[Galadriel55]

I've read the Sil after LOTR, and although I was familiar with some of the names, by far not most of them. At first, I was really confused about which Valar is which. Then - all the names of Finwe's children and grandchildren (except for Feanor and Galadriel, who I know fro LOTR). To me, Finwe, Fingolfin, Finrod, and Fingon were like one person. Later on I've sorted it out, though. The next confusion was about the family trees. It took me a while to understand all the relationships in the 3 Houses of Edain. Right now, I find all this inforation pretty much straightfoward.
I think that you can only truly start understanding the Sil once you've got the basics, which will not happen right away. People who put the book down because it's too complex should try one more time, maybe.