Death Is Hard Work (Arabic: الموت عمل شاق, romanized: Al-mawt 'amal shaq) is a novel written by Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa.

The story is set in Syria as three siblings — Bolbol, Hussein, and Fatima — journey to complete their dead father's final wish of being buried next to his sister, Layla, in their hometown of Anabiya.

The normally short drive turns into a few days' journey full of stress and violence as they must travel through warring territory with constant checkpoints they are stopped at.

Multiple military sectors were competing for the upper hand, making civilian life dangerous as towns and roads became war zones.

As similar events continue to occur with each passing checkpoint, Bolbol contemplates how easy this journey would be if only they were transporting sacks of cumin rather than a dead body.

After calling in a favor, the group stops at Bolbol's childhood friend, Lamia's (whom he was passionately in love and wrote poetry to, but could not marry) house after dropping Abdel's body off in the local morgue for the night.

With the corpse rapidly decaying, the guards at each checkpoint begin to provide leniency to the group more readily, allowing them swifter passage just to be rid of the sight.

This leads Bolbol to provide backstory on Hussein, explaining his tendencies to overreact and lash out at loved ones, and his long history of causing trouble with family.

Left with no other choice, Hussein and Fatima, who has been struck mute, continue on without Bolbol, even more determined to reach Anabiya now that the corpse shows signs of maggot infestation.

Death Is Hard Work received attention and praise from reviewers, with Middle East Eye calling it "a road trip novel unlike any other.