I'm over half way through Hyperion now but thanks for the warning. Funnily, I'm fine with the disturbing scenes in it. I think because they're not gratuitous to the story, and also because they're acknowledged to be highly disturbing by the characters. The story is essentially all about how the lives of these characters have been totally changed by how terrible these events are. There's lots of space given to acknowledge what happens.

In Kavalier and Clay, it was more like the writer had become depressed and just allowed it to seep into his writing. Which I can understand - I've had it happen to me. But it's not the mark of good writing. He should have stood back later and edited those parts when he was feeling more objective.