On interchangeable young women

Page: 1 (nominal, vol.3 yet to be purchased)
Pages read since last post: 168
Books read since last post: Small Island, Andrea Levy; The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke

Well one upside of being monstrously ill over the Christmas period was finally finishing WABG. Overall I found it an easier read than Swann's Way until the final section, where I found the interminable ruminations on interchangeable young women rather heavy going.

Broadly speaking (ironic though that might seem with regard to M. Proust) I would say his male characters seem vastly more nuanced than his female characters (with the possible exception of Francoise).

In fact I began to feel rather sorry for Andree, whose only fault seems to have been to try to be nice to everyone and to possibly fancy the narrator a little. This then is enough for her to be branded (I paraphrase) 'one of those people you can never trust' - ridiculous given Albertine's cardboard cut-out tease and desist behaviour.

And yet... I think this begins to get to the heart of the monsternovel - the narrator's callowness, his desire to be more than he is and his repeated failure to express what he wants; all these things are recognisable traits and perhaps what makes them so unbearable is the ring of truth and the inevitability of self-reflection on the part of the reader.

Anyway, enough psychoguff. One great benefit from this 'heavy reading' is that normal reading now seems as effortless as breathing. Inhaled Andrea Levy's Small Island (best of Orange prize winner) - v well written but possibly too neat a conclusion for my liking. The Ladies of Grace Adieu is a collection of shorts set in the same world as Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell, a world which I sadly confess I cannot return to enough.

Apologies for the lack of proper italicisation, this mac doesn't appear to like it much. EDIT: But my PC does, hurrah.

Bring on the Guermantes Way...