I achieved my goal of reading all seven volumes of Proust's epic in 2017. There were lulls and doldrums, but overall the work is startlingly vibrant even a century later, full of keen observations, cutting truths about aristocracy and the contradictory, hypocritical way we navigate love and jealousy. And there were some truly memorable characters that I felt deeply attached to by the end of Proust's journey through their lives.