Or, don't be afraid of IJ, but set your expectations properly; as a coherent narrative, it's only going to start coming together in the final third of the book. Until then, read it as a series of intimate essays written from a parallel dimension.
Don't skip the footnotes. They aren't intended to be optional.
Also note that the many factual errors in the footnotes appear to be honest mistakes by the author rather than an effort to signpost an unreliable narrator. I really tied my mind in pretzels before figuring that out.
Don't skip the footnotes. They aren't intended to be optional.