I don't know but ya'll are both stressing me out!

Why are you under the impression that you need to like this character?

I made the same mistake with Pale Fire on my first read-through!

So now we're getting upset about "spoilers" in a book that has been part of the public consciousness for 145 years?

Simple answer: "spoiler culture" is a relatively recent phenomenon that people historically didn't give as much of a shit about as you do. Particularly with the kind of texts that are significant enough within the cultural/literary landscape to even warrant an introduction, the assumption is that your engagement with the book is being approached from an academic/analytical position. And you can't really do that, or set the stage for that, without talking about the book. If you're reading an introduction the assumption is that you're looking to engage with the text in a more robust way than simply trying to preserve the surprise of "what happens".

I don’t think this has anything to do with the quality of any given book.

You seem to have a very narrow idea of what storytelling actually is or can be. It’s not just about plot or surprise. It can be about character, and psychology, and philosophy, and catharsis, and emotional concepts that we can apply to our own lives. It’s not just a brain teaser or a puzzle box that we use to feel good about how smart we are. It’s not about learning, it’s about feeling.

Try to be more broad-minded about things, and open yourself up to the emotional possibilities of art instead of shackling it only to intellectual/analytical ones. This is very much a “you” problem, and at the end of the day it’s your loss.