is particularly cringe inducing. She also cuts off part of the girl's finger.
ETA: The story is more than just the gore aspects. A group of girls think another girl is possessed, so they kidnap and torture her to exorcise the "demon" inside her. There are some psychological aspects too, but it is definitely horror!
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Oh yeah, I forgot until now, but my friends and I were obsessed with Battle Royale when we were in high school. Same idea - a class of high school kids are trapped on an island. They're all forced to wear collars around their necks that have explosives in them. Everyone gets a random weapon and it's off to kill your classmates. They have a week to kill each other - and if there's more than one person alive at the end of the allotted time, everyone's collar explodes.
I had a lot of the same reaction, especially because I read that book in high school and this story was about high schoolers. Then, of course, I tried to think about killing my classmates in a situation like that and it was really sickening.
I think gore is different than darkness, though. Darkness deals with the theme of the story - gore is just blood and deaths. It's what you do with the blood and deaths that makes it dark. The meaning of the deaths make it dark. Otherwise, it's just a gimmick to get your attention.
Wow, the YA I read is pretty tame compared to this thread. The darkest thing I can think of is Megan Whalen Turner's THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA, in which one of the main characters had his hand cut off as a punishment for stealing. That was really necessary to the book because it's the hinge on which the whole plot turns. It also establishes that the titular queen really is as ruthless as she says she is--and it gives the thief the chance to prove that he's as good a thief as he says he is, because he can still steal with only one hand.
The part that I think is darkest is that SPOILERS the thief and the queen fall in love, even after she cuts off his hand. When I first read the book I was actually quite angry about that; I couldn't deal with the idea of the hero loving someone who could hurt him like that. Once I calmed down and reread, I saw that the author had laid the emotional groundwork to make the twist work and that it was really earned, and now it's one of my favorite things in the whole series.
The part that I think is darkest is that SPOILERS the thief and the queen fall in love, even after she cuts off his hand. When I first read the book I was actually quite angry about that; I couldn't deal with the idea of the hero loving someone who could hurt him like that. Once I calmed down and reread, I saw that the author had laid the emotional groundwork to make the twist work and that it was really earned, and now it's one of my favorite things in the whole series.
Agreed--if I had been the editor, I would have classified THG as psychological horror (and missed out on a million dollars, probably.) The first book gave me nightmares.
Also, I read LIVING DEAD GIRL last night after looking at this thread. Someone please hold me.