Calling a book a masterpiece can create some pretty intimidating expectations. These are the novels people are told they should read at least once, the classics that fill college syllabuses, and the acclaimed works that routinely appear on lists of the greatest books ever written. Actually making it through them can be another matter entirely. Dense prose, endless descriptions, experimental structures, enormous casts, and characters readers simply cannot stand have all turned celebrated books into personal endurance tests. Sometimes multiple attempts still aren’t enough to reach the final page, no matter how important the book is supposed to be. When readers shared the acclaimed works they struggled with most, even some of literature’s biggest names weren’t safe. Here are 15 literary “masterpieces” people found completely unreadable.
Ulysses by James Joyce
One reader said they had tried to read Joyce’s famous novel numerous times over the years and simply couldn’t do it. Others pointed out that even among Joyce’s notoriously challenging work, Ulysses has earned a reputation for demanding quite a bit of patience.
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
If Ulysses is difficult, several readers thought Finnegans Wake was on another level entirely. One person who had actually finished it joked that whenever the book started making sense, that was a good indication it was time to stop reading for a while.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
One reader admired Dante’s enormously influential story but found its slow pace, allegories, and literary devices exhausting. Another pointed out an additional challenge: Dante frequently references people and controversies that would have been much more familiar to someone living in 14th-century Florence.
