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This Will Be Difficult to Explain and Other Stories
These loosely connected hypnotic stories about memory and desire, from Giller Prize winner Johanna Skibsrud, introduces us to an astonishing array of characters who time and again find themselves face to face with what they didn’t know they didn’t know, at the exact point of intersection between impossibility and desire.A young maid at a hotel in France encounters a man who asks to paint her portrait, only later discovering that he is someone other than who we think he is. A divorced father who fears estrangement from his thirteen-year-old daughter allows her to take the wheel of his car, realising too late that he’s made a grave mistake. Taking readers from South Dakota to Paris, to Japan, into art galleries, foreign apartments, farms and beach hotels, This Will Be Difficult to Explain is a masterful and perceptive series of tales from one of fiction’s brightest new voices.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2011
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399 people want to read
About the author
Johanna Skibsrud
21 books52 followersJohanna Skibsrud is a Canadian writer whose debut novel The Sentimentalists, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is also the author of This Will Be Difficult to Explain, as well as two poetry collections. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
April 10, 2012
This Will Be Difficult to Explain: And Other Stories is a slim volume of short stories by Johanna Skibsrud. As a lover of short stories, I was highly anticipating the reading of this book. However, I was quite disappointed. The stories are bland and boring, most of them without any perceptible essence to be gleaned. Some of the characters are in more than one of the stories though there is no real follow-through with their lives. Many of the stories are about small aspects of life that can lead to 'extraordinary' changes.
In 'The Electric Man', a young American is working for the summer at a European hotel. An elderly man asks her to pose for her portrait. Though he is strange, she agrees to pose. During their time together he tells her a little about himself. However, after the summer ends she realizes that she has no clue about the realities of his life. In 'The Limit', a father gets to see his daughter for the first time in eight months. He feels like an absentee father, something he never wanted to be. However, issues with his ex-wife make it difficult for him to see his daughter more often. As they head off to his mother's house he tries to connect with his daughter without much luck. Another story is about a young American woman who works as an aide for a blind Parisian. The young woman's French is not so good and this leads to her misunderstanding the story of the death of her employer's son.
My favorite story in the collection is 'Clarence'. A young journalist goes out on assignment to get a story and photo of the oldest living man in his county. His first attempt is unsuccessful but he tries again with a different angle, telling the man a story of his own - when he was fifteen years old he saw a snake eat a fish and found it extraordinary. The story takes a strange turn but the photo is attained.
Many of the stories are told non-linearly. Parts of them take place in the present with the other part in the past. Thus, they have two story lines - the current situation and something that happened long ago. While the technique is interesting, I did not find that it added much to the stories themselves. I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book but that is not the case. It was difficult to get through and I am left with only one story that I will carry with me.
In 'The Electric Man', a young American is working for the summer at a European hotel. An elderly man asks her to pose for her portrait. Though he is strange, she agrees to pose. During their time together he tells her a little about himself. However, after the summer ends she realizes that she has no clue about the realities of his life. In 'The Limit', a father gets to see his daughter for the first time in eight months. He feels like an absentee father, something he never wanted to be. However, issues with his ex-wife make it difficult for him to see his daughter more often. As they head off to his mother's house he tries to connect with his daughter without much luck. Another story is about a young American woman who works as an aide for a blind Parisian. The young woman's French is not so good and this leads to her misunderstanding the story of the death of her employer's son.
My favorite story in the collection is 'Clarence'. A young journalist goes out on assignment to get a story and photo of the oldest living man in his county. His first attempt is unsuccessful but he tries again with a different angle, telling the man a story of his own - when he was fifteen years old he saw a snake eat a fish and found it extraordinary. The story takes a strange turn but the photo is attained.
Many of the stories are told non-linearly. Parts of them take place in the present with the other part in the past. Thus, they have two story lines - the current situation and something that happened long ago. While the technique is interesting, I did not find that it added much to the stories themselves. I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book but that is not the case. It was difficult to get through and I am left with only one story that I will carry with me.
September 21, 2016
4 stars or, I Liked This More Than Everyone Else.
September 26, 2011
***I won this book from Goodreads as a First Reads giveaway***
This Will Be Difficult to Explain and Other Stories by Johanna Skibsrud.
I was very excited to win an ARC of this novel by an award winning Canadian author.
This book is composed of a variety of short stories. Some characters appear in more than one chapter. They are slice of life stories and range in an assortment of characters and backgrounds. In each chapter the characters have an OMG type of moment where they realize that they knew something all along - little moments of epiphany.
There is Martha in “French Lessons” who works in France for Madame Bernard, a blind, French speaking, Braille reading old woman. Martha is trying diligently to learn to speak and understand French but is finding it difficult and making blunders along the way. After several months Martha surprises herself when she realizes that she really understands the language after all.
In another chapter titled “Clarence” the character Frankie is a reporter who works for a paper called the Gleaner. For the 50th anniversary spread Frankie is sent out to interview Clarence, a very old person, oldest possibly in the entire state. After two visits Frankie doesn’t get a single word out of Clarence. Frankie then realizes that he never will get a word out of Clarence because Clarence is actually dead - just sitting in his chair as if he were alive.
I did find some of the short stories more difficult to understand, winding and somewhat confusing so I rate this book 4 stars. Overall, Johanna Skibsrud is a very talented and creative writer.
This Will Be Difficult to Explain and Other Stories by Johanna Skibsrud.
I was very excited to win an ARC of this novel by an award winning Canadian author.
This book is composed of a variety of short stories. Some characters appear in more than one chapter. They are slice of life stories and range in an assortment of characters and backgrounds. In each chapter the characters have an OMG type of moment where they realize that they knew something all along - little moments of epiphany.
There is Martha in “French Lessons” who works in France for Madame Bernard, a blind, French speaking, Braille reading old woman. Martha is trying diligently to learn to speak and understand French but is finding it difficult and making blunders along the way. After several months Martha surprises herself when she realizes that she really understands the language after all.
In another chapter titled “Clarence” the character Frankie is a reporter who works for a paper called the Gleaner. For the 50th anniversary spread Frankie is sent out to interview Clarence, a very old person, oldest possibly in the entire state. After two visits Frankie doesn’t get a single word out of Clarence. Frankie then realizes that he never will get a word out of Clarence because Clarence is actually dead - just sitting in his chair as if he were alive.
I did find some of the short stories more difficult to understand, winding and somewhat confusing so I rate this book 4 stars. Overall, Johanna Skibsrud is a very talented and creative writer.
April 19, 2012
I received this book through the Goodreads First Reads promo.
While I enjoyed the writing style of this book, it felt insubstantial in a couple of ways. First, there's just not much there. It's extremely short, and at the end of every story, it seemed like there was so much missing beyond the potential evident at the beginning. (Irrelevant, but as a layout designer, I couldn't help but notice the extremely wide margins, which probably helped to add bulk to the overall length of the book.)
Second, the stories end right where they begin to pick up steam, which would be one thing if, as stated on the jacket, they were actually loosely connected to one another but beyond a couple of characters mentioned or appearing in more than one story they aren't nearly connected enough for that to be a selling point. What was the deal with the painter? How did the prize bull incident play into the characters' lives beyond that one evening? I found the spare plotting to be unrewarding in this case, and the whole thing seemed half-finished.
While I enjoyed the writing style of this book, it felt insubstantial in a couple of ways. First, there's just not much there. It's extremely short, and at the end of every story, it seemed like there was so much missing beyond the potential evident at the beginning. (Irrelevant, but as a layout designer, I couldn't help but notice the extremely wide margins, which probably helped to add bulk to the overall length of the book.)
Second, the stories end right where they begin to pick up steam, which would be one thing if, as stated on the jacket, they were actually loosely connected to one another but beyond a couple of characters mentioned or appearing in more than one story they aren't nearly connected enough for that to be a selling point. What was the deal with the painter? How did the prize bull incident play into the characters' lives beyond that one evening? I found the spare plotting to be unrewarding in this case, and the whole thing seemed half-finished.
May 5, 2012
The title of JOHANNA SKIBSRUND'S latest offering THIS WILL BE DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN is a more than fitting description of the quandary I am facing when it comes to reviewing this slim offering, The stories and narrative style resemble the path of a meandering river as it philosophically attempts to explore and analyze every abstract, microscopic thought and emotion experienced by a variety of characters that lead to their individual AH-HA moments. The only problem is that when those moments finally do arrive......the AH-HA is bland and the events that lead to them just short of boring. Like a cow chewing it's cud, the characters ruminate over their situations to the point where the reader wants to shout with exaspiration, " STOP THINKING AND DO SOMETHING"!
Perhaps Skibsrund writing, with its esoteric allusions and willful ambiguity, is meant to enlighten and encourage in-depth thinking. All it manages to do is bewilder the reader. It that was her intent, I am pleased to say that in my particular case, she achieved resounding success.
Perhaps Skibsrund writing, with its esoteric allusions and willful ambiguity, is meant to enlighten and encourage in-depth thinking. All it manages to do is bewilder the reader. It that was her intent, I am pleased to say that in my particular case, she achieved resounding success.
March 30, 2013
A somewhat dull stories you need to be in the right mood for.
Each of these stories focuses on just a regular day (or 2 or more) for a regular person. And most of the narration is the character thinking about things. Thoughts include the usual "the future never gets here, but how has 30 years gone by?"; to "even Paris becomes just a place to live and loses its allure" (I like this thought, because when I was 9 and we took a huge family road trip, I was amazed to find that Tennessee or Connecticut or Illinois or Wyoming wasn't all that different from California where I lived--kids were the same, life was more or less the same activities, worries, etc); "is this what our life will be like? a series of reversals?".
Interesting and honest, but not particularly exciting.
Each of these stories focuses on just a regular day (or 2 or more) for a regular person. And most of the narration is the character thinking about things. Thoughts include the usual "the future never gets here, but how has 30 years gone by?"; to "even Paris becomes just a place to live and loses its allure" (I like this thought, because when I was 9 and we took a huge family road trip, I was amazed to find that Tennessee or Connecticut or Illinois or Wyoming wasn't all that different from California where I lived--kids were the same, life was more or less the same activities, worries, etc); "is this what our life will be like? a series of reversals?".
Interesting and honest, but not particularly exciting.
April 20, 2012
I found this book too melancholy for my liking, and the writing style in a couple of the stories made it difficult to follow (speaking of that, that would have made a better title for this book ~ This Will Be Difficult To Follow). After reading reviews about this book, and the fact that the author is a Giller Prize Award winner, I had high expectations. This book fell far flat in my opinion.
May 2, 2012
Ugh. Pretentious nonsense.
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July 9, 2015The title of this book should be "This Will Be Difficult to Near Impossible to Tolerate." bleccch
August 28, 2021
This was a weird book, I am still confused on what I read
May 31, 2019
Stories out of everyday life featuring juxtapositions, moments of clarity or change, unusually complex experiences, familiar but difficult to describe. Stories which start in the middle, become clearer, then shift dramatically, in time, in place, or in perspective. Time seems to flow at very different rates at various points in each of these stories. Intricate, like old fashioned clocks, or maybe Rube Goldberg devices.
September 17, 2018
I always find it hard to rate short story collections barring some authors. This book had some really interesting and enjoyable stories and others that I didn’t enjoy as much. I liked the interconnected stories with Martha & Ginny the best.
January 21, 2021
This book has such a low overall rating compared to how much I enjoyed it. There was only one short story I didn’t quite enjoy,
I really enjoyed Skibsrud’s descriptive nature and her pacing. I look forward to reading more from this author.
I really enjoyed Skibsrud’s descriptive nature and her pacing. I look forward to reading more from this author.
December 24, 2021
I couldn't get past the poor writing! I found everything in the stories, from the characters, the settings, the plots, etc. so darn vapid and unimaginative. Ugh. I hate being harsh, but this was just so shallow and cognitively unstimulating.
May 21, 2017
Author says a lot with very few words. Book is less than 170 pages, but it felt like a novel. Recommended.
Read
January 1, 2021Very uninteresting and the stories went nowhere. I could not finish.
September 26, 2021
As with most short story collections some were good, some lost my interest. The first story was by far the best of the bunch. While some would love the writing style I did not really mesh with it.
October 8, 2021
What did I just read? I'm new to short story collections and have enjoyed a few but this one was not my cup of tea. My favourite story was The Electric Man.
May 15, 2022
it was just ok, not a 1 start but not a 5 star either,
May 8, 2023
I don't know what the point in any of these stories was.
January 14, 2020
A great collection of short stories that gives the reader a glimpse of a slice of a particular character's life. Skibsrud is able to convey the fleeting and intangible quality of memory and feelings in these shorts. The mood is quiet, reflective, and somewhat funny at times.
May 28, 2012
This falls into the "didn't get it" category. I usually like short stories, but these just seemed like rambling and pointless descriptions of a moment in time. There was no story element (i.e plot development). And the moments created seemed dull and ordinary - nothing grabbed my imagination or provoked further thought. The saving grace is that it was short. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished to collection.
My favorite short stories link together in some way. These were advertised as linked short stories, but the links were so weak they might as well have been non-existant. Basically a couple character names were re-used in a few stories. But we didn't get any meaningful character development or insight out of it.
The short stories also reflected "modern" values - religion is insulted, homosexuals are portrayed sympathetically, and an unborn baby is repeatedly referred to as "just a cluster of cells, not a human being".
My favorite short stories link together in some way. These were advertised as linked short stories, but the links were so weak they might as well have been non-existant. Basically a couple character names were re-used in a few stories. But we didn't get any meaningful character development or insight out of it.
The short stories also reflected "modern" values - religion is insulted, homosexuals are portrayed sympathetically, and an unborn baby is repeatedly referred to as "just a cluster of cells, not a human being".
August 22, 2013
This Will Be Difficult to Explain is a series of short stories by Johanna Skibsrud. I picked it up while waiting in line at library and as I enjoy reading short stories I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I found it difficult to get through and a lot of the stories didn’t grab my attention. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
The story titled ‘The Electric Man’ I did find interesting. A girl working for the summer in a hotel is approached by one of the guests, an elderly man. He asks the girl to pose for a portrait and she agrees even though he is odd. He tells her a little bit about his life while he paints, but when he leaves the girl finds out she doesn’t really know him at all. It made me wonder why he told a different story and also why he wanted to paint her portrait. That was one of the stories that will stick with me.
The story titled ‘The Electric Man’ I did find interesting. A girl working for the summer in a hotel is approached by one of the guests, an elderly man. He asks the girl to pose for a portrait and she agrees even though he is odd. He tells her a little bit about his life while he paints, but when he leaves the girl finds out she doesn’t really know him at all. It made me wonder why he told a different story and also why he wanted to paint her portrait. That was one of the stories that will stick with me.
February 11, 2012
I received an advance ebook copy of this story collection on NetGalley.
These stories are quiet and understated - the epiphanies and moments of self-discovery are small - a father estranged from his daughter getting her to smile after she's gotten angry with him while he's teaching her to drive, a young woman living in France who forms a tentative and distant acquaintance with a painter as she sits for him. The language is largely unobtrusive, but the author did a good job in bringing the characters to live for the few pages that we know them - some do recur in different stories, but there's no overarching story line. More low-key than what I usually read, but pleasant, in a melancholy, thoughtful sort of way.
These stories are quiet and understated - the epiphanies and moments of self-discovery are small - a father estranged from his daughter getting her to smile after she's gotten angry with him while he's teaching her to drive, a young woman living in France who forms a tentative and distant acquaintance with a painter as she sits for him. The language is largely unobtrusive, but the author did a good job in bringing the characters to live for the few pages that we know them - some do recur in different stories, but there's no overarching story line. More low-key than what I usually read, but pleasant, in a melancholy, thoughtful sort of way.
April 2, 2012
As I plough through Canadian Literature, opting for the most logical authors seemed a good idea. But when you don't know anything about the literary heritage of a country, sometimes I think it's better to see what is being written NOW and work your way back in time. I picked this book from the library because of the title and because I'm really trying to read more short fiction.
But I couldn't read much of it. I got to a page where the word "myself" was inserted almost in every sentence. I read it aloud, I read it three times. It just didn't work The style felt dry and monotonous. Like "trying to hard".
I jumped to the next story and the next. The language, the rhythm, the voices were like a wall over which I could not peek over.
Unfortunately.
But I couldn't read much of it. I got to a page where the word "myself" was inserted almost in every sentence. I read it aloud, I read it three times. It just didn't work The style felt dry and monotonous. Like "trying to hard".
I jumped to the next story and the next. The language, the rhythm, the voices were like a wall over which I could not peek over.
Unfortunately.
May 28, 2012
I decided to read THIS WILL BE DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN after being intrigued with (but ultimately frustrated by) THE SENTIMENTALISTS.
The majority of the short stories in this collection fall flat. There simply isn't enough there to make for a compelling or memorable short story. (The three standouts in the collection are "Clarence," "Cleats," and "Angus' Bull.") What's more, the writing itself is challenging. Skibsrud writes in meandering, complex sentences. Sometimes you have to read through a sentence two or three times to decipher its meaning.
Skibsrud is a very good writer, but this collection of short stories is likely to leave most readers feeling more frustrated than satisfied.
The majority of the short stories in this collection fall flat. There simply isn't enough there to make for a compelling or memorable short story. (The three standouts in the collection are "Clarence," "Cleats," and "Angus' Bull.") What's more, the writing itself is challenging. Skibsrud writes in meandering, complex sentences. Sometimes you have to read through a sentence two or three times to decipher its meaning.
Skibsrud is a very good writer, but this collection of short stories is likely to leave most readers feeling more frustrated than satisfied.
February 6, 2016
This collection of short stories is designed to be savoured. It will appeal to the reader who enjoys narrative, skillful use of language, and contemplations on abstract topics like time, love and the weariness of the familiar. It's a little thin in the action and plot department, however, and dare I say, a little dry. The narrators tended to frustrate me with their proper language, well-guarded emotions, and painstaking desire not to offend. I felt like a visitor who never makes it to the kitchen -- who is confined to the front room in the plastic-covered wingback chair between the potted philodendron and the antique settee.
August 18, 2012
The author is a very good writer. It flows so well that it is very simple to read. My favorite story was not "This Will Be Difficult to Explain", but rather "The Electric Man". The entire time I was reading this short story, I just wanted to know who the man was. It wasn't until the end that I found the true identity, I will not give it up, or tell you on here, because the story touched me so much, that I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. Read the book. I promise you'll enjoy it.
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
May 30, 2013
I almost gave this two stars, but I did enjoy a few of the stories, particularly the first one about the young woman who is working in France.
Skibsrud's first book, The Sentimentalists, was beautiful, cerebral and poetic. These short stories are at times not comprehensible to me. The title story was extremely disturbing and I could not read it.
I am also disappointed that as a Canadian, Skibsrud did not set any of these stories in Canada. She has been compared to Alice Munro. Both are wonderful writers, but Munro is without a doubt the winner in the short story department.
Skibsrud's first book, The Sentimentalists, was beautiful, cerebral and poetic. These short stories are at times not comprehensible to me. The title story was extremely disturbing and I could not read it.
I am also disappointed that as a Canadian, Skibsrud did not set any of these stories in Canada. She has been compared to Alice Munro. Both are wonderful writers, but Munro is without a doubt the winner in the short story department.
September 24, 2011
Johanna Skibsrud hits the nail on the head with this one. Each story kept me wanting more! It is almost cruel how well she brings her characters to life. If she can do this with short stories, a full novel should be simply outstanding!
I won this from Goodreads!
I won this from Goodreads!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews