i'm a big fan of this book and i've read it twice, though there are parts are difficult to read, as in descriptions of awful things happening, and i skipped a section or two the second read through. if you're willing to deal with some repugnant, reprehensible characters, i'd say the rest of the book is well worth it.

and i'd argue that rather than trying to make a novel that was impossible to finish, DFW meant to create something you'd interact with more like an encyclopedia than a novel. piecemeal, reflective. perhaps too much to handle, with lots of extraneous, distracting information. but you'd return to it, reread it, struggle with its more challenging ideas. consult the footnotes.

i was actually discussing this earlier with someone. she said that DFW most likely wrote the novel to be hurtful to himself, and then others by extension. i'm not sure about this idea, but it's not completely off-base either.