What I did was reading the Odyssey before, and Portrait of the Artist as a Young man, to get a feel of how it would be, and because Stephen is a character in both books. Then before reading each chapter I read some cliffnotes I got, to know what to expect (since every chapter has a Science, a Style, a Body Part, an Odyssey coutnerpart as a motif) and it spoiled some things, but I don't think it is a read that's too action-dependable, that can be spoiled too much. Don't be scared of not understanding everything, even whole chapters (I couldn't for the life of me read the chapter where the baby is born, and I skipped it, and it wasn't too bad). Every chapter is radically different from the previous one, and there are only 50 out or 1000 (at least my edition) pages of hardcore non-stop stream of consciousness (and even there, It's more getting the feel of it rather than understanding every detail) There are chapters written as corny love stories, theatre plays, one in a St. Thomas Aquinus style (the funniest IMO). It is not a solemn, respectable book. There are jokes, innuendo, really dirty bits, racism, and I don't think it is meant to be taken seriously in that sense. That's my advice, people are so stuck up and self righteous with it, but I think it should not be taken solemnly, and don't worry if you only get like 60% of it, you can fill whatever you missed out on with other sources and shouldn't be ashamed of it. TL;DR don't be afraid