Ratings30
Average rating4.3
Monty Python paid hommage to Proust's novel in a sketch first broadcast on November 16th, 1972, called The All-England Summarize Proust Competition. The winner was the contestant who could best summarize A la recherche du temps perdu in fifteen seconds, "once in a swimsuit and once in evening dress."
Series
7 primary booksÀ la recherche du temps perdu is a 7-book series with 7 primary works first released in 1913 with contributions by Marcel Proust, Lydia Davis, and 5 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
I listened to an audiobook of Swann's Way. It was over seventeen hours. Like my writing teacher said yesterday when I told her I was listening to an audiobook of Swann's Way, it's the perfect classic to listen to (unless, she added, you are going to be tested on it), as it goes on and on with details that are superfluous to the story.
There are really two parts to the book. The first part is the story of the narrator as a child, and I have to say that I much preferred this part of the book. The narrator tells stories of his childhood, his deep fears, his need for his mother, his peculiar aunt, and each story is filled with rich and sensual details. The second part is the story of Swann, a friend of the child's parents, and Swann's obsession with Odette. Swann only grew to be intrigued with Odette after he realized she did not care for him, and that seemed oddly true. Nevertheless, I quickly grew tired of both Swann and Odette; I kept hoping the story would return to the child, but it never did.
Will I read on? After all, there are apparently six more volumes. I don't know. Maybe. There is an allure to this writing.