[nluken]

Nice little article.

Another personal suggestion in this vein: The Queue by Vladimir Sorokin (trans. Sally Laird), which consists entirely of unattributed dialogue. It's challenging at first but once you get a feel for the rhythm and start recognizing characters by how they speak, it becomes a really charming read.

[ssttoo]

Let me add also Blindness by José Saramago, it has pages-long paragraphs and sentences, characters have no names just descriptions… it’s surprising at first but not hard to get into. Amazing book!

[aquariusDue]

I also recommend "Death with Interruptions" by the same author. I too was blindsided by how it was written but once you get used to the style it just flows.

[gonzo41]

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is like that. It's best read in the pit of a cold winter.

[hearsathought]

Much of the dialogue is between father and son, so the dialogue is easy to keep track of. It is a great book for the bleak days of winter. Easily one of the most devastating endings to a book.

[the_sleaze_]

Great book.

And a counter point, Blood Meridian by the same author. Extremely difficult for no reason whatsoever. Terrible book.

[robot-wrangler]

> Extremely difficult for no reason whatsoever. Terrible book.

Many people believe this is the mythical "Great American Novel" we've been arguing about and/or anticipating forever. Strong argument for that because it's actually very Hollywood, isn't it? It's an absurdly action-packed cowboy-horror mashup that's full of gratuitous violence and manifest destiny.

I know several people that thought it was "extremely gory for no reason whatsoever" and did not finish for that reason, but none that thought it was difficult. I was surprised TFA mentioned it in that light, because I remember Child of God being more of a slog and BM being a page-turner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Novel

[havblue]

I just finished Blood Meridian and consulted AI as-needed to cover the many, many metaphors. The funny thing was that Google AI got a lot of the book wrong, getting the fate of some characters mixed up as well as confusing some faceless deaths with others. Too much wanton violence to keep track of.

The book definitely covers evil and nihilism thoroughly, so why would you want to read something like that? Well, for every bad decision someone makes in the book, the reader has the opposite response of, "oh crap, don't do that!" So reading about nihilism doesn't make you more nihilistic. While I thought it was a great book it isn't something you should just read without consulting outside sources.

[viccis]

Last time I read it, I did not find it challenging outside of some of the more obscure words used (particularly things like names of types of buildings and similar mundane objects), and my Kindle's built-in dictionary was able to define all of those in one tap.

As far as "for no reason", I would say that McCarthy's impressionist prose that meanders, leaves out some details while focusing on others, etc., is some of the best English language prose ever written. It's beautiful and conveys affect better than almost anything else I've encountered. All the "reason" I needed.