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serendipitysbooks 's review for:
In Search of Lost Time
by Marcel Proust
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In September last year I began an ambitious undertaking - a slow but steady reading of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time series. It’s commonly published in 7 volumes but my ebook had all volumes in one and clocked in at a massive 4225 pages. I finally finished nine months later but have not yet shared my thoughts, because I’m still not entirely sure what I thought!
In all honesty it was a bit of a love- hate relationship. Sometimes Proust’s interminable descriptions became too much and I really struggled to maintain focus. Listening to the audio while reading the printed word helped stopped my mind wandering - mostly. I often struggled with his subject matter. I have little patience for pretentious, pompous, self-important upper class people behaving like petty, bullying schoolgirls. And the narrator’s desire to possess and control women was stomach-churning. Other subjects like his thoughts on music, painting and literature were interesting at first, but constant repetition made them tiring…”not pages of this again”.
So why did I keep going - apart from pure pigheadedness? Part of it was the writing. There was definite beauty to be found in those long discursive sentences. They could be soothing and oddly calming. I certainly admired Proust’s skills as a wordsmith. There were also plenty of insightful gems on human nature, time, the nature of memory, and of course the importance and value of the arts. It was these nuggets more than anything that grabbed my attention, that made me think and reflect, that kept me persevering. The more I read the more I noticed Proustian references cropping up in all sorts of unexpected places, references I’d never have noticed had I not actually read Proust. This reward, this increasing familiarity with part of the Western canon, also helped propel me towards completion. As did the support and humour of the ISOLT budding reading group. Big thanks to @mylibrarylends and @sarahfullybooked for organising, and to everyone who participated.
In all honesty it was a bit of a love- hate relationship. Sometimes Proust’s interminable descriptions became too much and I really struggled to maintain focus. Listening to the audio while reading the printed word helped stopped my mind wandering - mostly. I often struggled with his subject matter. I have little patience for pretentious, pompous, self-important upper class people behaving like petty, bullying schoolgirls. And the narrator’s desire to possess and control women was stomach-churning. Other subjects like his thoughts on music, painting and literature were interesting at first, but constant repetition made them tiring…”not pages of this again”.
So why did I keep going - apart from pure pigheadedness? Part of it was the writing. There was definite beauty to be found in those long discursive sentences. They could be soothing and oddly calming. I certainly admired Proust’s skills as a wordsmith. There were also plenty of insightful gems on human nature, time, the nature of memory, and of course the importance and value of the arts. It was these nuggets more than anything that grabbed my attention, that made me think and reflect, that kept me persevering. The more I read the more I noticed Proustian references cropping up in all sorts of unexpected places, references I’d never have noticed had I not actually read Proust. This reward, this increasing familiarity with part of the Western canon, also helped propel me towards completion. As did the support and humour of the ISOLT budding reading group. Big thanks to @mylibrarylends and @sarahfullybooked for organising, and to everyone who participated.