Within the Budding Grove by Marcel Proust

[Theresa]

I finished the second book of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (In Search of Lost Time). Did I like it? Yes, and I am certainly continuing on. I found it hard to rate though, which means I just gave it a solid 3. Proust takes effort and dedication to read. It is worth it in so many ways, but far from a quick, light, engrossing read. And try describing to someone what it is about! But here goes what it is about, what I loved and didn't.

First, the 'chapters' so to speak of Within a Budding Grove are Madame Swann At Home, where narrator becomes close to the Swanns in Paris and their daughter Gilberte, his first love (young teen), and Place-Names: The Place, which is set on the coast of Brittany in Balbec where the narrator summers with is grandmother 2 years after his friendship with Gilberte has ended, and where he meets Albertine, who is to be a major influence and love in his life. This is also fraught with a great deal of teenage sexual hormones, awkwardness, and angst.

What appeals to me the most? The wonderful portraits of people and events he writes...you can see them in your mind, and they are sarcastic, wry, funny and even mean. But so vivid and real.

What do I dislike? Not dislike so much as find wearisome and tedious to read, the long endless sections describing things... colors, flowers, sunset, sea. And these often lead to philosophical musings on love, happiness, the artist and his craft...that go on and on. These musings are important and fascinating, but a lot to get through. Fortunately Proust is pretty adept at injecting scenes to enliven your read just as you might despair.

What was most difficult was figuring out how to read this. There are no natural breaks in the reading...chapters, section breaks, and such are non-existent really. It reads much slower too. Oddly, I was able to just stop and pick up again with relative ease, even in the middle of a 3 page paragraph.

If anyone isremotely interested in my random musings as I work through the entire opus, you can find my 2019 blog here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/.... I am a little behind. I was also behind in my reading!

It continues in 2020 here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....