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A review by franfernandezarce
In Search of Lost Time: Time Regained by Marcel Proust
5.0
a book is a huge cemetery in which on the majority of the tombs the names are effaced and can no longer be read
and then there were none.
in 2017, i read all of virginia woolf's novels and some of her non-fiction and loved the whole experience. so, at the end of that year, i decided i would set a reading challenge for myself again around a single author. something lengthy that would take considerable commitment. i cannot tell you my reasoning at the moment but the idea of reading the whole of marcel proust's in search of lost time's series seemed like a good idea back then. now, eight months into the year, i'm done.
seven books (or six if you count bind-ups as single books), 3,450 pages, and a shit-ton of words later, i'm done.
and, being perfectly honest, i'm going to miss this world. i do understand the people who can't bring themselves to finish this. won't blame or judge them at all. to be honest, i'm pretty sure most people fall after the second one (it's the least entertaining in my opinion) but i can promise you (and i say this from experience) that once you've passed the second book, everything comes easily your way. your brain somehow readjusts itself around the writing style and the characters are mentioned throughout time so repeatedly you never forget them (despite the considerable size of the cast).
and, at the risk of being overly sentimental, it is really worth your while.
but, did i love love this?
remember when return of the king won the oscar for best picture even though everyone and their grandmas can agree that the two towers is the best of the three films but they had to give them the award because it was the last one? that is, more or less, what i'm trying to do with my rating here.
if i were to be honest with myself, i would give this another 4/4.5 rating. it was good (quite good, really), enjoyable, and at times surprisingly sad, but it wasn't great. still, like i said, 3,450 pages later, i can't not give this five stars just for the sheer commitment of creating this monumental piece of literature.
put all seven books stacked together and you would not only have a potential murder weapon but one huge stack of observations on humanity. almost 3,500 pages about living and being alive with all the insecurities, maddening issues and shinny-happy moments that come with being a human being--regardless of time period (pun very much intended). it's such a massive work that i can't really sum it up better than that; it would probably take me something around the length of one of these books to properly express every single moment that had some level of resonance with me. alas, i don't have the time nor the interest in doing such a thing--although i'm a bit sad that it is over, i'm also liberated from not having to read it anymore).
now, i feel an emptiness within me. it filled sucha huge part of my reading life, it feels strange to think there isn't a next book for me to pick. that being said, i'm not sentimental enough to want to re-read them anytime soon. ask me in a couple of decades probably and i'll tell if i've changed my mind or not
and then there were none.
in 2017, i read all of virginia woolf's novels and some of her non-fiction and loved the whole experience. so, at the end of that year, i decided i would set a reading challenge for myself again around a single author. something lengthy that would take considerable commitment. i cannot tell you my reasoning at the moment but the idea of reading the whole of marcel proust's in search of lost time's series seemed like a good idea back then. now, eight months into the year, i'm done.
seven books (or six if you count bind-ups as single books), 3,450 pages, and a shit-ton of words later, i'm done.
and, being perfectly honest, i'm going to miss this world. i do understand the people who can't bring themselves to finish this. won't blame or judge them at all. to be honest, i'm pretty sure most people fall after the second one (it's the least entertaining in my opinion) but i can promise you (and i say this from experience) that once you've passed the second book, everything comes easily your way. your brain somehow readjusts itself around the writing style and the characters are mentioned throughout time so repeatedly you never forget them (despite the considerable size of the cast).
and, at the risk of being overly sentimental, it is really worth your while.
but, did i love love this?
remember when return of the king won the oscar for best picture even though everyone and their grandmas can agree that the two towers is the best of the three films but they had to give them the award because it was the last one? that is, more or less, what i'm trying to do with my rating here.
if i were to be honest with myself, i would give this another 4/4.5 rating. it was good (quite good, really), enjoyable, and at times surprisingly sad, but it wasn't great. still, like i said, 3,450 pages later, i can't not give this five stars just for the sheer commitment of creating this monumental piece of literature.
put all seven books stacked together and you would not only have a potential murder weapon but one huge stack of observations on humanity. almost 3,500 pages about living and being alive with all the insecurities, maddening issues and shinny-happy moments that come with being a human being--regardless of time period (pun very much intended). it's such a massive work that i can't really sum it up better than that; it would probably take me something around the length of one of these books to properly express every single moment that had some level of resonance with me. alas, i don't have the time nor the interest in doing such a thing--although i'm a bit sad that it is over, i'm also liberated from not having to read it anymore).
now, i feel an emptiness within me. it filled sucha huge part of my reading life, it feels strange to think there isn't a next book for me to pick. that being said, i'm not sentimental enough to want to re-read them anytime soon. ask me in a couple of decades probably and i'll tell if i've changed my mind or not