I’ve started working my way through Neville Jason’s excellent narration of Proust’s classic In Search of Lost Time. Here’s my brief review from goodreads.com of the (21 hours long!) first volume.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Revisiting an author I avoided when I studied French at university, I was surprised that Proust’s writing was more accessible than I had feared. Not that it immediately grabs you: the vast sentences with their minute analysis of characters’ motives (“Nooo, not another subclause – my puny intellect can’t cope!”) engages you only slowly. Don’t look for a page-turning twist-driven plot here. What you get is a sort of beautifully-written, melancholy and contemplative retrospective set in fin de siecle France and driven by the big themes of love and memory.
Monnow Man 