I love stories about evil children, and I think I have exhausted all the good movies. Can anyone name me some good books? thanks!
Can anyone recommend a good "Malevolent Child" book?
- Thread starter Celia Cyanide
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Start with "The Bad Seed." I reread it a few years ago, and while the role of women had become quaint, the concept of the malevolent child still worked just fine.
Maryn, former malevolent child, meh-heh-heh
Maryn, former malevolent child, meh-heh-heh
It's been a few years so I could be wrong, but I remember some of John Saul's books like Suffer the Children being about evil kids or kids who are possessed or something along those lines.
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This signoff, coupled with your current avatar is truly disturbing me, Maryn.
I remember reading Wicked Angel by Taylor Caldwell aaaaaages ago and being quite traumatized by it. Not sure if it stands the test of time but it's the only title I can come up with since I'm not a malevolent child fan. :/
Doris Lessing wrote The Fifth Child about a wicked hairy kid with murderous impulses. It was quite strange.
I can think of a few in the short story category, such as the classic Children of the Corn and a speculative fiction short about a matricidal infant which still creeps me out. If you want shorts as well, I'll track it down.
I can think of a few in the short story category, such as the classic Children of the Corn and a speculative fiction short about a matricidal infant which still creeps me out. If you want shorts as well, I'll track it down.
Sounds like Ray Bradbury's The Small Assassin. Creepy story.
As far as recommendations go... Pet Sematary by Stephen King. IIRC, Artemis Fowl was a Creepy/Malevolent Child protagonist.
Also The Midwich Cuckoos, the book that The Village of the Damned was based on. I haven't read the book myself, but if the movie is anything to go by...
And Lord of the Flies. Jesus, Roger. *twitch*
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Lionel Shriver's, We Need to Talk About Kevin, is wonderfully written. I can't wholeheartedly recommend the book, because it's supposed to be realistic but strains believability to shreds. Still, Kevin is pretty damned terrifying.
I'll second Wicked Angel. It has a quiet, domestic setting that is a good foil for the evilness of Angelo Saint. Again, beware antiquated gender roles -- one of the women is a few years older than her husband and contemplates giving birth in her thirties. Apparently this raised some eyebrows at the time.
Damn, you stole my nomination.
I can't speak for any comparisons to parenthood as I'm not a parent, but I can say it nails 'woman who really doesn't want children' and the resentment she harbours/would harbour if forced reluctantly into motherhood.
Seriously, though, one of the most disturbing evil-kid short stories is Jerome Busby's 'It's a Good Life'.
There was a glut of evil-kid novels after 'The Omen', but most of them were bad. John Saul's were dreadful. Peter Straub had a pretty crap one called 'Full Circle' ('Julia' in the US, I think). There were worse ones that dance roudn the edges of my memory - the covers usually showed them clutching dolls and looking bug-eyes - but I've blocked out the details, I'm afraid.
There was a glut of evil-kid novels after 'The Omen', but most of them were bad. John Saul's were dreadful. Peter Straub had a pretty crap one called 'Full Circle' ('Julia' in the US, I think). There were worse ones that dance roudn the edges of my memory - the covers usually showed them clutching dolls and looking bug-eyes - but I've blocked out the details, I'm afraid.
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... can't recall a book, but have another movie: Tomorrow the World, 1944. It's about an adolescent nazi who wages a one-kid-war in America.
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Typo alert. Jerome Bixby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Good_Life
The Midwich Cuckoos, referenced earlier, is quite good.
With Artemis Fowl, though-he's technically a "villain", he's very sympathetic and later gains "Anti-hero" status in the book, so if you're looking for a child villain who is genuinely, cruel or evil or malicious; Artemis really isn't it.
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I've been looking for that book for ages. It's hard to track down around here for some reason.
Also by King, although it's a short, not a novel: "Children of the Corn." Possibly--no, definitely my favorite short story by King, aside from "Shawshank."
And because I never miss an opportunity to rec this one: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Predates The Hunger Games, but has the exact same premise, much better done IMO. Not all the kids are malevolent, but enough are that it should give you something to work with.
Battle Royale is indeed excellent - and the manga for it is very well done if you're into that kind of thing.
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^I've seen it on shelves, and I keep wanting to flip through it but it's always sealed. Bah! Totally stoked that the movie is getting a wider DVD release soon though--God bless Anchor Bay.
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Ohman...that movie gave me the heebie-jeebies. I'd forgotten it until this mention.
*shivers*
True. It's been awhile since I've read them and I was going off TvTrope's <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreepyChild">Creepy Child</a> for a couple them. I just remembered him as vaguely creepy.
Um. Claudia from Interview with the Vampire might qualify. She was turned when she was five and IIRC she was rather vicious.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreepyChild
Yeah, that's true. Artemis is a child genius and while he's not cruel or viscious he is ruthless and speaks with the intelligence and cunning of an adult so while it didn't particularly creep me out the first time I read it, later it did get a bit unnerving.
Claudia is a good one, dang was she viscious and ruthless.
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I second Stephen King's "Children of the Corn." It's a short story. If you've seen the movie, the book is quite different. Stephen King also wrote another short story called "Suffer the Little Children" in which these kids are either evil-bonkers or this lady is bonkers. It's one of my favorites.
Also...does your definition of "children" extend to teenagers? Because then a brilliant book is "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess. The main character is sixteen I think when the story starts, and he's a complete sociopath. It goes until he's 18. The book is actually somewhat profound, bringing up issues of free will, etc.; but it is also extremely graphic. My favorite part of the book is the slang Burgess invented solely for the youth of the story, which he made by mixing Cockney and Russian influences. If you haven't seen Kubrick's film based on the book and enjoy disturbing movies, I recommend it (though read the novel first, please!).
Also...does your definition of "children" extend to teenagers? Because then a brilliant book is "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess. The main character is sixteen I think when the story starts, and he's a complete sociopath. It goes until he's 18. The book is actually somewhat profound, bringing up issues of free will, etc.; but it is also extremely graphic. My favorite part of the book is the slang Burgess invented solely for the youth of the story, which he made by mixing Cockney and Russian influences. If you haven't seen Kubrick's film based on the book and enjoy disturbing movies, I recommend it (though read the novel first, please!).