Let’s be honest: some books have become cultural status symbols. Even among non-English majors, people will proudly display them on bookshelves, mention them at dinner parties, and drop references to them online. But there is one big problem —many readers never quite figured out what was happening. These books are notoriously difficult, experimental, and often intentionally confusing. The reason gatekeepers use them is that they’re really hard to get into!
To help, here’s why people feel compelled to pretend they’ve understood them, along with a one-sentence explanation you can use the next time they come up in conversation. After all, eNotes.com is famous for summarizing; we’re not going to stop now, even when the gates are being kept!
1. Ulysses by James Joyce
Why People Pretend
Because it’s widely considered one of the greatest novels ever written. Admitting you didn’t understand it can feel like confessing you don’t understand literature itself.
What It’s Actually About
A single ordinary day in Dublin becomes an epic journey as Joyce shows how the seemingly mundane thoughts and experiences of everyday people can be just as profound as the adventures of ancient heroes.
One-Line Summary:
“It’s Homer’s Odyssey reimagined as one day in the life of regular people in Dublin.”
2. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Why People Pretend
It’s long, intimidating, and packed with footnotes. Finishing it is a badge of honor, so people often assume they’re supposed to have a clear explanation ready. This is one of my favorite books, as it’s both dense and entertaining. I don’t find it particularly hard to understand, but it’s quite long, and there are so many details that at times it’s hard to hold it all together in your mind, which I suppose is the point.
What It’s Actually About
A society obsessed with entertainment and achievement slowly loses its ability to distinguish pleasure from addiction.
One-Line Summary:
“It’s about how the things we love can consume us.”
3. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Why People Pretend
Because almost nobody fully understands it, yet it’s routinely described as a literary masterpiece.
What It’s Actually About
Human history, myths, dreams, language, and consciousness blend into a giant dream in which meaning constantly shifts and repeats.
One-Line Summary:
“It’s a dream about all of human history told in a language that’s constantly reinventing itself.”
4. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Why People Pretend
It’s one of the most famous “difficult” novels ever written. People often feel they should understand it because everyone else seems to claim they do.
What It’s Actually About
Technology, war, corporations, and governments create systems so vast that individual human beings become trapped inside them.
One-Line Summary:
“It’s about losing your freedom inside giant systems of power.”
5. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Why People Pretend
Its shifting perspectives and fragmented timeline make many readers wonder whether they missed something important.
What It’s Actually About
The collapse of a once-proud Southern family is told through multiple minds, each revealing a different piece of the tragedy.
One-Line Summary:
“It’s a family falling apart, with each narrator too damaged to see the whole story.”
The Secret
The truth is that many great books aren’t puzzles with a single solution. They’re meant to be revisited, debated, and interpreted differently by different readers. All of these books are legitimately among the greatest books ever written, and deserve to be both read and studied. So don’t sell yourself short, don’t be intimidated, and give it a try. It’s actually fine if you don’t get it, or only partially understand! That’s where most people end up, and it doesn’t take away from the experience.
If someone claims they completely understood every page of Finnegans Wake, they’re either a literary genius or they’re proving this article’s point.