Both Uses of

grotesque
in
Hiroshima, by John Hersey

The rain cleared and the cloudy afternoon was hot; before nightfall the three grotesques under the slanting piece of twisted iron began to smell quite bad.†
Chpt 2

All were grotesquely burned and they supported themselves with staves or leaned on one another.†
Chpt 3 *

Definitions:

(1) (grotesque)
distorted and unnatural in shape or size -- especially in a disturbing way

or:

ugly, gross, or very wrong
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

More rarely, grotesque can refer to a style of art or instances of it that combines or distorts in a fanciful way natural forms into something that is often ugly or disturbing. Grotesque can also be used specifically to reference a gargoyle-like sculpture without a waterspout.