Coming Up for Air

Wow. This one has me in a pickle. I sat for a long time wondering how I would rate this and I am still pretty confused.
You see, I was aware that exactly what I disliked about the book were things that were very intentional, which makes me feel I am living in a bookish inception. So it was hard to rate this book from a cerebral point of view vs. an emotional one. I was tittering on the edge of 3.5 stars for a while but that ending (and I mean the last 20% of the book) was so under stimulating, I actually started having a sensory overload from my bedsheets just trying to get through it (the autistic girlies know what I mean by that... also WASSSUPPP)... I struggled to read this (from the language, non smooth writing, it took literally 75% of the book to even get to the main premise of it which is fine but it was dragging on, there is no doubt about that at all) but I especially struggled in the last 20 pages from under stimulation that I banged my head repeatedly against my headboard (also autistic girlies should be familiar with this), but I understand what the author intended even if I struggled myself... which is a weird position to be in. I admit I've never been in a similar situation before.
From a cerebral point of view... this book is very clever. I annotated like crazy. I did not enjoy it. I think that was actually the point (Enjoyment of a piece of media is not an expectation for me. I absolutely prefer feeling uncomfortable. I absolutely admire the boldness that comes with writing something that is not intended to be enjoyed. I actually am satirically and humourously pleased with saying the words “I did not enjoy this work” because as I said, logical vs. emotional, and that is tickling my brain right now). The point was to make you feel uncomfortable, for you to hate the main character who is BTW a piece of sht but to also pity him? he is very pathetic in a lot of different ways. I don't think there was any way that exists under the sun for me to *actually enjoy it. The same way you wouldn't particularly like Albert Camus's The Stranger in that emotional way but can recognize the genius of the novel.
I have never been this conflicted by a book before. I do admire what it is trying to do but I thoroughly struggled to get through it and so I think a 3 stars rating is good enough. It is exactly how I feel : a grandiose meh, with a dash of I am happy this average rating makes me extremely uninvolved, removed, successfully avoiding having to make a decision, and a slight nod of the head to the cleverness with which this was delivered... all in all it is pretty diplomatic for me. And that should suffice, for now.

EDIT: it is the next day and while I am leaning towards 3.5 stars in my mind, I would like to keep my rating as diplomatic as possible at 3 stars.
I am glad I read this book. It was brilliant in its own way, one has to got to admit that. But I struggled to get through it.
I absolutely do recommend it but only to people who have been reading a variety of books and genres for years, it is definitely not for the new reader or the romance/fantasy/thriller/mystery reader. This book is like the summer British afternoon... long but you have a few interesting things in between, bite sized that make it tolerable.
I must add that since my own country is at war right now, too, a lot of things have hit home for me and made me realize how different things are for us right now.
Again, I recommend, but only if you have read a bunch of classics or Orwell before. Definitely not a starter novel.