> old style "C with classes" C++ as being fairly small and elegant

it (C++) never really was that

but it was possible to use it "as if it where that" (kinda, e.g. there is code which is valid in C but UB in C++)

I mean there where also times where books which told you that in C everything "is just bits in memory" where popular/believed/beloved, even through that never really was true outside of some very specific cases (all of CPU without caches, only in order execution, single core, a mostly non-optimizing compiler, and other requirements). It was just that the chance to run into issues was much less likely if you go ~20+ years back into the past so you could kinda use it like that (at some risk, especially wrt. forward compatibility).

Today you find ton of material even about obscure features, complications, hidden food guns, etc. so things do look/feel far more overwhelming IMHO.

That modern C++ is a bit like a different language glued on top of old C++ doesn't exactly help either.