One of the powers of C++ really is that it just gives you a vast toolset of mostly zero-cost abstractions. You can be the type of person that uses almost all of it. You can be like the author and decide to ignore most of it. You can be like most people and be somewhere in the middle and use some modern stuff and not other stuff, or whatever you're comfortable with.

People see some feature X of C++ that they don't like the design or performance of, but .. just don't use it if you don't like it, it's great. People see this setup as complexity, and in a way it is; they're not sure when to use tool X over tool Y over tool Z, what's "modern" and what's "old", but once you're experienced that's what's great about C++. Program with it however you want, for whatever purpose you want, using whichever piece you want. Ignore the stuff you don't like.