traumatizing reads

[orangerful]

My library's Facebook page posted a link to this blog entry and it has generated a LOT of comments, ranging from picture books to novels. Then Dunc went and posted about Flowers in the Attic this morning. So now I'm sitting here thinking of what books from my past have stuck with me, for better or for worse.

The first title that popped into my head was Where the Red Fern Grows. When I was in elementary school, our sixth grade teacher was the coolest person. Everyone hoped to have Mr. Gwynn as their teacher. And we all knew that his favorite book of all time was Where the Red Fern Grows and that it would be our assigned reading that year. In my 12-year old mind, I would read the book and love it and Mr. G would think I was so mature. Or something. Then the assignment happened...and I started the book...and the little suburban girl who had always owned a dog and a cat that she treated very sweetly was like WTF IS THIS SHIT?!?! (Only not because I didn't really swear as much when I was 12). While I know this book probably represents how people trained their hunting dogs back in the day, to me it was like reading a chronicle of animal abuse. I don't even think I made it to the end of the book. I went from admiring my teacher to being upset with him and not really respecting anything he said after that.

Of course, this was the start of being assigned traumatizing books. Bridge to Terabithia wasn't far behind. I don't think I finished that one either after someone spoiled me that it was a super depressing ending. Some people like those kinds of stories, I know, but it was not for me.



Soon, this was what reading became to me - books that were upsetting. I think for most of middle school, I pretty much stopped reading books. (Eventually, I stumbled upon Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but that will have to be another post.)

Suffice it to say, after these two titles, I stopped trusting my teachers' recommendations and I honestly can't remember how many assigned books I read cover to cover. Probably not until Senior year of high school...sad but true.

How about you? What is the first book the comes to mind when someone says "traumatizing childhood reading"?

(originally posted on Read.Watch.Blog)

Comments

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

Black Beauty... that bloody book still makes me cry EVERY time.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Is there a scene in that book when the barn catches on fire or something?? I don't think I ever read the real book, I had like a DK Classics version or something...but I have this image of a fire that must have been from the movie.

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

Yes, there was fire and MANY dead ponies/horses... hence my childhood trauma. (I loved horses, still do)

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't remember being "traumatized" by books. I remember being upset by books, but never to the point where I wanted to quit reading. In fact, one of my teachers used these exact words to recommend 1984 to me: "You'll like that one. It'll make you mad." Getting all fired up and pissed off about a book--when it's clear that the author isn't condoning what I'm fired up/pissed off about, at least--is a good sign.

That said, I stuck to speculative stuff. Real life drama has never appealed to me much. So all that doom-and-gloom Child Dies of Disease or Dog Dies of Accidents stuff slid right by me. Why would I read about real things that can kill people when I can read about monsters and conspiracies instead?

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, none of our assigned reading was every anything but realistic fiction, a genre I avoided for all of the reasons you listed.

"Where the Red Fern Grows" contains scenes of the boy training his dogs to be raccoon hunters. It's not meant as an animal rights book, it's just matter-of-fact this is how you make a dog hunt this etc. The author had no problem with it. Unlike Orwell and 1984, this wasn't about protesting anything.

...I do still need to read 1984...it was never assigned to me and I have a bad habit of avoiding classics...though you would think I would have read it in college, I took an entire class on "The Future" and had to read "Brave New World" and stuff like that...go figure!

Anyway, I totally agree. Stick with genre fiction!

[impalalove]

A Series of Unfortunate Events. I actually think I abandoned it halfway through the series because it was so depressing.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I listened to the first couple when they were narrated by Tim Curry but after he stopped, so did I.

[xlovebecomesher.livejournal.com]

Not that I ever stopped reading books but My Antonia and Heart of Darkness still make me angry to this day! I also never did like Bridge to Terabithia.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Hm...Heart of Darkness was something I was assigned and...yes, I have absolutely NO MEMORY of it LOL. But I think anytime you assign a book, it instantly loses 75% of it's interesting-ness.

[poniesandphotos.livejournal.com]

Black Beauty and Where the Red Fern Grows are right there at the top of my list. Killing people is one thing, hurting animals totally different to my brain for whatever reason.

As far as adult reading- if you would like to be instantly engerized to a cause and traumatized at the same time try "I regret to inform you that tomorrow we will all be killed with our families" and "A crime so monstrous" WARNING: both are non fiction and very heavy

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

DEAR GOD THOSE TITLES! I would never even *TOUCH* a book with that title.

And, yeah, you can kill all the humans you want but do NOT mess with animals. I think it's because, in my mind, humans know what's happening to them so even in stories, when things go wrong, you get a chance to emote with them. Animals trust the humans and when they hurt the animals, the creatures just can't understand why and it is just TOO DEPRESSING!

[poniesandphotos.livejournal.com]

Rwandan Genocide and modern day slave trade are not very...cheery subjects, but important ones none the less. :(

[angelamermaid.livejournal.com]

I don't recall being traumatized by any books as a child. Of course, I was sheltered - my mother hustled my brother and I out of the theatre so that we wouldn't see the ending of "Ole Yeller".

As a teen I read books that haunted me - like "The Hotel New Hampshire" and "The World According to Garp".

Reading children's books as an adult is an eye-opener. I devoured the Little House on the Prairie books as a young lass. Now, I find it hard to read where Laura is being taught to stifle her emotions, and when she shames Grace for crying when Ma and Pa take Mary to college. And all of the absolutes where the Ingalls girls have to meet high standards of perfection - oy.

But the worst is "Rainbow Valley" by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The Meredith children are underfed and neglected. It's plain that other adults know that they're suffering. Every time their father seems to have a clue that they should be raised better, he gets distracted by theology. But nobody really steps in until Una faints in church. Rereading it makes me mad!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL I had a lady tell me that she loved Old Yeller as a kid and gave it to her son and he didn't like it. I was like "Didya read the ending??!" and she was like "well, yeah it's sad..." and I told her "some people just don't want to read endings like that!" and then I made her check out "No More Dead Dogs" by Gordon Korman and give that to her son because I was being a bitch!librarian that day.

There is always that fine line in children's literature where you have to leave the adults out of the story so the kids can have an adventure...but allowing the adults to neglect the kids and make it seem "ok" is disturbing. I can see why rereading that book would make you angry!

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

Hmmm most traumatic reads:

Living in Secret by Christina Salat - I read that when I was around 12 and fell apart at the end. I just didn't understand why the world was so unfair.

Any and all of the V.C. Andrews books - and I read a ton of those in junior high. They were all messed up.

Bridge to Terabithia was also hugely upsetting. I read it and think it's a great book but so sad.