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How Proust Can Change Your Life
 
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How Proust Can Change Your Life [Abridged] (Paperback)

by Alain de Botton (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Picador (9 April 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330354914
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330354912
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 1.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,395 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Novels & Novelists > 20th Century
    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Botton, Alain de
    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Novelists

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Product Description

Product Description
'What a marvellous book this is ...de Botton dissects what (Proust) had to say about friendship, reading, looking carefully, paying attention taking your time, being alive and adds his own delicious commentary. The result is an intoxicating as it is wise, amusing as well as stimulating, and presented in so fresh a fashion as to be unique ...I could not stop, and now much start all over again.' - Brian Masters, "Mail on Sunday".'De Botton not only has a complete understanding of Proust's life ...but what is particularly charming about this small, readable book is its tongue-in-cheek benignity, its lightly held erudition and its generous way of lending itself to what is not only the greatest book of the century but also the darkest and the most eccentric' - Edmund White, "Observer".'It contains more human interest and play of fancy than most fiction ...de Botton, in emphasizing Proust's healing, advisory aspects, does us the service of rereading him on our behalf, providing of that vast sacred lake a sweet and lucid distillation.' - John Updike, "New Yorker".'De Botton's little book is so charming, amusing and sensible that it may even itself change your life.' - Allan Massie, "Daily Telegraph".'This engaging book is one of the most entertaining pieces of literary criticism I have read in a long while.' - "Sunday Telegraph".'A very enjoyable book' - "Sebastian Faulks".

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How Proust Can Change Your Life
76% buy the item featured on this page:
How Proust Can Change Your Life 4.5 out of 5 stars (23)
£5.99
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
10% buy
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work 3.9 out of 5 stars (19)
£9.96
The Consolations of Philosophy
7% buy
The Consolations of Philosophy 4.3 out of 5 stars (46)
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The Art of Travel
4% buy
The Art of Travel 4.3 out of 5 stars (22)
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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Is it really so bad?, 23 Dec 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: How Proust Can Change Your Life (Paperback)
Let me start by saying that I sleep well at night and don't pretend to have the vaguest clue about some of the great writers of literature. Now that I've established my honesty and credibility, maybe I can say a few words about this book. Personally, I think the author wouldn't be such a bad fellow to know. I like the way he segmented the book and described relevant portions of Proust. I am a soldier and spend a lot of time in the field; currently in a part of the world which is undergoing an uneasy truce. I read whatever I can get my hands on and am tired of the muscle and skin magazines, car magazines, etc., which is the normal fare. When a book like this comes along, which is fairly easy to read and digest and more importantly, makes me want to attempt the real thing, then I don't think it's such a bad book and certainly not deserving of one or two stars. As for re-evaluating life's experiences, I hope that I can sit back one day and use a "Proustian" view to re-examine my current experiences; something which I have not been able to do as I've only been able to react. That is probably the biggest lesson and the irony of the whole Proust phenomenon, that is, from his bed, he observes with the utmost clarity, the most minute activities of a day, while the rest of us are busy living and missing out on these subtleties and insights into ourselves.
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76 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Simple Reminder Of Simple Truths, 3 Oct 2004
By Mr. S. J. Wade "thebardofb6" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I like this book very much and have read it several times. It's not really about Proust, it is about looking at the world like Proust. It is a simple reminder of the sort things we miss in life when we are immersed in the hurry-scurry of the rat-race. So if I'm a bit fed-up, I take up this book and learn to take a breath, while seeing the world afresh. I find the section on the portayal of everyday things in art, particularly inspiring and up-lifting. Its about appreciating the things that were always there but we fail to see. I recommend it highly.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, 18 Jan 2000
By Phillip Wells (Bermuda) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
A sublime book, short and exceptionally easy to read. Yet despite that, de Botton's commentary on Proust's observations on life is well-observed, funny and true. Proust snobs may sniffily suggest this book has no insights to offer that you wouldn't be better getting from In Search Of Lost Time itself, but I would have never found the perseverance to get through the first volume of Proust's novel had I not read this book first. It prepares you for what to expect (the long, rambling sentences with innumerable subordinate clauses) and signals points of interest to watch out for along the way (for instance, the madeleine). After completing volume 1, I was still unsure about whether I wanted to persevere with the other 5 volumes, but re-reading de Botton's gem rekindled my enthusiasm and I'm now half-way through volume 2.

If you ever wanted to read Proust but have never been able to summon up the courage (or if you wondered where the plot for the movie 'Last Night' came from), read this. You'll love it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
De Botton does a brilliant job of juxtaposing Proust's many oddities as a person (there is a truly hilarious account of his one disastrous meeting with James Joyce) with the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Nicholas Whyte

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice book
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.
Published 10 months ago by T. Young

5.0 out of 5 stars An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Read more
Published 17 months ago by Rolf Dobelli

4.0 out of 5 stars Sublime
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!
Published 17 months ago by Daintree Peters

5.0 out of 5 stars How to appreciate the simple things
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Damian Patrick Kelly

5.0 out of 5 stars de Botton on top form
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on... Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2007 by Mr. S. Miller

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of his lot
While some of his later books struggle to marry the chirpy narrative style with the weight of ideas, this one does it perfectly. de Botton's finest hour. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2007 by Vinny

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't do much for me
Sorry but although I persevered and read this through to the bitter end, it just didn't anything for me.
Published on 13 Jul 2004 by Keith Appleyard

5.0 out of 5 stars bringing the dead to life to teach us more....
I only learned of this book after I had started the second draft of my comic novel, "A Visit from Voltaire," but was fascinated to see the same idea--of learning lessons in life... Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2003 by Author, A Visit From Voltaire ...

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect understanding of Proust
The author gives you Proust boiled down to its richest essence (and rich it is!) but without the usual idolising of the mere words that Proust wrote. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2001 by Ian Rogers

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