Do not put off reading this book - Rated 
I urge you to get this book out of the library, read it on-line, or best of all buy this superb translation. My response to the book has been quite emotional, and since others have better explained what the book is like, I will just say don't put off reading it until you break your leg or (as in my friend Rod's case) get a bit of pneumonia.
I also recommend How Proust Can Change Your Life because it is a beautiful little book and it will help you get the most out of reading In Search of Lost Time.
Yes, I really do think that Proust can change your life, in the sense that I changed the way I think about myself and other people, as if the restricting walls and ceiling of my dark little world had just fallen away.
I wish I had read this when I was 12 years old, but now will have to do.
Brilliant - Rated
I found myself completely captivated by this first of Proust's classic series; his evocations of children's perceptions of the world of grownups, and of what it is like to be a man in love, are simply superb. Sure, you have to smile a bit at the very long sentences - the editor protests that Proust's reputation for this is a bit unfair, in that "only" a quarter of the text consists of sentences that are longer then ten lines - yeah, right. But it would be impossible to unwind them. The pace of the book is of course very slow but I found that part of its charm. Roll on the second volume.
Also I was taken aback by the amount of girl-on-girl action. I'm not used to that in classic literature.
What would have happened if he'd had a coffee instead? - Rated
Why oh why has this new translation been published in two different covers? The American ones, in Penguin Delux Editions, have gorgeous covers, and the British editions have the usual wishy-washy close ups of roughly period paintings, and for some reason, Groucho Marx on the spine. His eyes follow you around the room. If it were not for that stupid law that means the last two volumes of the translation can't be published in the US until 2019 (& why won't sombody fix that?) we would never have bought them in this version, and will have to spend the afternoon covering them. It is most distracting...
Only love can break your heart - Rated
Slow to the point of retardation, circular, ambiguous, prurient, self-absorbed and above all French; it is a mystery to me why this book is considered to be the finest novel ever penned.
I read this book on holiday in Ventnor and despite an overhelming sense of self-satisfaction at having read such a fat book, I was bitterly disappointing. I don't mind a little psychological acuity, the odd pastiche of the aporetic round of human living etc. but overall I found the plot thin and the action scenes over-written. Selling a million copies is the goal of every serious writer but I feel Mr Proust has made too many concessions along the way. Many of the gags are cheap and the female characters unconvicing. The comic timing is also way off - sometimes the punchline comes several pages after the set-up.
However, the Baron de Charlus is a good character and will ring bells for anyone who hails from the Sheffield area. There is also a very entertaining moment where the narrator chokes on a bit of cake and his whole life flashes before his eyes (although in slow motion).
I think that the over 40's and anyone who wants to learn how NOT to tell a joke would like this book. Probably not appropriate for readers with impaired memory or synaesthesia.
A unique reading experience, well worth the effort - Rated
Sooner or later every serious reader must come to terms with Marcel Proust's six volume work, Remebrance of Things Past. This new translation is as good a way as any to get into it, and Swann's Way, as it is usually called, is the first volume. This is a challenging read. The reader needs to relax, to give up all hope of finishing the book quickly, or of finding an exciting plot or much forward movement in the book. But once you have set aside your notions of what constitutes a novel, and are prepared to go on this meandering journey of self-disovery (through finding in yourself the same thoughts that Proust thinks), you will find an intimate and beguiling novel which will generate the "of course" reaction in you as you see yourself and the people around you in a new light. Proust has the gift of analysing the interior motives of his characters, not just in terms of their actions, but in terms of their thoughts and speech. He detects the evasions and dissimulations in everyday social interactions and exposes the deceits of convention and tradition. Having read this book I can say that all though it was a difficult read, it was worth the effort and the memory of this novel past has affected the way I look at the world around me. I look forward to volume 2.
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