monnowman reviewed Time Regained by Marcel Proust
Review of 'Time Regained' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Where to start? Finishing the last in a revered series of novels has left me feeling a bit bereft, but also a bit relieved. Reading (okay, listening to) the seven novels in "In Search of Lost Time" was undertaken as a challenge to my present self to put right the failure by my former, 20-year old French Studies student self to complete the Proust marathon at university. Do I wish I had read it then? Well, assuming I had had the patience, I would probably not have had the psychological maturity to appreciate Proust's insights, so yes, I wish I had, but it wouldn't have done me much good.
This final book acts as a sort of summing up, a realisation of the author's true metier and is more philosophical in character. Unless I missed them(!) there were no dramatic twists but there was plenty of wistful reflection on the …
Where to start? Finishing the last in a revered series of novels has left me feeling a bit bereft, but also a bit relieved. Reading (okay, listening to) the seven novels in "In Search of Lost Time" was undertaken as a challenge to my present self to put right the failure by my former, 20-year old French Studies student self to complete the Proust marathon at university. Do I wish I had read it then? Well, assuming I had had the patience, I would probably not have had the psychological maturity to appreciate Proust's insights, so yes, I wish I had, but it wouldn't have done me much good.
This final book acts as a sort of summing up, a realisation of the author's true metier and is more philosophical in character. Unless I missed them(!) there were no dramatic twists but there was plenty of wistful reflection on the nature of time and memory.