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 & adds his own delicious commentary The result is an intoxicating as it is wise amusing as well as stimulating & presented in so fresh a fashion as to be unique I could not stop & 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 & its generous way of lending itself to what is not only the greatest book of the century but also the darkest & the most eccentric' Edmund White Observer It contains more human interest & 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 & lucid distillation' John Updike New Yorker De Botton's little book is so charming amusing & 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