Why is SICP so hard?

No.11706491 ViewReplyOriginalReport
I posted here a while back after being stuck on chapter 1.

I have completed the first 3 chapters of the book (~500 pages), including most of the exercises and lectures up till that point.

But chapter 4 with its metacircular evaluator just straight up demoralised me.
I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND SHIT. It became way too abstract and all the exercises are now about engineering your own evaluator.

So tell me, should I continue and finish the whole book? Is it worth slugging through chapter 4 and 5? I don't see how the book can be beneficial for me now, as chapter 4 and 5 are way too esoteric. Also, my university stops at the metacircular evaluator so I can kinda stop reading the book if the rest of the content doesn't help me.