Me too. I gave up after a couple hundred pages. At times interesting, but too unfocused, not to mention daunting due to the extreme length. Note that none of the commenters here have been able to supply a much more thorough synopsis than “debt has taken lots of different forms in different societies throughout history, including our own today.”

By contrast, I found Graeber’s follow up collection “The Utopia of Rules” startlingly provocative and a super fun read - one of my favorite books. I think Graeber’s divergent writing style and argumentative form work better in the essay format.

I liked his talks as Morea easily digestible, but the book was full of useful tidbits. As an alternative to the real way debt is used today though, I suggest John Perkins books and The Tower of Basel

Since this subthread is about personal anecdotes of reading experience, mine was completely different. I had no problem finishing the book in record time and I'm glad I bought (and read) it.