I have to get off my chest how annoying I think the narrator is. I am really trying to find the good in him. I really am.  Albertine is gone, and he says things like “The memory of Albertine had become so fragmentary that it no longer caused me any sadness and was no more now than a transition to fresh desires, like a chord which announces a change of key. And indeed, any idea of a passing sensual whim being rules out, in so far as I was still faithful to Albertine’s memory, I was happier at having Andree in my company than I would have been at having an Albertine miraculously restored” (p.809).  How awful! He comes across fickle and frivolous and shallow.

One difficulty I have had with this book is the lack of ability to connect with the narrator. I have no problem connecting with Proust. I can hear him often in the writing trying to lay Easter eggs that represent his view points on sexuality, religion and more. His descriptions are so detailed that I can sometimes vividly see the scenes and feel the emotions described.  This I enjoy. However, the narrator, his character, his personality, his motives… I can’t relate to. I can’t get behind. I can’t even contemplate! This stops me from getting lost in the reading. I often find myself jerked aware from my reading by something the narrator says that just rubs me wrong. I wonder if this happens to anyone else while reading these novels. Like I said, Proust I am cool with, it’s the narrator I want throw over my lap and give a good spanking to!