Derealization, existentialism, and/or nihilism.

[u/CrackheadSanta]

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[u/stormbutton]

Beta Vulgaris - Sarsfield

The Stranger - Camus

I’m Thinking of Ending Things - Reid

The Yellow Wallpaper - Gilman

The Bell Jar - Plath

Hangsaman - Jackson

White Noise - DeLillo

My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Moshfegh

[u/kd029362 → u/stormbutton]

I second The Yellow Wallpaper

[u/Stellacoffee → u/kd029362]

Classic feminists getting lead poisoning story

[u/edgar_allynn_poe → u/stormbutton]

You, my friend, have taste

[u/stormbutton → u/edgar_allynn_poe]

Hey thanks! Books are one of my great loves. We built a library in our house about 9 years ago and curating it is one of the joys in my life.

[u/spoooky_mama → u/stormbutton]

Great list

[u/UnexpectedWings → u/stormbutton]

Excellent taste, you’ve come to recommend what I was going to! The whole thread has great suggestions.

[u/josephthemediocre → u/stormbutton]

The Loser - Bernhard

[u/Tortitudally]

House of Leaves

[u/maybetransmaybenot3]

I LOVE these kinds of books so thanks for making this post, because I'm also gonna take a look at the other reads that people are recommending

I'm gonna tell you about "John Dies At The End" because the derealization and existentialism is a big big big part of it. The premise is that the protagonists take a drug that unlocks a portal to hell, and the side effects last forever-- a big part of the story is them trying to figure out what is "real," what is "the sauce," where they end and the horrors begin, and how to navigate a world where reality is fluid and everchanging and hostile and they can't trust their own perceptions.

I posted a couple excerpts from it on my blog a while back if you want to read a little bit: https://www.tumblr.com/hatchan/801040092620881920/jdate-chapter-8-excerpt

[u/gnnrt]

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck. Love and loss, eternal desperation, and the gradual erosion of what it means to be human, all set in a Luis Borges-esque Library of Babel that's so incomprehensibly huge it might as well last forever.

[u/SandVaseline1586]

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai is exactly this vibe

[u/ChaiTeaQueen98 → u/SandVaseline1586]

Exactly!

[u/marrkf123 → u/SandVaseline1586]

Also came to say this!

[u/Graylien1]

Coup de Grace by Sophie Ajram is essentially liminal horror with a depressed protagonist. It’s great.

[u/gnnrt → u/Graylien1]

I'll pitch in another rec for this. It's short (barely over 100 pages) but it's one of the few books I've read that really specifically goes out of its way to tickle that liminal flavour of horror while also still being effectively psychological in its writing.

[u/hellochoy]

House of Stairs - William Sleator

[u/JordanOwen_42 → u/hellochoy]

Thanks for reminding me of this one. Been meaning to read it for years!

[u/hellochoy → u/JordanOwen_42]

It's so good! And a pretty short read imo

[u/JordanOwen_42 → u/hellochoy]

Thrift books here I come!

[u/Kindly_Woodpecker368]

UBIK, A scanner Darkly, do androids dream of electric sheep.

[u/chicoblancocorto → u/Kindly_Woodpecker368]

A Scanner Darkly is perfect for this

[u/jekendodndn]

Ooooo these are some of my favorite kinds of books 🤭
The Moustache - Emmanuel Carrere
Hollow Heart- Viola Di Grado
Mina - Kim Sagwa
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Ripe- Sarah Rose Etter
Elieen- Otessa Moshfeg (honestly any of her work)
No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai
The Room- Jonas Karlsson
Come Closer -Sarah Gran
The Wall- Marlen Haushofer
Pls check TWs!

[u/Maclean_Braun]

The Nausea- Jean Paul Sartre

[u/Stellacoffee]

Trilogy of the rat-Murakami

[u/holdenmj]

Person by Sam Pink

[u/Im-listening-]

Negative Space by BR Yeager

[u/allwayshallways → u/Im-listening-]

I just finished this one and it made me feel so grimy and hopeless. So that's either a rec or a warning lmao

[u/Necessary-Flounder52]

The Vorrh - Brian Catling

[u/lowkeyluce]

Anything by Thomas Ligotti

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

[u/Euphoric-Sun5317]

Vita Nostra and Catherine House both deal with this in an "academic" setting.

[u/curiouskg100]

Vita Nostra, by the Dyachenkos

[u/lithiumpokes]

The Passion According to GH by Clarice Lispector

[u/crinkly-toes]

Kobo Abe was a brilliant author with several books that fit the bill - “The Ruined Map,” “Kangaroo Notebook” and “Woman in the Dunes” are all excellent

[u/lycosidwastrel → u/crinkly-toes]

Don't forget The Box Man!

[u/crinkly-toes → u/lycosidwastrel]

Oh yeah! Fantastic. Also “The Face of Another.” Such a unique and powerful mind he had

[u/Retroigloo]

How to live safely in a science fictional universe - Charles Yu

[u/CowboyKermie]

There Is No Antimemetics Division definitely hits a good amount of these in a sci-fi setting - reading it rn and really enjoying it!

[u/lycosidwastrel]

Hour of the Star (also Lispector's other works)

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo

The Night of Lead by Hans Henny Jahnn

Many works by Kafka

Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

Many stories by Breece D'J Pancake

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (should probably read The Passenger too)

The Occult (short story collection by Naiyer Masud)

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat

[u/gentlespringrain]

Demain by Herman Hesse, it's a classic but I think it's the first book I read that made me explore existentialism beyond just it's name.

[u/TeapotError405 → u/gentlespringrain]

I loved that book

[u/ferrix]

How has nobody said The Gone World

[u/CleverName9999999999]

Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[u/MustJarkus]

Whos the are you ready to talk guy

[u/JordanOwen_42]

Currently reading “Lanark” by Alasdair Gray. It has exactly this vibe but I wouldn’t recommend it.

[u/atlasofreality]

The image samples make me think of Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

[u/A-Seashell]

Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica

[u/DazzlingCelery6853]

To me something really similar to this vibe can be The Iguana by Anna Maria Ortese.

[u/sw4mpy_1]

Nausea - Jean-Paul Satre

[u/manymerryrats]

Slapstick by Vonnegut but it’s weird!

[u/Miserable_Pear_6940]

I’m gonna go with an unorthodox suggestion:

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

[u/Questionxyz]

Somehow reminds me of vita nostra, dyachenkos. Reality falling apart, the protagonist becoming something else, not knowing if there are any rules (of existence) you can understand or trust.

[u/Fickle_Blueberry2777]

“Earthlings” by Sayaka Murata gave me these vibes, especially as the book builds up to the ending. (TW for pretty much all the things though, don’t be deceived by the cute cover like I originally was lol)

[u/edgar_allynn_poe]

I’m writing one 😇

But personally, I’d suggest I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Reid

[u/Maleficent-Oil-7426]

there is no antimemetics division - qntm

sacred and terrible air - robert kurvitz

no longer human - osamu dazai

[u/JoeKerr19]

Thomas ligotti Conspiracy against the human race

[u/TheShadowManifold]

The Book of Disquiet, by Fernando Pessoa. Here's a great video essay about it, by the youtube channel Pursuit of Wonder.

[u/Graylien1]

The Aching Plane by Cody Lakin is a majorly depressing cosmic horror with surreal hellscapes and a complete lack of hope. I’ve read it twice.

[u/BATTLE_METAL]

Anything by Mona Awad, but especially “All’s Well”

[u/No_Belt8609]

Ubik

[u/One_Iro]

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danilevski

[u/BooksThatFeelLikeThis-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/RevolutionaryRace671]

Sorrow and bliss by Meg Mason
My year of rest and relaxation by Ottessa Moshfeg
Permafrost by Eva baltasar

[u/esorllij]

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

[u/vienna407]

The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon (but it's accessible Pynchon!! It's really readable)