Sorry if I sound really quiet, unenthusiastic, and a bit rambling. Self-note to never shoot videos at 3 am again while people are sleeping and I haven’t gotten any rest. 😶
Something I love about Japanese fiction is that they have this tendency to keep peeling away layers. Horror, drama, romance, each layer pulled away changes everything we saw before all without retconning. I love it. For sad/horror of this type I would suggest the super short Thirst for Love by Mishima. You think you know what's happening and you start feeling smug with yourself for being too smart for the story, then BAM that last chapter hits and you realize you misjudged everyone. Awesome feeling.
@@PlaguedbyVisions Sure thing! Thirst for Love is a great start because A. It's super short and B. There's none of the annoying Nationalism brow-beating smugness he's famous for. It's just a well crafted story.
The ending of Don't Look Now is burned into my mind. I love Roeg's editing style and the slow realization of what is happening to the Sutherland character.
Another great video! The Only Good Indians left me with that creeping depression recently. Dennis Cooper's stuff, although it's not technically horror, always leaves me with that feeling too.
I keep seeing rave reviews about The Only Good Indians and I’m certainly intrigued. After I read and absolutely loved The Sluts I got copies of Closer and Frisk and now with your insight I’m really looking forward to reading more of him. If Silence of the Lambs is considered horror by most, then I say his stuff is horror too. 👏🏽👏🏽
I haven't read CONFESSIONS, but there's a film version which is absolutely brilliant! Tense, suspenseful, shocking and gripping, and yes, deeply sad. Sad as hell. Sad as f***! It was even nominated for the Academy Award on Best Foreign Language Film. Highly recommended, truly a gem. I want to try the novel, because if the film was THAT EXCELLENT, man, the film must be such an emotional ride also. Great pics, great video, as freakin' always! GREETINGS, MATE!! Can't wait for more!
I think someone else in the comments mentioned the film adaptation. I assure you, the novel is grueling and captivating. I haven’t read much like it! And thank you so much for going through my old videos. It really means a lot. :)
A story that left me devastated was “The Troop” by Nick Cutter. You mention the novel at the end of the video for a different reason. I could barely emotionally process the moments in the boat as the two friends row back to the mainland. My heart broke!
I’ve since read the Troop, and it didn’t really register as particularly harrowing to me, but that might just be my own desensitization. It IS kids in trouble, after all!
Great list. I’ve never read Sara Gran but do have one of her Claire DeWitt books on my Kindle. Sounds like I need to get to it soon! The coke scene is the one that has always stuck with me from The Road as well
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is great! Talk about another bleak novel. That seems to be her brand. The Road remains a calamitous emotional event in my mind. The ending, too, is haunting in how simple and quiet it is.
Wow, what an interesting list, Juan! I loved Come Closer, but never would have thought to put it on this list. But you’re absolutely right... really good points. I wouldn’t have thought of The Road either, as it probably would not have sprung to to my mind as a horror book; but once you classify it that way, I suppose it’s a no-brainer for this list. I may have to try Confessions.
Thank you for watching! Come Closer was so amazing, and I just felt horrible after reading. To me, when I’m left feeling like that, that’s horror at its best. I did cheat a little bit on the list and stretching the definition of “horror” 😅 but I do stand by the argument that it’s the most horrific aspects of the Road that also turn into the most depressing and distressing. I guess that’s why I see it as a masterful work of “emotional horror.”
Thank you so much for your kind words, and welcome to my channel! Daphne Du Maurier is always a joy to read. Give her novel, Rebecca, a chance, too, if you have the opportunity!
@@PlaguedbyVisions I have read Rebecca and Jamaican Inn by her and have them also in my Audible collection. I like the way she creates an atmosphere, she brings the story to life.
Blessed by another killer video! I love how you choose such unique aspects/topics to talk about horror lit. I am reading and loving so many of your recommendations. Thank you, Juan! 🖤🙏 Btw, the lighting from your last few is 🔥
Thank you for watching once more! I really like how the lighting came out here, too. Horror is so vast and diverse. That’s why I love it. It’s so versatile, profound, subjective and raw. I could literally ramble about it for hours (and I guess, in this channel, I technically have, lol).
Confessions really is close to my heart since my nieces and nephew are studying right now in Japan and one of them just stopped school all of a sudden.. I think she misses Philippines and I don't know why but what the author describes in the book (hikikomori) really is happening in Japan... Such a good book! And really sad as well!
Thanks once again for the recommendation! I felt really... just... BAD... when I finished it, lol. Even though you’re meant to get a sense that the thirst for revenge has been quenched, there’s just no returning to any peace or justice. That’s what was truly depressing to me.
Sad horror is definitely an underrated subset of speculative fiction! I think horror has that power to be incredibly depressing because it’s one of the few genres that dares to push the imagination towards those doomsday scenarios and those grueling scenes of loss. The Road is absolutely fantastic. I don’t usually buy the “hype” of books as highly acclaimed as this one, but for this novel, I’d say it is well-deserved.
The Road is on my tbr but I'm too Bambi to start it.. My recommendation would be Black star, black sun by Rich Hawkins and Grind your bones to dust by Nicholas Day. Thanks for all the awesome content! 🙂
Thank you so much for the recommendation! I’ll definitely be looking into these. Horror with a melancholy edge tends to be my favorite. Thank you for watching!
I love your videos and your insight. Really appreciate it. I often have the emotional urge to almost challenge a book to make me ugly cry. Haha. I find that is something I look for in horror stories especially. I guess it can be a form of catharsis when you can connect emotionally with a story that speaks to your own personal experiences as a human being. Anyway, I'm just rambling. Thank you again.
This is the place to ramble, so please keep doing so. Thank you so much for watching! Yes, I think in horror especially we have our empathy and emotional connection working at full speed because the subject matter so often deals with danger, persecution, and abjection, which really facilitate how we can put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, or identify with those feelings of terror and disgust at a personal level. Strangely so, I do think, given the various psychological and literary studies on the matter, that awful, horrific experiences do serve to bring us all together.
Just ordered Don't Look Now, watched the movie over a decade ago and it totally freaked me out. Totally forgot it was a book, so really looking forward to that. Might order Confessions as well, have you seen the movie adaptation? If so how do you think they compare? Another great vid, thanks for posting!!
I have never watched the film adaptation of Confessions. It would be interesting to see how some of the aspects are adapted onto film, as I felt it was a very internal narrative. Thank you for watching!
I read come closer me too and it was for me one of the most unconfortable reading ever. You feel like youre the one who is losing control of your life. Also i got confession at the library yesterday. I have a good feeling about this one😇
Come Closer resonated with issues of mental health and the very real breakdown of one’s integrity and self/preservation. That brings it to such a real and tragic level. It really disturbed me. I am positive you will enjoy Confessions!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Empty Mile by Matthew Stoke (yes, the Cows guy). It's brutal but not for the sake of shock value. Emotionally mature and also incredibly "sad"
I really want to read that and his other novel, High Life! I still can’t believe I haven’t explored the rest of his works since Cows really blew me away!
Oh man, Cujo is heart-crushingly sad. The dog's downward spiral actually made me cry, especially when his last coherent thought is the fear that his owners will call him a bad dog.
I really need to read it again. I remember it being so mean-spirited, hurtful, everything coming undone. The fact that King doesn’t remember writing it always boggles me. It’s one of his most powerful works, in my opinion.
@@PlaguedbyVisions Yes, that's sad in his own right. I appreciate at the end of the book he takes the time to say Cujo was a good dog, before he got sick.
Hey Juan, love the vids! Could you do a list of books that terrified you? Not just left you feeling disgusted but genuinely terrified. :) big love from the UK!
Friend by Diana Henstell. The film adaptation Deadly Friend is horrible. Wes Craven's worst movie. The last line has never left me. "So this is what love comes to."
@@PlaguedbyVisions without spoilers it’s about someone trapped in a small room by some kind of government agency during an apocalypse. You have pen palls and mini games to keep you entertained.
Sorry if I sound really quiet, unenthusiastic, and a bit rambling. Self-note to never shoot videos at 3 am again while people are sleeping and I haven’t gotten any rest. 😶
It was not that bad. 😉
You’re doing just fine, Juan.
3am 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅 even more authentic lol
I thought this video had a very relaxed and morose tone. Perfect for the subject matter!
We couldn’t tell!
T’was terrific!
💚💚💚💚💚
Something I love about Japanese fiction is that they have this tendency to keep peeling away layers. Horror, drama, romance, each layer pulled away changes everything we saw before all without retconning. I love it.
For sad/horror of this type I would suggest the super short Thirst for Love by Mishima. You think you know what's happening and you start feeling smug with yourself for being too smart for the story, then BAM that last chapter hits and you realize you misjudged everyone. Awesome feeling.
I’m going to have to read this Mishima. Never even heard of it before! Thanks for the recommendation!
@@PlaguedbyVisions Sure thing! Thirst for Love is a great start because A. It's super short and B. There's none of the annoying Nationalism brow-beating smugness he's famous for. It's just a well crafted story.
The ending of Don't Look Now is burned into my mind. I love Roeg's editing style and the slow realization of what is happening to the Sutherland character.
It was definitely grief horror before the subgenre was ever popularized. Such a brutal ending!
This aesthetic and lighting tho? 🔥🔥🔥
Very “back alley of the local adult video and bookstore.”
Another great video! The Only Good Indians left me with that creeping depression recently. Dennis Cooper's stuff, although it's not technically horror, always leaves me with that feeling too.
I keep seeing rave reviews about The Only Good Indians and I’m certainly intrigued.
After I read and absolutely loved The Sluts I got copies of Closer and Frisk and now with your insight I’m really looking forward to reading more of him. If Silence of the Lambs is considered horror by most, then I say his stuff is horror too. 👏🏽👏🏽
I have thought about this book ever since I finished it. It was just so beautifully written!
I haven't read CONFESSIONS, but there's a film version which is absolutely brilliant! Tense, suspenseful, shocking and gripping, and yes, deeply sad. Sad as hell. Sad as f***! It was even nominated for the Academy Award on Best Foreign Language Film. Highly recommended, truly a gem. I want to try the novel, because if the film was THAT EXCELLENT, man, the film must be such an emotional ride also. Great pics, great video, as freakin' always! GREETINGS, MATE!! Can't wait for more!
I think someone else in the comments mentioned the film adaptation. I assure you, the novel is grueling and captivating. I haven’t read much like it! And thank you so much for going through my old videos. It really means a lot. :)
A story that left me devastated was “The Troop” by Nick Cutter. You mention the novel at the end of the video for a different reason. I could barely emotionally process the moments in the boat as the two friends row back to the mainland. My heart broke!
I’ve since read the Troop, and it didn’t really register as particularly harrowing to me, but that might just be my own desensitization. It IS kids in trouble, after all!
Great list. I’ve never read Sara Gran but do have one of her Claire DeWitt books on my Kindle. Sounds like I need to get to it soon! The coke scene is the one that has always stuck with me from The Road as well
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is great! Talk about another bleak novel. That seems to be her brand.
The Road remains a calamitous emotional event in my mind. The ending, too, is haunting in how simple and quiet it is.
Wow, what an interesting list, Juan! I loved Come Closer, but never would have thought to put it on this list. But you’re absolutely right... really good points. I wouldn’t have thought of The Road either, as it probably would not have sprung to to my mind as a horror book; but once you classify it that way, I suppose it’s a no-brainer for this list. I may have to try Confessions.
Thank you for watching! Come Closer was so amazing, and I just felt horrible after reading. To me, when I’m left feeling like that, that’s horror at its best.
I did cheat a little bit on the list and stretching the definition of “horror” 😅 but I do stand by the argument that it’s the most horrific aspects of the Road that also turn into the most depressing and distressing. I guess that’s why I see it as a masterful work of “emotional horror.”
Just found your Chanel and love it. Your descriptions are so articulate. I will check out Don’t Look Now first and then couple of the others.
Thank you so much for your kind words, and welcome to my channel! Daphne Du Maurier is always a joy to read. Give her novel, Rebecca, a chance, too, if you have the opportunity!
@@PlaguedbyVisions I have read Rebecca and Jamaican Inn by her and have them also in my Audible collection. I like the way she creates an atmosphere, she brings the story to life.
Hi Juan.... the saddest short story, for me, was “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson.
Jackson’s most brutal work for sure. I love that story as well. The most derelict, unnerving and decomposed view of America by far.
@@PlaguedbyVisions I agree. The Hulu movie “Shirley” was excellent.
Just finished Come Closer tonight. I wasn't particularly shocked by the ending, but it's always nice to see a good take on possession.
I’m glad you overall enjoyed it by the sound of it! It really is masterfully told, and in such few words, too.
Blessed by another killer video! I love how you choose such unique aspects/topics to talk about horror lit. I am reading and loving so many of your recommendations. Thank you, Juan! 🖤🙏
Btw, the lighting from your last few is 🔥
Thank you for watching once more! I really like how the lighting came out here, too.
Horror is so vast and diverse. That’s why I love it. It’s so versatile, profound, subjective and raw. I could literally ramble about it for hours (and I guess, in this channel, I technically have, lol).
I would recommend The Need by Helen Phillips. It gave me such chills and had a very surreal bleak atmosphere.
Thank you for the recommendation! I have been looking for more depression, devastating horror. Maybe that’s just the quarantine mood lol
Confessions really is close to my heart since my nieces and nephew are studying right now in Japan and one of them just stopped school all of a sudden.. I think she misses Philippines and I don't know why but what the author describes in the book (hikikomori) really is happening in Japan... Such a good book! And really sad as well!
I'm glad the book made an impact on you!!!
Thanks once again for the recommendation! I felt really... just... BAD... when I finished it, lol. Even though you’re meant to get a sense that the thirst for revenge has been quenched, there’s just no returning to any peace or justice. That’s what was truly depressing to me.
@@PlaguedbyVisions you just described the book perfectly!!!
Great video. I read The Road this past fall and 100% agree with your take on it. Thanks for sharing
Absolutely. One of the most devastating novels I’ve ever read.
I have wanted to read Come Closer, I have heard it's a powerful book. It's been on my TBR for awhile.
It’s an amazing novel, and you will read it in a day!
Loves to see it! Keep working it queen!
#girlboss
Not a horror or fiction book but A river in darkness is absolutely soul shattering
Great video! I’m always looking for sad horror. The road is on my tbr but I may need to bump it up.
Sad horror is definitely an underrated subset of speculative fiction! I think horror has that power to be incredibly depressing because it’s one of the few genres that dares to push the imagination towards those doomsday scenarios and those grueling scenes of loss.
The Road is absolutely fantastic. I don’t usually buy the “hype” of books as highly acclaimed as this one, but for this novel, I’d say it is well-deserved.
The Road is on my tbr but I'm too Bambi to start it.. My recommendation would be Black star, black sun by Rich Hawkins and Grind your bones to dust by Nicholas Day. Thanks for all the awesome content! 🙂
Thank you so much for the recommendation! I’ll definitely be looking into these. Horror with a melancholy edge tends to be my favorite.
Thank you for watching!
I love your videos and your insight. Really appreciate it. I often have the emotional urge to almost challenge a book to make me ugly cry. Haha. I find that is something I look for in horror stories especially. I guess it can be a form of catharsis when you can connect emotionally with a story that speaks to your own personal experiences as a human being. Anyway, I'm just rambling. Thank you again.
This is the place to ramble, so please keep doing so. Thank you so much for watching! Yes, I think in horror especially we have our empathy and emotional connection working at full speed because the subject matter so often deals with danger, persecution, and abjection, which really facilitate how we can put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, or identify with those feelings of terror and disgust at a personal level. Strangely so, I do think, given the various psychological and literary studies on the matter, that awful, horrific experiences do serve to bring us all together.
@@PlaguedbyVisions You're so right. I can't wait to watch your next video! You always give me a lot to think about.
Awesome vid, always look forward to your uploads!
Omg this is what I was looking for. Thanks man 😭
🧻tissue boxes are on me🧻
Just ordered Don't Look Now, watched the movie over a decade ago and it totally freaked me out. Totally forgot it was a book, so really looking forward to that.
Might order Confessions as well, have you seen the movie adaptation? If so how do you think they compare?
Another great vid, thanks for posting!!
I have never watched the film adaptation of Confessions. It would be interesting to see how some of the aspects are adapted onto film, as I felt it was a very internal narrative.
Thank you for watching!
I read come closer me too and it was for me one of the most unconfortable reading ever. You feel like youre the one who is losing control of your life.
Also i got confession at the library yesterday. I have a good feeling about this one😇
Come Closer resonated with issues of mental health and the very real breakdown of one’s integrity and self/preservation. That brings it to such a real and tragic level. It really disturbed me.
I am positive you will enjoy Confessions!
loved this!!! thank u 💕
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Empty Mile by Matthew Stoke (yes, the Cows guy). It's brutal but not for the sake of shock value. Emotionally mature and also incredibly "sad"
I really want to read that and his other novel, High Life! I still can’t believe I haven’t explored the rest of his works since Cows really blew me away!
Oh man, Cujo is heart-crushingly sad. The dog's downward spiral actually made me cry, especially when his last coherent thought is the fear that his owners will call him a bad dog.
I really need to read it again. I remember it being so mean-spirited, hurtful, everything coming undone. The fact that King doesn’t remember writing it always boggles me. It’s one of his most powerful works, in my opinion.
@@PlaguedbyVisions Yes, that's sad in his own right. I appreciate at the end of the book he takes the time to say Cujo was a good dog, before he got sick.
Hey Juan, love the vids! Could you do a list of books that terrified you? Not just left you feeling disgusted but genuinely terrified. :) big love from the UK!
Thank you so much for the comment and support! If you’re not opposed to nonfiction being on this list, I could certainly make a video like this!
@@PlaguedbyVisions yeah that would be quite refreshing :)
This combination is what I'm looking for.
😱😢
Hope you enjoyed it!
holy cow this setup!!!! im jealous
If my son is not the word of God. Gods never spoke to me
'The Road
I've often use that wrote describing my love for my son.
I even get goosebumps reading that quote. Truly one of the saddest books about frail love and sacrifice.
WOW! Back to back shoutout! lol
Friend by Diana Henstell. The film adaptation Deadly Friend is horrible. Wes Craven's worst movie.
The last line has never left me.
"So this is what love comes to."
Oh my God, I literally just watched Deadly Friend today. I actually love that film! 😂 Great 80s cheese.
That markiplier presentable liberty lets play made me so sad
Aww, what is this about?
@@PlaguedbyVisions without spoilers it’s about someone trapped in a small room by some kind of government agency during an apocalypse. You have pen palls and mini games to keep you entertained.
im currently on a zoom meeting lol I'll watch this later hahaha
Is it me or can I hear a cat??!!!
That was my cat Borges making his sound-only debut at the end. :P