For the better or for the worst, which book actually affected you. I’ll start, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. Such an amazing book, well written and suprised me.
[SPOILERS]
The blurb on the back stated that each Lisbon sister k1lled themselves one by one. What I was expecting was throughout every 3 or so chapters, a Lisbon sister would kill themselves. But actually, 85% of the book, was only 1 Lisbon sister dead and the other 4 alive until the end when they all k1lled themselves. If I was told that the large majority of the book was just about the Lisbon girls life through the eyes of teenage boys and then eventually in the end they all k1ll themselves, I would probably be less interested in the book. But this book was hard to put down, it was so well written with amazing vocabulary and it spent the right amount of time explaining things (instead of using 12 pages to describe a staircase or only 3 sentences to describe a plot etc). It kept me interested and also with it being on a slightly alarming topic (suicide), it gave the book an eerie feeling which filled me with a strange comfort.
Maybe not the type of stuff that normally gets discussed in this sub, but the Mushoku Tensei light novels had a profound impact on me when I read them. Obviously the main character is an extreme example, but any young male who finds themselves isolated and unhappy with the state of their lives can find some relation to Rudy and the feelings he has internally. Seeing him go from essentially a self serving and bitter loner to someone who genuinely cares for those around him and works to better himself not only for his own sake, but for the sake of the people he loves really resonated with me and pushed me to let go of the past and work towards a brighter future and to appreciate the people that matter in my life.