/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.5718999]

/lit/ when, if ever, do you decide midway through a book that it isn't going to be worth it and decide to stop reading?

I'm currently reading In Search of Lost Time and besides the first chapter I am not enjoying this at all. I am about 300 pages in, almost done with the Swann's Way volume, and I cant decide if I should continue after the first volume to finish the other 1600 pages.

[Anonymous No.5719003]

>>5718999
work at the margin- always quit as soon as it's no longer worth it

[Anonymous No.5719007]

>>5718999
That's more effort than I'd put into something I wasn't enjoying. I started reading more again after a post-college lapse when I became more comfortable abandoning stuff I didn't like.

If something takes effort and mental energy for me to read (like Pynchon) it had better be rewarding and fun for me (like Pynchon).

[Anonymous No.5719015]

>>5718999
Don Quixote and Anna Karenin.

Don't see a problem with it, if you're not enjoying it a decent amount in you shouldn't waste more time.

[Anonymous No.5719023]

I don't think anyone who has read In Search of Lost Time has ever not thought about giving up half way through.

Not because it's not good, but it's just so overwhelming. I'd try to figure out what exactly you're feeling right now. If you don't enjoy the writing, then don't read more. It's probably not going to get better for you. But if you're just overwhelmed by it all, take a break after the first volume and read something else. I've heard coming back to each volume as becoming reacquainted with an old friend. But maybe I'm also just friends with Romantics.

[Anonymous No.5719046]

>>5719023
I really dont see what all the fuss is about.

I completely understand its importance in the history of literature. Also, the few times that the memory recall effect was done so far, it instantly made me want to keep reading. However, while that happened a few times the first 50 or so pages, the first chapter, it has all but stopped for the next 250.

Is it the prose? I've heard the translation I have is not that great, the first english translation, but seriously. I dont give a damn about this strained metaphors for every single thing he notices. The metaphors arent that revealing and arent that poetic (again, translation so I forgive it on that). And the substance, my god. These characters all have the same damn aristocratic voice and they all just go on and on about armchair pseudo philosophy if you can even call it that. Even the narrator does it, frequently.

[Anonymous No.5719069]

i'll abandon books. there are too many good ones to read rather than slogging through mediocrity.

i can't get past the beginning of swan's way. all the talk of sleep puts me to sleep

[Anonymous No.5719076]

>>5719046

Many of the characters are being mocked. I dunno though, I haven't read the whole thing but it still feels kind of insubstantial to me. All of that amazing prose and what's it committed to? Lots of the narrator being really excited about roast chicken and various desserts

[Anonymous No.5719078]

>>5719069
Honestly that was the best part for me.

His play on confusion and referencing things he has just described in different ways was nice. the part where he spends pages describing his grandmother, like how she takes walks, and then just stops and starts talking about one actual night, and then his grandmother went for a walk was pretty nice.

After that its just aristocratic gossip.

[Anonymous No.5719093]

>>5719076
Thats my point though.

The characters are being mocked, but the one doing the mocking is no better.

Ok, please help me out here. Why do you think the prose is amazing? I dont get it, it honestly seems like purple prose. He just starts pulling metaphor after metaphor that barely has any revealing connection to what is being described.

I mean check out this line. He is describing how Swann loves Odette (again) after the shenanigan where the "little clan" begins to dislike him:

And this delight in being a lover, in living by love alone, of the reality of which he was inclined to be doubtful, the price which, in the long run, he must pay for it, as a dilettante in immaterial sensations, enhanced its value in his eyes - as one sees people who are doubtful whether the sight of the sea and the sound of its waves are really enjoyable, become convinced that they are, as also of the rare quality and absolute detachment of their own taste, when they have agreed to pay several pounds a day for a room in an hotel, from which that sight and that sound may be enjoyed.

Becoming an outcast through losing all your friends and social status because your love is considered socially taboo IS NOT fucking like paying a few pounds to watch the sea from a window. Who the fuck would compare the two?

[Anonymous No.5719097]

>>5719093
To clarify. The comparison is how the lose of the situation increases its value.

The loss of friends increasing the value of your romantic relationship is not comparing to the loss of money and how that makes the ocean seem more valuable.

[Anonymous No.5719104]

>>5719093
>>5719097
Last note.

He is also talking about the actual loss of money, since he has to pay for Odette's bills, and how this somehow increases the value of his relationship with her as well.

[Anonymous No.5719115]

>>5718999
Honestly, the novel isn't that good. It's got nice wirting and some intersting ideas but way too spread out.

The second half of it in particular drops in quality.

[Anonymous No.5720602]

I don't 'decide'. It just happens that I spend time reading something else, due date comes up, I return it and forget about it. Happened with Ulysses, Atlas Shrugged, Conrad and countless others.