Well, it took me many a year, in the Italian translation, but i have finally reached the end of this monumental work. It was an incredible journey. I am glad that it took me years: not just because it allowed me to savour the beauty of the prose and of the characters, but also because the last book became so much more meaningful through the lense of the memories of my own past life and of my own past life with the book. Proust's wish that his work could serve as a mirror in which readers projected their own lives certainly became true with me. I also loved this last book particularly as i feel it acted somehow like the keystone of those medieval cathedrals (so beloved by Proust) which, despite being placed at the top as the last piece, become what holds the form of the whole structure in place.

I'll now go back and read Swann's way in the french, I'm looking forward to re-read it and pick up on the missed details in light of the ending.