pickPhenomenal ending to an unreal work.
Mind-bendy, ultra-reflective and fascinating, feels like something written in the future.... Pretty often I'd say to myself "Yeah this is wild stuff," especially in the second half. Somehow he managed to end this thing without letting me down at all. I love it.
It seems now therefore that there is no humiliation so great that one should not put up with it easily, in the knowledge that after a few years our buried faults will be no more than an invisible dust over which will smile the smiling and blossoming peace of nature.
I'M DONE!! 🎉🎉 After 15 months, I wrapped up #morningswithmarcel.
It was a journey and there were some rough spots, but overall, I loved it. Brilliant! 🌸💗🌸
pickI loved it, but I had to read it like a possessed person to get through it.... Actually that‘s how it has been for me with all of Proust.
As usual with these editions, the translator's intro in the beginning is excellent.
Some of this installment is like a fever dream; a new type of Proust. Fantasies and dreams and memories flood the reader. The prose is incredible as always, the observations revelatory. I also gasped audibly at one part.
For old age removes the ability to act, but not to desire. It is only in a third phase that those who live to a great age renounce desire, after being obliged to abandon action. They no longer stand for such petty elections as that of President of the Republic, where they so often formerly strove to succeed. They are content merely to go out, to eat, and to read the newspapers. They have outlived themselves.
I‘m halfway through this!
Really liking it so far. It‘s somewhat easy to follow and, like the previous volume, not crammed with characters to keep track of.
I can‘t believe I‘ve come this far in Proust…. The prose is filled with revelations (which I‘ve grown used to but is still heavily impressive), and I‘m fully in his world. I‘m reading this like a person possessed.
pickThis was the easiest Proust volume to follow for me, with far fewer characters being presented, and the referring to my notes that that comes with.
It‘s filled with uniquely profound prose, as it took me through a psychological journey reminding me of many contemporary novels I‘ve read. The shift in setting and happenings was so needed. Our narrator is pretty messed up here but you gotta love him (or at least find the material fascinating).
I felt, but did not believe, that I controlled the future, because I knew that my feeling came from the fact that the future did not yet exist and that I could not therefore be subject to its inevitability.
so-soOh Mon dieu! I finally finished Volume 5 & it was a struggle. It's the longest of the six volumes and was the most tiresome. So much jealous ranting. It improved near the end, once the narrator stops fixating on Albertine (first in life, then in death.)
I went into this project pretty ignorant & so have no idea how the story unfolds or what the critical reception is. I am curious to see if others struggle with this volume too.
On to Volume 6!
