I'd put it down and never open it again.

To each her own. I've read a couple of Calvino's novels and really liked them. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller being my favorite. Sometimes authors just use language in a way that they and a few others understand. (Which is not to say that some authors don't intentionally obfuscate or babble.) And sometimes folks who don't understand take it as a sign of offense rather than communication. Some people look at the computer books I read and shake their heads in doubt of my sanity or the author's intentions. I've tried on more than one occasion to read Arcadia by Sir Phillip Sydney and Moby Dick and failed. Just couldn't physically read them.