A few months back, I bailed on Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. It’s a classic, practically legendary. But I just couldn’t do it. That doesn’t mean I won’t come back to it. I bailed on The Brothers Karamazov several times before it finally clicked and I sailed through it; I wasn’t ready until I was.
Some books are notoriously difficult. There are any number of reasons. Writing for Big Think, Scotty Hendricks lists several, including a few still on my list of books I still want to read. I’m indifferent about Les Misérables; maybe I’ll read it, maybe I won’t. But Ulysses and The Tale of the Genji are both books I want to tackle. And yet there they are: “better known for being hard-to-finish rather than widely read.”
Then again, Catch-22 makes Hendricks’s list, and I had no trouble with it.
As with anything in life, mileage may vary when it comes to literary difficulty. There are so many factors—not only the book itself, but what we bring to it. Sometimes a book is challenging on its own terms; then you throw in a hectic life, difficulty paying attention, lack of interest, whatever, and suddenly DNF is the name of the game.
What I’m curious about is what books you find challenging to finish. What books have stumped you, bested you, caused you to throw up your hands in defeat? What books do you have trouble getting through? Bonus points if it’s one you feel you really want to read. Tell me in the comments.
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I’m stuck in Brothers K! I keep getting into other reads but I really want to finish —and love it —before the end of the year!
My high school librarian was my mentor, and one day I checked out Celine's Journey to the End of Night. He promptly warned me that he found it hard to finish. I started it, and very soon realized why he hadn't finished the book; the protagonist is a narcissist and the book is simply depressingly pessimistic to a degree that I thought was impossible. When I returned it, I realized that I had stopped reading it at almost exactly where he had. Coincidence? I think not.....