I think Red November is a very nice little gem, but I found the rules really hard to fully understand. And that is a shame, since the mechanics of this game are quite simple as soon as you get hold on them. If you find the rulebook as cumbersome as I did, I can recommend a few links that might ease your journey to fully understand the rules.

At BoardGameGeek Orin Bishop has made a fine little review in which he explains the rules:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/361167

Eric Herman have made a video review in which he almost get the rules right. In the third part of the review he makes a walkthrough of a turn, that shows how simple the game is:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/362466

It does seem to be a case of the rules making the game overly complicated.  I also think that the rulebook is too skinny (to fit the game box) that some of the formating and layout makes it a bit difficult to follow.  I read the thing a couple of times and still had questions that I swear were not int he book.  Then someone points it to me and it was there all along.  But for whatever reason, it didnt't register when I read it.

I've had the same difficulty and I think that it mostly has to do with where the relevant info is located.  I noticed a couple of topics that had important info in two or three different places.  So, when I read through the book I remembered that there was something about rooms being on fire somewhere but I couldn't remember what it said or where it was exactly, and sometimes I just missed it because I assumed that a particular section had all the necessary info and it didn't.  <shrug>  Still a great game.