This is a skill set that takes time and practice to enhance. If this is an interest you’re pursuing on your own, not for school or a job, then you have an advantage: no one is pressuring you to read these texts at a certain speed, and if at any time you’re not enjoying it you can stop or take a break.
I suggest you focus on reading things you want to read and discussing them with other people online. Talk about the parts you do have a grasp on, and ask questions about the parts you don’t. Eventually, with practice and input from other readers, you will feel the process get easier.
I recommend you continue to pursue your goal, while also allowing yourself to read without always understanding. As far as not knowing what a word means, that’s common for readers of all levels. Even people with multiple degrees that teach at prestigious universities are going to encounter an unfamiliar word. They stop and look up what it means, and that’s exactly what you should do if you want to know the meaning. If you feel like the sentence makes sense without the exact meaning of a word, then don’t sweat it too much. But, personally, I almost always look up new words.
Using the tools and knowledge available to you while you’re steadily improving your own skills is not cheating or taking the easy way. It’s how everyone learns to analyze a text.
I read this book for a class many years ago, and I enjoyed it. It’s fun to read, especially the descriptions of his vision of the future, but the story is a bit underwhelming due to its reliance on the premise. The world is presented as utopia, and as a thought experiment it’s fairly well-developed, though this leaves the central conflict of the narrative feeling kinda toothless.
That being said, I do remember having fun reading it. The characters don’t stick out much in my memory, but I do remember the dialogue was interesting because of how the author imagined people would speak in this hypothetical future.