I can somewhat attest to this. I tried to read it a few years back and just couldn't get into it. Like you, probably, I got bogged down in the specifics of the universe and just couldn't continue.
Still, I gave it another shot somewhat recently (was it last year, or the year before that?) and was finally able to appreciate it.
Really, the book is just about the author slinging together a bunch of semi-practical science fiction concepts, and trying to figure out how they would effect societies.
As for the book that I had to put down:
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson,
I made it close to halfway through.
I don't know why I dropped this one, to be honest. It's cyberpunk! It's got AIs! It's got secret organizations! It even has a little girl! All the makings of interesting science fiction, and yet...
I just had to return it.
Maybe it was the whiny rich woman? Maybe I felt like it wasn't going anywhere? I can't say. Maybe I'll give it another shot, one day.