In Search of Lost Time Volume 3: The Guermantes Way

This volume was more about family drama than the previous one. Here we have family relations becoming strained and aristocracy becoming confused of where they stand. A good light volume compared to the one I experienced previously. As I said before - I'm actually on Volume 4 at the moment, sorry for the lateness. 

Characters:

My favourite character is still Albertine. She seems to mature quite a lot through this volume and comes to visit the narrator whilst he is being told to ask for the hand of Stemaria. Although the narrator is pressured into asking for Stemaria's hand - he still holds Albertine quite close to his heart. Albertine is a woman who is seemingly headstrong and yet still has to overcome every emotion imaginable to the human experience - especially when she is in love. She is like a Jane Eyre heroine - just much more interesting. 

Themes:

The theme of love comes to mind here. But not only the relationship between Albertine and the narrator - but also the pressure of a relationship between the narrator and Stemaria. There is also relative love - the relation between the narrator and his grandmother (who unfortunately dies) is accounted in the way that he explains how she reverted to her youthful beauty in her final moments of life and seconds of complete death. Beautiful explanations with riveting metaphors that stir up all kinds of Romanticist imagination - revived perfectly in the 20s. 

Storyline:

Now, it was a little difficult with some of the new characters - but the storyline was lighter and more love-focussed than the previous volume, or the first one. There is a wider perspective of Albertine's relationship with the narrator now that he is being pressured towards Stemaria. It is a brilliant three dimensional love story. 

Verdict:

I give this volume 9. 

100% for characters: I just think Albertine was more mature in this volume and got a good part in the story. 

100% for themes: It was more Romantic in this volume - especially with themes of love, death and relationships - I think there is serious potential in this book as a whole. 

100% for storyline: I really did like that it didn't move too quickly and everything was perceptive - I believe that the outlook the reader gets of the whole story is different every single time some event seems to change our narrator. Proust got this one right.