Russian Novel Phenomenon

In Reading Without Nonsense, at the end of the first chapter, Making sense of reading, Frank Smith gives two words of advice: relax, enjoy.

He then illustrates that with a story about the Russian Novel Phenomenon. Let me paraphrase:

By the time you get to page 50 of a Russian novel, you'll have lost track of the names of the characters, their relationships, their roles, titles and appearance. You are then left with a choice of two ways of proceeding.

You either read more slowly and carefully and try to remember it all. But you'll probably remember even less, and give the novel up.

The other way is simply to push ahead without worrying, and just to enjoy. Suddenly you find that the story is making sense. You're remembering what's important. You comprehend what's going on.