Haha, it's not like I forbid people to hate the novel !
But I think you miss the most important thing in this novel : the distress of Tidus about his current state and how it's difficult to bring back someone after two years of absence. That's the guiding principle of this novel. And Nojima illustrates this point magnificently... But if you don't like that, I won't curse you, don't worry.
The story dealing with Kush, Valm and Ifahnal was used by Nojima to create a parallel with the current story and to give you hints on some mysterious events in this noveL... like Tidus' death for example, Ifahnal killed him but nobody seems to notice that fact (maybe you need the two last hints you've not seen yet, but I didn't need them to deduce that).
I understand perfectly if you don't like the writing style of Nojima, but... well... I like it.