IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME VOLUME II: WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE by MARCEL PROUST

"[...] and I was like a traveller who, having had the sun in his face when he started, concludes that he has been for so many hours on the road when he finds the sun behind him."

PR: (after the completion of all the volumes)

In the second novel of In Search of Lost Time by Proust, the narrator struggles with the social life. His infatuation with Gilberte Swann comes to an abrupt end when he understands that she is something far out of his grasp. Gilberte is a very naughty girl, and somewhere it felt like Proust was trying to compare Gilberte and the Narrator's love story with that of Charles Swann and Odette de Crécy's, and in doing so he laid the groundwork of the novel and the setting of the love life that our narrator will be leading in the upcoming times.

After his acquaintance with Madame Swann a.k.a Odette, whom he finds very attractive, and even here it felt like the narrator just like Swann, was more in love with Odette than Gilberte, he is frequently invited at their residence. But all in vain.

Soon the narrator leaves for Balbec with his grandmother where he discovers his new found love with a teenage girl there, roaming on the beaches, Albertine Simonet. He compares his love for Albertine with that of Gilberte's which results only in gratification of his affections towards the latter.

After finishing the second volume of what is called the greatest book ever written, I feel like there's alot of things described in this book which are quite underrated or perhaps fall on the blind spot of the reader. I've been taking my time reading each paragraph twice and some thrice but every time I read, the paragraphs, the sentences reveal ever more. The same thing happened reading Swann's Way and I'm pretty much sure if I, out of curiosity, open a random page and catch on a random paragraph, there will be revealed something which on the first read slipped my sight. It is quite normal but only now when I'm pretty much conscious of this effect, the cause still remains unknown. And no I wasn't hurrying! I think this is the essence of Proust, where you can keep on deriving materials and meanings from his sentences no matter how many times you read them. No wonder the reviewers and critics loosen up the ties of their suits when the discussion is about Proust.

He doesn't only paints the story, he makes it alive. Its like you are watching the movie while you're already in it.

Proust doesn't misses a chance to talk about paintings. Knowing his favorite painter was Veemeer, he fictionizes yet another painter, Elstir, an acquaintance of M. Swann, whom he meets at Balbec, and who happens to carry with him a very old painting of Madame Swann up in his room or attic, hidden. Here of course we can imagine the missing links and join the dots.

This girl Albertine, whom the narrator meets at Balbec is a rowdy with a soft spot for the people she likes. To me she was a very modest girl, better than Gilberte and often confused about her feelings as teenagers are at that ripen age.

The age when Proust portrays the story, everything seems possible and beautiful. You are young, beautiful and like a budding grove just learning to grow, to live life without thinking or worrying much about the consequences.

This is one of the best works that I've ever read and its not yet over.

Thank you for reading!