kinda just what the title says: i like a book about women that is also creepy and unsettling. bonus points for a little bit of good-for-her action! i really liked natural beauty and bunny, if that helps. I've also read a fair amount of ottessa moshfegh and enjoy them. tbh, call me crazy, but i'd like to up the creep factor! like something that'll make you wrinkle your nose while you're reading… i'm not afraid of some darker themes too. for example, enjoyed is a really strong word, but i found my dark vanessa very interesting/compelling.
by lanestrains
16 Comments
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Revelator by Daryl Gregory fits this bill. It’s about a family of Appalachian women who commune with a god who lives in the hills behind their farm. Very spooky and eerie.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Chlorine
Her Body and Other Parties
Nightbitch
Melissa Broder fits the bill but TW about disordered eating if you go for Milk Fed. If you liked Bunny, Rouge by Awad is another option. Also, All Fours by Miranda July.
Dietland and the Cherry Robbers, both by Sarai Walker. Especially Dietland.
The Last Thing to Burn – definitely creepy and unsettling
*Peach Pit*, an anthology of stories about “unsavory women.”
*Maeve Fly* by CJ Leede, Los Angeles women goes on a psychotic rampage.
*A Certain Hunger* by Chelsea Summers, the memoir of a fictional female food critic turned serial killer.
*Woman, Eating* by Claire Kohda, about a young vampire who longs to eat human food.
*The Salt Grows Heavy* by Cassandra Khaw, the little mermaid wanders the forest after the death of her husband and the downfall of their kingdom.
Also check out [THIS LIST](https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/d720445c-d4f6-41a3-a612-015f58e1242a) on storygraph.
Eileen by Otessa Mosfegh
I who have never known men by Jacqueline Harpman
Poor things by alasdair gray
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling
Femlandia by Christina Dalcher
Vox by Christina Dalcher
I said not long ago that I couldn’t rec this to people, but since you’re pretty much describing it outright: Deliver Me by Elle Nash. Also, I’d rec Mona Awad’s other books, too, since you liked Bunny.
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin – the protagonist’s job is transcribing recordings of therapy sessions. She recognizes the voice of one of the patients (who she has a crush on) and uses her knowledge of her therapy sessions to get close to her.
This might not be what you are looking for but *Tenant of Wildfel Hall* is interesting. It was written by Anne Bronte and was the best seller of all the Bronte novels. However its premise was that a man could be so bad that a woman was better off leaving him. This horrified people of the time. Consequently the book was suppressed first by the author herself and later by her family.
I enjoyed the story but found the historic reaction to the novel really telling of how people thought at the time.
Motherthing by Ainslee Hogarth
Maeve Fly by CJ leede
(I really liked both Bunny and NB)
Gretchen Felker-Martin does dark LGBTQ comedy horror
Self Care by Leigh Stein is a funnier take on the beauty industry — very incisive
Rouge by Mona Awad was dark and creepy and weird (tbh if anyone can explain that ending please DM me)
Singer from the Sea by Sheri S Tepper
Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey
Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone
The September House by Carissa Orlando
The Native Tongue trilogy by Suzette Haden Elgin