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charlottesometimes's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
saintakim's review against another edition
5.0
La hype est tout à fait méritée. Quel roman sur l'adolescence.
Je ne sais pas si j'ai déjà croisé un roman qui fait autant de chose en même temps, à chaque phrase.
La langue, les personnages, les passages essayisants et descriptifs, la délicatesse de la représentation des situations sociales et des perceptions ect.., absolument vertigineux. Le rythme est bien plus efficace que le premier tome et joue parfaitement avec ce que celui ci avait établi, en nuançant, contredisant, faisant un pas de côté.
J'ai dû me forcer à avancer tellement, chaque page de ce roman, chacune de ses phrases architecturales semblaient m'appeler à la relecture.
Je ne sais pas si j'ai déjà croisé un roman qui fait autant de chose en même temps, à chaque phrase.
La langue, les personnages, les passages essayisants et descriptifs, la délicatesse de la représentation des situations sociales et des perceptions ect.., absolument vertigineux. Le rythme est bien plus efficace que le premier tome et joue parfaitement avec ce que celui ci avait établi, en nuançant, contredisant, faisant un pas de côté.
J'ai dû me forcer à avancer tellement, chaque page de ce roman, chacune de ses phrases architecturales semblaient m'appeler à la relecture.
outdoorminer's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kippenautomat's review against another edition
5.0
this marseille bruce guy did some serious good writing
grayjay's review against another edition
4.0
It is difficult after reading Proust, not to write in long meandering sentences. In this reading, I picked up more on Proust's dry wit than I did in my previous reading and actually laughed out loud at a few of his sarcasms.
Having in the previous volume been the protagonists of a frantic and troubled love affair, the Swanns find themselves in this volume disrespectably married. Our narrator finds his first love in their daughter Gilberte, thereby ingratiating himself into their home.
We spend a lot of time observing and thinking about a group of athletic girls whom the narrator is fixated with. We spend some time with the narrator's best friends—Albert Bloch, a pretentious artist, and BFF Robert de Saint-Loup, who is affluent, beautiful, and sort of hot and cold.
I was also struck by how gay it was. As readers, we must psychologically transform ourselves into the characters to empathize with them. We imagine ourselves in their places. As a queer reader, I find that there is a kind of exhaustion that comes from having to undergo this transformation over and over again, reading about mostly heterosexual characters throughout my life. It gets harder and harder to care about characters you can't identify with. I imagine the same happens to every kind of reader that is not a straight white male.
Although Marcel is suffering over the love of two young women, unlike most heterosexual romances, I don't feel the disconnect. I understand that there are more explicitly homosexual characters in other parts of the series, but Gilberte, Albertine and the little group could easily be young men, and the narrator's friendship with Saint-Loup is just as romantic.
Having in the previous volume been the protagonists of a frantic and troubled love affair, the Swanns find themselves in this volume disrespectably married. Our narrator finds his first love in their daughter Gilberte, thereby ingratiating himself into their home.
We spend a lot of time observing and thinking about a group of athletic girls whom the narrator is fixated with. We spend some time with the narrator's best friends—Albert Bloch, a pretentious artist, and BFF Robert de Saint-Loup, who is affluent, beautiful, and sort of hot and cold.
I was also struck by how gay it was. As readers, we must psychologically transform ourselves into the characters to empathize with them. We imagine ourselves in their places. As a queer reader, I find that there is a kind of exhaustion that comes from having to undergo this transformation over and over again, reading about mostly heterosexual characters throughout my life. It gets harder and harder to care about characters you can't identify with. I imagine the same happens to every kind of reader that is not a straight white male.
Although Marcel is suffering over the love of two young women, unlike most heterosexual romances, I don't feel the disconnect. I understand that there are more explicitly homosexual characters in other parts of the series, but Gilberte, Albertine and the little group could easily be young men, and the narrator's friendship with Saint-Loup is just as romantic.
busco's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
matin45's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
danik's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
chicokc's review against another edition
4.0
El libro sigue igualmente bien escrito, la agilidad de las palabras y el tema es el mismo. Un hombre que por fin sabemos cómo se llama (Régulo) en su afán de convertirse en escritor, mientras va pasando su vida en aventuras, amoríos y reuniones de su clase.