Do grad students read the whole book?

At the university of Chicago, I normally had to read 3-4 books per week plus about 15 research articles. I can honestly say that I only finished ALL the reading 1/2 the time. The other 1/2, I got close. The problem was that the books were generally 400+ pages and quite complex.

I'm assuming this is for some sort of Lit class? If so, then you should be doing most of the reading-- they're giving it to you for a reason. If this is your field of study and you want to make it your life's work, then it is stuff you should probably have under your belt, even if it is painful to do. If it is a very high tech book it may be difficult to plow through it.

You could look up a good summary and exposition of the book before or during reading so you are catching all the key points. That may help you. Hopefully you are in a class that just isn't a right fit for you (I'm struggling with Irish poets and novels right now; James Joyce is going to kill me!) and soon you'll move on to something you're more comfortable with.

When I was a grad student doing course work my average reading load was the equivalent of a book a day.

""should I be struggling this much?""

no, it shouldn't be that hard to read a book in a few days.

apparently you think grad school is to enjoy the nightlife you did during your undergrad years

3 books a week - yeah, i had to read that much.

the reading wasn't the problem, understanding and absorbing it was the problem.