Why is this book so hard to read...

Why is this book so hard to read? I'm starting to realize I'm a brainlet because it takes so fucking long to even understand one page in this book sometimes.

that's the pleasure of it, isn't it? they're little puzzleboxes to open up. nothing so hard that you can't figure it out with a bit of effort. just sometimes nice to go through such little mental exercises. plus it's worth it for how neat some of his ideas are.

Many of the crazy-seeming twists of fate or cruelties have some basis in history. So Ficciones = Fictions but a lot of these "Fictions" have a foot in reality.

Sorry, this post probably doesn't address your problem at all.

Can always try some of his other stuff first too.

if you lift weights to get stronger, it is reasonable to expect that you will be a little bit sore. so it is with literature and the mind.

i didnt really enjoy this one

its written in an overblown style but has the format of short encyclopedia articles... in all honesty the details that borges intended to color the narrative fell flat too. all thats forgivable considering it was an early work.

What do you struggle with? Borges stories mostly have one gimmick that makes you think about some math concept or aspect of reality. They're rarely deeply layered with many different meanings

For example:
Library of Babel = makes you think about if anything you write is truly original since you can merely generate all permutations

His writing style isn't particularly difficult but a few of his themes could be to those unfamiliar with him.

Wew, I read it in spanish (my first language) and now I'm not ashamed for needing to re-read every short story in order to get it. Awesome book though.

The library of Babel is also about the search of perfection and whether that's worth it, because you probably won't find it (and you have to imagine that while everyone's searching for this perfect book, someone might be born near it). It's also about infinity and nearing infinity. It's a parable on the structure of the universe. He delves into the nature of religion as well at some point in the story.