5 of the most scandalous and shocking works that you should read

The great novel "Madame Bovary" was published in 1856 and immediately fell under the distribution. The writer Gustave Flaubert was brought to court for insulting public morality. Then, of course, they were acquitted, but the book was forever reputed to be one of the most scandalous works of world literature.

However, it is not in our rating. Just like Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita or David Lawrence's Lady Chetterly's Lover. Modern popular culture sometimes offers such plots that these novels no longer seem scandalous. On the other hand, we did not include absolutely obscene things like Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" and Matthew Stokoe's "Cows" in the selection.

Bret Easton Ellis, "American Psycho"

Maybe you've already watched the movie with Christian Bale, but even so, the book will awaken a much deeper feeling of hatred for the main character. During the day, Patrick Bateman is a successful and extremely intelligent employee from Wall Street, and at night he turns into a real monster. One horrific crime is followed by an even more horrific one, then another, and so on indefinitely.

Patrick is worried about his hairstyle, but does not care about the irrepressible desire to rape and kill. "What's wrong with you, animal?" — I want to ask him. Patrick himself begins to reflect only towards the end of the work and comes to the conclusion that the environment is to blame for everything. However, it becomes clear to the thoughtful reader much earlier.

Chuck Palahniuk, "Snuff"

It is impossible not to mention the writer, who makes you double-check with every line whether someone sees what exactly you are reading. Of all the shocking creations of Palahniuk, the most daring, perhaps, can be called the novel "Snuff". The plot's plot promises something extraordinary: a rapidly aging porn star decides to end her career with a bold exclamation mark in the form of sex with six hundred men.

The book is teeming with obscenities, but Palahniuk surprisingly manages to weave subtle psychology into this stream of vulgarity. The narration is conducted on behalf of four characters: a timid boy who brought a bouquet of roses with him, an unlucky actor with psychological trauma, a young assistant girl and an honored worker of pornographic art. Everyone has their own reasons why they signed up for this madness, their skeletons in the closet and the unexpected denouement of the story.

"Snuff", as well as other novels presented in this collection, you can download on the LitRes website. This is the largest e-book library in Runet, where tens of thousands of works of all stripes are collected, from eternal classics and sensational bestsellers to business books and documentaries. At the same time, the prices are more than democratic — several times lower than for paper editions. And, as you know, it is much more convenient to read the electronic version. Always with you, customizable font, weight — in kilobytes, not grams.

Boris Vian, "I will come to spit on your graves"

Even now, when overly detailed films and books about racism in the United States will not surprise anyone, Vian's novel causes consternation. The author examines the topic of oppression of African Americans from a different angle. He uses the most expressive palette to demonstrate the state to which such an attitude of the oppressed themselves leads.

Lee Anderson is a mulatto, he has only a small part of Negro blood, and therefore no one guesses about his origin. The thirst for revenge for his murdered brother overwhelms the hero, takes possession of him. And now the righteous retribution is lost in irrational cruelty, any justified actions are drowned in outright sin. "I'll come spit on your graves" does not allow a happy ending for a second, but the last chapter still becomes the most deafening shot.

Books purchased for LitErs remain in your personal account, and they can always be downloaded to any device or opened through the application. The site has developed an effective system of recommendations that facilitates the search for new interesting reading. For active participation in the life of the project, they give significant discounts, as well as for making a pre-order for long-awaited novelties. In addition, every day LitRes offers a new book as a gift.

Anthony Burgess, "A Clockwork Orange"

Stanley Kubrick's famous film fairly accurately conveys the general atmosphere and schizophrenic state of the character, but due to the limited timing does not really figure out what all this is about. An educated and completely unbalanced leader of a street gang, Alex praises violence, enjoys it, and even an inhuman program of re-education of criminals cannot get this filth out of him.

The novel is acutely critical of the reality in which the Western world lived in the middle of the last century. But the Union did not print it. First of all, because of the abundance of disgusting scenes of excessive, illogical cruelty. Translation difficulties probably also played a role. The members of Alex's gang speak their fictional dialect using Russian words. Soviet translators were going to use the vocabulary of an even more totalitarian state — China, but they never gathered.

Yes, there are not only electronic, but also audiobooks on LitErs. "Clockwork Orange", for example, is decorated in a whole one-man show with the help of precisely selected music, which emphasizes the drama of the events described. A detailed excerpt from any work is available to all registered users for free, so you will not miss the choice.

William Golding, "Lord of the Flies"

The school literature program is a strange thing. It is absolutely unclear what 16-year-old boys and girls can learn from the "Divine Comedy" and what lessons to learn from the "Idiot". And the presence of such a work as "Lord of the Flies" in the summer reading list for ninth graders is quite strange.

A grotesque dystopia, striking with its unscrupulousness and cruelty. A group of boys as a result of a plane crash finds themselves on a desert island. Impunity and herd instinct in a matter of days bring them to the state of primitive monsters. They worship the strong, poison the weak and brutally kill.

What our external education is really worth and how long it would last in uncontrolled conditions are the questions that Golding answers. After the release of the novel, a discussion broke out in the literary world about how appropriate it is to project such topics on children. There is a big doubt that "Lord of the Flies" is worth reading in adolescence, even if some scenes make adults uncomfortable.