[oats]

Here is the aggregate of advice I've received and my own reading experience.

you'll be confused, at times more so than others. It's not a book to casually read, or to read only once in life. Embrace the confusion, don't trip about the allegory for the first read. Just get into the rhythm of the language and the style/technique of it. Next time you read it, be more familiar with the odyssey - that's my plan (I'm moderately familiar with it, so I noticed some things occasionally, but it didn't affect my overall experience all that much). It's a marathon read, but it can also be immensely enjoyable.