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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Finally, I dare to pick this up, after being warned I wouldn't have the patience to decipher Proust's sentences, I did it. I read it. Woo hoo for me!
What I found was beauty, and art, and such intricate descriptions of the simplest of things - such as madeleines - and the big things - such as love. What I did not find was a plot.
One of my Goodreads friends likes writing over plot - this book is for you! Personally, I prefer a blend.
What I found was beauty, and art, and such intricate descriptions of the simplest of things - such as madeleines - and the big things - such as love. What I did not find was a plot.
One of my Goodreads friends likes writing over plot - this book is for you! Personally, I prefer a blend.
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Absolutely incredible! Looking forward to vol 2
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
astonishing how a fleeting/brief moment in ones life can hold and turn into something grandiose. time, memory and love. three fundamental aspects of life with tremendous power to shape it. prousts view on love being irrational and stupid is erudite. romantic love is full of disappointment. yet despite this we cannot escape experiencing love. we only truly learn through our own experiences; its pleasures and pains. we simply cannot avoid it. imo there is beauty in its sadness.
Some of the best prose I’ve ever read in a book. Great read.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In Search Of Lost Time is the world's longest novel. Luckily it is divided into 7 parts. Swann's way is the first part and also a great introduction to Proust's style. It's one of the most reflective novels I've ever read, and it delves into many different themes, and for this book in particular, it delves into the fallacy of memory, childhood, and love (jealousy). The second chapter of the book is easily my favourite - a delicious writeup of Swann's descent into jealousy and madness. The third chapter ties up the first and third chapters neatly.
The only thing preventing me from giving this a higher score is that I am not used to Proust's literary style yet. When it works it works, truly some of the most magical things I've ever read (Madeleine scene). When it doesn't work it's really dull. He has a tendency of writing these extremely long run-down sentences that goes on forever, no full-stop. Sometimes he goes on a tangent on something really random that I'm personally not that interested in. Like I dgaf about the gothic architecture of this random church. My advice to people who read this, is that don't try to stomach everything Proust writes. It's not necessary and it will only hurt your brain. Digest what you can understand, and for the ones that you don't understand, leave it. It's kinda like reading Ulysseus (i havent actually read it but thats what ppl advice for that book too).
Journal logs:
25 Jan 2025:
The beginning of my journey reading the longest novel ever published. So far so good. Proust's language isn't easy to digest but much of it is beautiful, and his ability to evoke the 5 senses is immaculate.
For example, the starting few pages describe Proust's childhood bedrooms, and it is described with such vivid detail it made me recall my own childhood bedroom - the layout of the room, how different furniture interact, how smooth my bedsheet feels, how the light projects into the room to form a beautiful pattern, how the clock ticks quietly in a steady rhythm, how I always wake up early so I can read (i read in the mornings back then instead at night), how I was often scared of the dark and need my mother's help.
Speaking of this, my favourite part so far in the 20 or so pages is the description of the mother kissing Proust good night every time. There's a tension because his father doesn't like his mother's daily routine for fear of softening Proust, but for Proust his mother is like a safe haven, albeit it's such a brief thing. But this briefness is also what makes this scene so beautiful.
There's some introductory details on Charles Swann, obviously gonna be someone important. He's quite an interesting character so far and I look forward to see how the story develops.
26 Jan 2025:
Crazy that in this 4000-page book, its most famous passage - the Madeleine - comes from the first 50 pages or so. I can completely see the hype - it's a fantastically written prose not just from the perspective of a novel, but also from a philosophical perspective. What Proust postulates in this passage is clear and true - the past cannot be remembered voluntarily, and one might not come across an opportunity to review the past, until something as minute as a taste (like the Madeleine) or perhaps a smell evokes those deep synaptic connections stored in our brain's association areas.
I think in here, Proust perfectly displays how deja vu feels like. The narrator is initially unsure of why the taste of the Madeleine gave him such a queer, incomprehensible feeling. It's almost exactly how I feel, and rarely do I get the satisfaction the narrator has - being able to dig out the source of such deja vu.
1 Feb 2025:
There's been a small switch in perspective from first person to maybe third person, with this portion of the story dedicating to Swann and his romance with Odette. While I preferred the first person perspective that focuses on memory and sensory images, this part is also great in the way that it feels tender. There's a bit more focus on the story, and less run on sentences of descriptions about random things.
Swann and Odette's romance is quite sweet in its early stages and Proust does a great job exploring the inner kind of a person who is deep in the initial periods of love, unaware of future ramifications. There's lots of description on the beauty of Odette, comparing her to some painting, just the general idea of her in Swann's mind is so elevated, he has fallen in love with a construction of her, but not the actual real her. It is written quite beautifully and convincingly with an ounce of tragedy and disapproval, seeing as readers already know the tragic end to this great love story, and the fact that Swann is fooling himself with the genuiety of his love.
2 Feb 2025:
It's disheartening to see the progression of Swann's "great romance". Unfortunately, Swann is a victim of his own over thinking and obsession, as well as a victim of his own egotism. It's something I can relate to, and it feels like a train crash that I can't look away from. The way Swann feels himself getting more and more obsessive while Odette slips through his fingers.
3 Feb 2025:
I'm really not expecting this kind of commentary in this book. This is a very dangerous description and psychological examination of man infected with the curse of jealousy, high on his own ego but at the same time low with self esteem (contradictory ain't it). It's the most vivid description of how love is a drug and how jealousy serves as the withdrawal effects. But because Swann's love is manically strong, it doesn't matter what Odette does because just the idea of her gives Swann joy. And funnily enough it's only the idea of her that gives him joy, but their pure physical interactions are always drowned with Swann's jealousy and overthinking. This is a delicious chapter and kudos to Proust for unlocking the key to the mind of a green-eyed monster. Perhaps Proust himself was one.
5 Feb 2025:
"To think that I've wasted years of my life, that I've longed to die, that I've experienced my greatest love, for a woman who didn't appeal to me, who wasn't even my type."
This whole stretch was exhausting, depressing but also rewarding to read. Proust has completely captured the psychology of jealousy, of heartache, of failed relationships. Swann is a sympathetic character despite his flaws, because I can see my own flaws in him. And also cause Odette is a lying manipulative bitch. I think it's ironic that Swann is cured of his lovesickness when he hears Odette speak nothing but positive things about him to other people despite believing she doesn't like him. It feels realistic that love is so contradictory in the context.
There's also a really beautiful sentence right at the very end of the chapter: "the difference chance of events which bring us into contact with certain people do not coincide with the time during which we are in love with them, but, extending beyond it, may occur before it begins and repeat themselves after it has ended, the earliest appearances in our lives of a person destined later to captivate us assume retrospectively in our eyes the significance of a warning, a presage." It's quite true that this is how impressions are made, and perhaps what we may think is an insignificant encounter could change the whole course of our lives.
Its also funny that Swann, at the end, focuses on Odette's imperfect features, her tired eyes, cheeks, which he has once been so in love with. This is something Proust has emphasised many times, but the way these people are elevated in our mind, like a painting of some sort, morphs them into something they aren't, and it's only when you fall out of love you realise the true extent of that person.
On a side note, I find it interesting how casual homosexuality is discussed in the book. I'm sure being gay is big taboo at 19th century France, but perhaps since Proust himself is a closeted homosexual, he tries to include more of his inner world into this intimate personal book of his. And also maybe to emphasise Odette's promiscuity.
6 Feb 2025:
Back to the narrator now, ah the innocence of childish love. There are strong parallels between the narrator's love for Gilberte and Swann's love for Odette, namely the tendency for one to create an idealised, false version of their love in their mind. Young Proust also receives his own version of unrequited love, with a relatable section on him imagining Gilberte writing a love letter unexplaining her indifference to him every night. He will definitely be hit hard when he learns what she probably thinks of him. I only got 20 or so pages left and I'm excited to finish this book tmr.
7 Feb 2025:
I breezed through the last 20 pages. It's a clear parallel to Swann's love story, with young Proust realising his love is not reciprocated by Gilberte. Yet, he fixates on Odette, Swann's wife and Gilberte's mother, projecting his love for Gilberte onto this woman he possibly deems ideal - which is ironic considering Odette's infamous reputation.
The last 5-10 pages of the book is rather depressing. Instead of having something of the present bring back memories of the past, Proust does something opposite - by relating the past back to the present. He laments things having changed, particularly the fashion of women, and he deems the big hats women wear as ridiculous compared to the simple hats women once wore, like Odette. The places Proust gives special meaning to are no longer recognisable to him. Time changes everything, and all that remains is one's memories, attachment, and memories.
The only thing preventing me from giving this a higher score is that I am not used to Proust's literary style yet. When it works it works, truly some of the most magical things I've ever read (Madeleine scene). When it doesn't work it's really dull. He has a tendency of writing these extremely long run-down sentences that goes on forever, no full-stop. Sometimes he goes on a tangent on something really random that I'm personally not that interested in. Like I dgaf about the gothic architecture of this random church. My advice to people who read this, is that don't try to stomach everything Proust writes. It's not necessary and it will only hurt your brain. Digest what you can understand, and for the ones that you don't understand, leave it. It's kinda like reading Ulysseus (i havent actually read it but thats what ppl advice for that book too).
Journal logs:
25 Jan 2025:
The beginning of my journey reading the longest novel ever published. So far so good. Proust's language isn't easy to digest but much of it is beautiful, and his ability to evoke the 5 senses is immaculate.
For example, the starting few pages describe Proust's childhood bedrooms, and it is described with such vivid detail it made me recall my own childhood bedroom - the layout of the room, how different furniture interact, how smooth my bedsheet feels, how the light projects into the room to form a beautiful pattern, how the clock ticks quietly in a steady rhythm, how I always wake up early so I can read (i read in the mornings back then instead at night), how I was often scared of the dark and need my mother's help.
Speaking of this, my favourite part so far in the 20 or so pages is the description of the mother kissing Proust good night every time. There's a tension because his father doesn't like his mother's daily routine for fear of softening Proust, but for Proust his mother is like a safe haven, albeit it's such a brief thing. But this briefness is also what makes this scene so beautiful.
There's some introductory details on Charles Swann, obviously gonna be someone important. He's quite an interesting character so far and I look forward to see how the story develops.
26 Jan 2025:
Crazy that in this 4000-page book, its most famous passage - the Madeleine - comes from the first 50 pages or so. I can completely see the hype - it's a fantastically written prose not just from the perspective of a novel, but also from a philosophical perspective. What Proust postulates in this passage is clear and true - the past cannot be remembered voluntarily, and one might not come across an opportunity to review the past, until something as minute as a taste (like the Madeleine) or perhaps a smell evokes those deep synaptic connections stored in our brain's association areas.
I think in here, Proust perfectly displays how deja vu feels like. The narrator is initially unsure of why the taste of the Madeleine gave him such a queer, incomprehensible feeling. It's almost exactly how I feel, and rarely do I get the satisfaction the narrator has - being able to dig out the source of such deja vu.
1 Feb 2025:
There's been a small switch in perspective from first person to maybe third person, with this portion of the story dedicating to Swann and his romance with Odette. While I preferred the first person perspective that focuses on memory and sensory images, this part is also great in the way that it feels tender. There's a bit more focus on the story, and less run on sentences of descriptions about random things.
Swann and Odette's romance is quite sweet in its early stages and Proust does a great job exploring the inner kind of a person who is deep in the initial periods of love, unaware of future ramifications. There's lots of description on the beauty of Odette, comparing her to some painting, just the general idea of her in Swann's mind is so elevated, he has fallen in love with a construction of her, but not the actual real her. It is written quite beautifully and convincingly with an ounce of tragedy and disapproval, seeing as readers already know the tragic end to this great love story, and the fact that Swann is fooling himself with the genuiety of his love.
2 Feb 2025:
It's disheartening to see the progression of Swann's "great romance". Unfortunately, Swann is a victim of his own over thinking and obsession, as well as a victim of his own egotism. It's something I can relate to, and it feels like a train crash that I can't look away from. The way Swann feels himself getting more and more obsessive while Odette slips through his fingers.
3 Feb 2025:
I'm really not expecting this kind of commentary in this book. This is a very dangerous description and psychological examination of man infected with the curse of jealousy, high on his own ego but at the same time low with self esteem (contradictory ain't it). It's the most vivid description of how love is a drug and how jealousy serves as the withdrawal effects. But because Swann's love is manically strong, it doesn't matter what Odette does because just the idea of her gives Swann joy. And funnily enough it's only the idea of her that gives him joy, but their pure physical interactions are always drowned with Swann's jealousy and overthinking. This is a delicious chapter and kudos to Proust for unlocking the key to the mind of a green-eyed monster. Perhaps Proust himself was one.
5 Feb 2025:
"To think that I've wasted years of my life, that I've longed to die, that I've experienced my greatest love, for a woman who didn't appeal to me, who wasn't even my type."
This whole stretch was exhausting, depressing but also rewarding to read. Proust has completely captured the psychology of jealousy, of heartache, of failed relationships. Swann is a sympathetic character despite his flaws, because I can see my own flaws in him. And also cause Odette is a lying manipulative bitch. I think it's ironic that Swann is cured of his lovesickness when he hears Odette speak nothing but positive things about him to other people despite believing she doesn't like him. It feels realistic that love is so contradictory in the context.
There's also a really beautiful sentence right at the very end of the chapter: "the difference chance of events which bring us into contact with certain people do not coincide with the time during which we are in love with them, but, extending beyond it, may occur before it begins and repeat themselves after it has ended, the earliest appearances in our lives of a person destined later to captivate us assume retrospectively in our eyes the significance of a warning, a presage." It's quite true that this is how impressions are made, and perhaps what we may think is an insignificant encounter could change the whole course of our lives.
Its also funny that Swann, at the end, focuses on Odette's imperfect features, her tired eyes, cheeks, which he has once been so in love with. This is something Proust has emphasised many times, but the way these people are elevated in our mind, like a painting of some sort, morphs them into something they aren't, and it's only when you fall out of love you realise the true extent of that person.
On a side note, I find it interesting how casual homosexuality is discussed in the book. I'm sure being gay is big taboo at 19th century France, but perhaps since Proust himself is a closeted homosexual, he tries to include more of his inner world into this intimate personal book of his. And also maybe to emphasise Odette's promiscuity.
6 Feb 2025:
Back to the narrator now, ah the innocence of childish love. There are strong parallels between the narrator's love for Gilberte and Swann's love for Odette, namely the tendency for one to create an idealised, false version of their love in their mind. Young Proust also receives his own version of unrequited love, with a relatable section on him imagining Gilberte writing a love letter unexplaining her indifference to him every night. He will definitely be hit hard when he learns what she probably thinks of him. I only got 20 or so pages left and I'm excited to finish this book tmr.
7 Feb 2025:
I breezed through the last 20 pages. It's a clear parallel to Swann's love story, with young Proust realising his love is not reciprocated by Gilberte. Yet, he fixates on Odette, Swann's wife and Gilberte's mother, projecting his love for Gilberte onto this woman he possibly deems ideal - which is ironic considering Odette's infamous reputation.
The last 5-10 pages of the book is rather depressing. Instead of having something of the present bring back memories of the past, Proust does something opposite - by relating the past back to the present. He laments things having changed, particularly the fashion of women, and he deems the big hats women wear as ridiculous compared to the simple hats women once wore, like Odette. The places Proust gives special meaning to are no longer recognisable to him. Time changes everything, and all that remains is one's memories, attachment, and memories.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
LOVED Swann in Love; Combray and Place-Names: The Name were slower but they set up a lot related to the Swann family’s dynamic as viewed by an outsider. Very excited to read more of the series.
