This book was not for me, I found it really confusing to read.
There didn't seem to be a plot to follow and the chapters with the dogs were weird. I hated the layout of the novel and the chapter novels. Definitely not something I would pick up again.

Thanks for the ARC copy of this novella. I was a bit confused, however, as to what I read. It seemed like a jumble of thoughts, kind of poetic, a story but not really a story. Super hard to figure it out, I was disappointed.

“The Art of Being Difficult” by William Chekhov was a thought provoking novelette.

The synopsis of this book starts right in the beginning of the book in the “TLDR” chapter! Without that chapter I wouldn’t have been able to follow any of this story.. The art of being difficult is a great title for this book since the short chapters provide little info about who is talking, why there are talking dogs, and why there is gun violence.
While this book wasn’t really my cup of tea, this is great to read in one sitting!
Thank you to NetGalley and Mendelssohn Press for a copy of this ebook to review.

The Art of Being Difficult lives up to its name – traversing through the contents of the book and seeing glimpses of Kotan’s unfulfilling life and other varying perspectives can feel like a complicated venture. But nothing in life is ever easy.

From the start, the spoilers in the first chapter create the foundation to help us as readers understand the chronological timeline of events involving our protagonist Kotan. The introductory warnings in the first few pages also establish the form this book takes; primarily poetic, serious in tone and intent with a slight hint of humour, emphasizing the different components that come close to defining “life.” And if the rest of the passages weren’t complicated enough, we’ve also been given a unique numbering system for the chapters in the book.

The first read-through was mostly for literary appreciation; a lot of the lamentations hit close to home. Some aspects of life – work, relationships with people, giving and receiving our own definitions of love – are universal experiences in a way. The second read-through gave me a better idea of how all these narratives were related and allowed me to revisit moments that I must have missed the first time around – which feels a bit like cheating since life can only truly be experienced once. You blink and you miss something, and it’s gone forever.

Those who have gone through (or are currently undergoing) existential crises could find a lot of value in this book. Even those who are looking for something profound and hard to unravel can appreciate the poetic paragraphs.

I can't even give a proper review on this book as I couldn't follow it at all or make sense of it. It's written in a jumble jumping between stories and characters and timelines that does not add up or make sense at all really....

this was a different and short read.

if you're expecting a traditional book with an easy-to-understand storyline, this may be a tad hard to get into. but i see the vision the author was trying to tell. there's no discernable timeline and it's chaotic. much like life, it's very much a rollercoaster. it's like getting clips of different happenings in multiple people's perspective, but they're all intertwined and really tell one story. nothing makes sense, but also does. it's almost poetic... very much an artistic telling of several stories.

there are characters who are living lives they know is not what they want or not what they're meant for, feeling like they're on a path that they were merely led to live. they are miserable and react in much angst, but also feel defeated that they feel some sort of acceptance. kind of like them saying, "oh well... it is what it is." i'm sure some of us can relate.

now, would i recommend this book? it depends on who i'm recommending it to. this may not be fitting for most of my bookish friends. so to find the right crowd who might appreciate this may very well be a bit hard.

so why 3 stars? it wasn't bad, but the complex timeline and stories took a bit to really grab me. once i took the time to make sense of some of it, i realized not to dive too much into the details... but more so to follow the train of thoughts. it's still interesting to read something different.

thank you to NetGalley and Mendelssohn Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this book. i received this as an ARC and leave this review voluntarily.

Cleverly written, unique and genuinely beautiful in parts, The Art of Being Difficult is a quick, compelling read. Abstract and complex, it reads more like poetry than a plot-driven novel and I struggled a little to follow the storyline but I think this is more of a fault with my own expectations than any issue with the book itself. I’d love to read more by this author.

This was a quick read that had promise, but the execution just felt very scattered. It's clear the author was trying to be very stylistic with this story, which can work, but there wasn't enough of anything to ground it. The style feels similar to A Visit from the Goon Squad, but those chapters were multiple different mediums and styles so you could at least still find the plot. I feel like I have a vague idea of what this story was (thanks to the TLDR at the start of the book), and some "chapters" had sentences that stuck out to me, but overall I was basically just skimming as I had no real idea of what was happening.

The title really sets the tone for this book. It's witty and very different from anything I've read before. If you are a fan of satire, different styles of reading, and need something a little different this may be a good read for you!

Thanks to Mendelssohn Press for the early Arc copy!

The Art of Being Difficult by William Chekhov was not at all what I was expecting.

It's quirky, experimental and really quite fun. It's the kind of quick read that you have to step back from, tilt your head and cover one eye and you will certainly get it

Tarantino would be proud

Thank you very much to Netgalley, Mendelssohn Press and the author William Chekhov for this very interesting ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own