What book was difficult to read, but you are glad you stuck with it?

[Eric]

One book that comes to my mind was Barry Hannah's Yonder Stands Your Orphan.

I picked this up and I bet I started and re-started this book many times and would put it back on the shelf mostly frustrated with not picking up on the writing style. One summer I told myself it would be finished and it then clicked.

A good, nasty Southern-noir tale.....

[L.A.]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. loads of names to take in in the first few pages made it hard for me! But once I got through it I thought it was well worth the effort!!

[Samanvay]

The ascent of Money

[Skye]

I agree with L.A. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; the beginning was long and descriptive, but once I was able to get into the book, I couldn't put it down and needed the buy the next two; the second book was far easier to read.

[Chris]

Swan Song, took me so long because I was only reading a few pages at a time but once I actually sat down and read it for about 1/2 hour I didn't want to put down.

[Brandon]

It's hard to say. Maybe Anna Karenina? I struggled through the second half, but I can't really say I'm glad I finished it.

Tristessa by Jack Kerouac is probably a better contender. At first it was practically incoherent - just an onslaught of unconnected, nonconjugated words. I initially dismissed it as Kerouac at his worst and considered giving on up it...And I did. I just put it on the shelf and moved on to other books.
One winter morning a couple of months later, I took it off the shelf (for some reason) and just read the first page. Slowly.
It wasn't incoherent anymore, I still found it self-indulgent, but not incoherent. I stuck with it and eventually "got it" somewhere around page 20 (It's taxing to read 20 pages of near-gibberish.) and it ended up being pretty beautiful, in a sad sort of way - I even ended up liking the prose, though I can't say I'd be in a hurry to read a book written like this again any time soon.