In a vast sea of literature, amongst every possible genre, some books stand out for embracing the weird and wonderful, for delving into topics often left untouched. When you stumble across books like these that leave a lasting impression thanks to their bizarre content, it’s hard to avoid discussing them, and that’s what I intend to do here.
When I use the word ‘unhinged’, I am using it to mean ‘wild’, ‘uncontrollable’ and ‘disturbed’. This list, compiled of books that are a little older, contains everything from one of the first English novels to a horror novel, so I hope there’s something to be found here for everyone.
Without further ado, here are the 8 unhinged books you need to read:
1. Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
Slaughterhouse-Five is a semi-autobiographic anti-war novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, a US Army veteran and writer. It follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier who is captured by the German Army and survives the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience the author Kurt Vonnegut had himself.
The book is made unhinged by the unreliable narrator who tells his story out of order and suggests he was able to travel through time. Though it deals with an important topic and includes great tragedy, the way the story is told packages Vonnegut’s anti-war messaging in a palatable, funny, and engaging manner and is well worth the read.
2. Pamela by Samuel Richardson (1740)
Also known as Virtue Rewarded, Pamela is an epistolary novel considered to be one of the first true English novels. The novel is made up of a series of letters from the eponymous, fifteen-year-old Pamela to her parents as her employer inappropriately attempts to seduce her. It is a piece of conduct literature designed to educate people on social norms, a type of novel that has mostly fallen out of fashion.
Other than its strange topic and hyperbole, there are two things that make this novel truly unhinged. First is the epistolary format, which Richardson uses with great license. There are multiple occasions when Pamela’s letters describe what is happening in real-time, as though she is writing while having a conversation or up until someone is looking right over her shoulder, an incredibly unrealistic aspect that makes you take the novel a little less seriously.
The second reason the novel is unhinged its reception in society at the time, which was not great in the literary space. Though the true author is unclear, it is suspected that English writer Henry Fielding took one look at Richardson’s Pamela and decided that his character’s virtue was not as important as he suggested and made a parody of it called An Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews. Regardless of who wrote it, the existence of a scathing parody of one of the first English novels is totally unhinged.
3. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (1984)
The Wasp Factory was one of the first books I read that left me feeling shocked, confused, and somewhat empty. The book is about a psychopathic sixteen-year-old boy named Frank who turns to gruesome acts of violence, primarily against animals, as an outlet for the frustrations born of his mother’s abandonment and father’s distance. When his brother Eric escapes from the psychiatric hospital he has been confined to, Frank’s life changes forever.
This book made the list because Frank himself—maybe even his entire family—is entirely unhinged. Frank’s daily rituals are something hardly anyone could connect with (hopefully). Reading it creates unease and disgust but it is compelling enough to keep you reading thanks to the intriguing nature of the secrets of Frank and his family.
As a warning, The Wasp Factory can be a very difficult read because a lot of gruesome things occur, including violence against innocents. However, there is humour to be found in the narrative, and it’s well-written, which is why is such a critically acclaimed novel. Pick it up if you’re not afraid to journey into the mind of a disturbed teenager.
4. Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age by Bohumil Hrabal (1964)
Ever read a novella that was 112 pages long and made up of a single sentence? If you haven’t and you’d like to, Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age is for you. It is a man’s rambling, vivid account of his life, sparing little detail and incorporating much Czech history, all in—I repeat—a single sentence. Hrabal’s narrator blends fact and fiction, gets candid about his love life, and creates a bawdy tale most likely to be untrue in one sentence.
What was most interesting for me was that while reading this book, connectives and certain phrases started to feel like signifiers of a new sentence, despite there being no other indication of an ending. It was a weird and interesting experience not knowing when to stop reading for a lack of chapters or pauses in the narrative as everything ran together, and it gave the feel of an old relative who launches into one tale and gets lost in reminiscing.
One warning I will give about this book is that it mentions things like domestic violence and displays a rather outdated view of the relationship between men and women. Though it is mostly in jest, it is worth mentioning.
5. In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami (1997)
As someone who rarely ever reads horror, especially not gory horror, this book initially struck me for that alone. In the Miso Soup is about twenty-year-old Kenji, a Japanese nightlife guide for tourists who sacrifices time with his girlfriend to lend his services to an American man named Frank for the money. But when Frank turns out to be rather suspicious, Kenji starts to believe he might have murderous intentions.
The level of graphic violence in this book and the fear it so expertly inspires is unhinged. I put this book on the list for the twisted, calculated, completely gruesome deaths and the intelligence (in a terrifying way) of the murderer in the novel, and I will say no more for fear of spoiling anything.
6. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (1989)
After reading this, it became one of my favourite books. I’m a sucker for a bunch of bad people doing bad things, and that’s essentially what this book is. Geek Love follows the Binewskis, a carny family who were bred by their parents to be human curiosities. The family is made up of Arturo the Aqua boy, who has flippers for limbs and the temperament of a cult leader, Iphy and Elly the Siamese twins, the albino hunchback Oly, the protagonist, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose gifts—though not immediately apparent—turn out to be the most crucial of them all.
The book takes sibling rivalry, the lines between good and evil and fanaticism to the extreme, making itself one of the most interesting—and totally unhinged—books I’ve ever read. It made the list thanks to both the premise and the entirety of the plot, which goes from slightly shocking to incredibly shocking and had me gripped the entire time.
7. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind (1985)
In a way, this is the book that inspired this entire list. My GCSE English teacher recommended it to the class for one World Book Day. Considering most people had little interest in reading it, they probably never discovered how twisted of a book a teacher was recommending to 15/16 year olds. Perfume is one of the only books I’ve ever lent out to a friend because I needed someone else to read it.
Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man with a gift: a heightened sense of smell. Because of this Grenouille becomes a skilled perfumer, but it does not take long before his gift becomes a curse…
This book is another that I don’t want to go into too much detail about, but it does obviously contain murder, as the full title of the book suggests. The ending, which is unexpected and a little terrifying, is probably the most unhinged thing about it alongside the main character.
8. If On a Winter’s Night, a Traveller by Italo Calvino (1981)
This postmodernist novel contains one of the most interesting structures I’ve read. Written half in the second person, this book is about the reader trying to read a book called ‘If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller’. The other half of the book is comprised of the stories ‘the reader’ comes across when attempting to read the rest of the original book.
As you may already be able to tell, the structure of this story is very unconventional, sometimes a little frustrating, and often a little weird, which is why it earned a spot on the list. The book’s content is also a little strange, but overall, a really thoughtful analysis of books and reading itself. So, if you’re into the very meta ‘reading about reading’ thing, this book will be for you.
Be sure to double-check for any trigger warnings before you read any of these books because some of them do look at some dark or uncomfortable topics in-depth, their treatment of which is what I feel makes them earn the title of ‘unhinged’. But having said that, they’re all very good at what they do, offering beautiful writing and storytelling with a bit of a unique twist.
What books would you add to this list?
Read 'N Riot 