lance
Lance

The World Is Hell: Hopeless Literature

Inspired by 'The World is Hell: Hopeless Cinema' list in Letterboxd, this list is about dark, disturbing, and/or graphic books.

Suggestions welcome.

1984

1984
ByGeorge Orwell

1949 • 7,171 Readers • 328 pages 4.2

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A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange
ByAnthony Burgess

1962 • 1,783 Readers • 72 pages 3.9

A Little Life

A Little Life
ByHanya Yanagihara()

2015 • 1,939 Readers • 720 pages 4.1

Beloved

#1 of 2 in Beloved Trilogy

Beloved
ByToni Morrison

1987 • 1,072 Readers • 362 pages 3.9

Blindness

#1 of 2 in Blindness

Blindness
ByJosé Saramago,Giovanni Pontiero(Translator),+1 more

1995 • 788 Readers • 328 pages 4

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon
ByDaniel Keyes

19 • 2,101 Readers • 311 pages 4.3

Gone to See the River Man

#1 of 2 in Gone to See the River Man

Gone to See the River Man
ByKristopher Triana

2020 • 185 Readers 3.8

Cover 7

Guts
ByChuck Palahniuk

2004 • 57 Readers • 16 pages 3.6

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

#1 of 3 in Voice from the Edge

1967 • 422 Readers • 180 pages 3.7

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Johnny Got His Gun

Johnny Got His Gun
ByDalton Trumbo

1939 • 222 Readers • 256 pages 4

Les Chants de Maldoror

Les Chants de Maldoror
ByComte de Lautréamont,Guy Wernham(Translator),+1 more

1869 • 41 Readers • 342 pages 4.3

Living Dead Girl

Living Dead Girl
ByElizabeth Scott

2008 • 88 Readers • 170 pages 3.5

Nausea

Nausea
ByJean-Paul Sartre,Lloyd Alexander(Translator)

1938 • 396 Readers • 196 pages 3.7

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go
ByKazuo Ishiguro

2000 • 2,186 Readers • 282 pages 3.8

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Added on
Night

#1 of 3 in The Night Trilogy

Night
ByElie Wiesel,Stella Rodway(Translator)

1955 • 1,193 Readers • 126 pages 4.3

No Longer Human

No Longer Human
ByOsamu Dazai,Donald Keene(Translator)

1948 • 1,124 Readers • 196 pages 3.9

Notes from the Underground

Notes from the Underground
ByFyodor Dostoyevsky

2008 • 31 Readers • 115 pages 4

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men
ByJohn Steinbeck

1937 • 2,708 Readers • 162 pages 3.8

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

2019 • 1,269 Readers • 256 pages 4

Only Ever Yours

Only Ever Yours
ByLouise O'Neill

2014 • 54 Readers • 400 pages 3.4

On the Beach

On the Beach
ByNevil Shute

242 Readers 3.8

Sharp Objects

Sharp Objects
ByGillian Flynn

2006 • 1,265 Readers • 290 pages 3.8

Slaughterhouse 5

2 Critical Insights

Slaughterhouse 5
ByKurt Vonnegut

1968 • 2,990 Readers • 292 pages 4.1

Something Happened

Something Happened
ByJoseph Heller

1974 • 57 Readers • 582 pages 3.9

Stoner

Stoner
ByJohn Williams

1965 • 963 Readers • 305 pages 4.4

Tender Is the Flesh

Tender Is the Flesh
ByAgustina Bazterrica,Sarah Moses(Translator)

2017 • 1,212 Readers • 224 pages 3.7

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The 120 Days of Sodom

The 120 Days of Sodom
ByMarquis de Sade

1785 • 81 Readers • 376 pages 2.2

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye
ByToni Morrison

1970 • 650 Readers • 216 pages 4

The Handmaid's Tale

#1 of 3 in The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale
ByMargaret Atwood

1985 • 3,570 Readers • 324 pages 4.1

The Mysterious Stranger

1916 • 9 Readers • 150 pages 3

The Painted Bird

The Painted Bird
ByJerzy Kosiński

96 Readers 3.6

The Road

The Road
ByCormac McCarthy

1974 • 2,431 Readers • 287 pages 4

The Road Back

#2 of 3 in All Quiet on the Western Front/The Road Back

The Road Back
ByErich Maria Remarque,Arthur Wesley Wheen(Translator)

1931 • 41 Readers • 344 pages 4.3

The Stranger

The Stranger
ByAlbert Camus,Matthew Ward(Translator)

1942 • 2,625 Readers • 134 pages 3.9

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The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
ByYukio Mishima,Ivan Morris(Translator)

1956 • 153 Readers • 281 pages 3.8

The Wasp Factory

The Wasp Factory
ByIain Banks

1984 • 459 Readers • 244 pages 3.6