Rating: 
Summary: Where are the professor's students?
Review: According to the book jacket, Dr. Rose is a Professor of English at Wesleyan. Conspicuously absent from her seamless, clever, funny, and smart memoir (including, at the end, a terrific reading list) is the slightest -- teensiest -- discussion of her teaching life. Other than a rant on the annoyance of living right in town (for a small fraction of the year, it would seem) and having a garden and yard that is vulnerable to marauding Wesleyan students, the kids are gone from this book. I wished for more substance, less style in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A sad disappointment from the author of Parallel Lives
Review: After a promising opening chapter, this book proved to be a great disappointment, especially after Parallel Lives -- lots of Proustian detail but to very little point. It's confessional in tone (particularly with reference to the circumstances surrounding her second marriage) but without the insight necessary to make the confession of much interest to anyone else -- as a result, parts of it read like a literary gossip column. Also, as earlier reviewers noted, sloppy spelling and grammatical errors (in my edition anyway) are annoying. I found two points particularly grating -- her comparison of the emergence of the Beatles to the Passion of Christ (both are "transcendent") and her habit of referring to her literary pals as Annie D. and Bob S. It's apparent who they are from the text so why the coy references? It does seem as if this good writer has run out of steam -- I wish this book had really been about reading Proust. I think I would have enjoyed Rose on that subject.
Rating: 
Summary: shallow, lazy and narcissistic memoir
Review: From Woolf to Dickens and Carlyle to a wonderful essay on Little Black Sambo's author to Josephine Baker, Phylis Rose's objects of consideration have always been profoundly significant. We used to read her books because they told us about the world. But now we learn only about Phyllis Rose's world, and it isn't the least bit appealing, or interesting or even revelatory. Rose has lost her way completely. Her early books expressed a kind of insight, albeit in a perpetually arrogant and smug tone, that is completely absent from this book. An author in search of a subject. Perhaps this is her last book.
Rating:
Summary: Frank but not enlightening
Review: Having just read two wonderful Proust-haunted books (HOW PROUST CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Alan de Botton and DREAMS OF MY RUSSIAN SUMMERS by Andrei Makine), I thought to round off with Phyllis Rose's take on the magnetic author. What a disappointment! Where Proust convinces us of the ephemeral verities of life, Rose (a writer and critic here-to-fore admired) assures merely of the shallowness, the superficialities of a self-centered "literary" existence. Frank without being enlightening, quotidean to the point of banality, Rose shocks the reader by portraying in what seems an ungenerous if not viperous spirit all friends and loved ones but her mother, whose endurable qualities rise like cream to the top of the froth. Maybe what sets the teeth on edge are grammatical errors (I/me mistakes) in three early chapters and a late one. Still, one wonders why this author needed to publish, let alone write, a book so disadvantageous to herself and others.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: I bought a copy of this book recently without recalling that Rose was the author of a Josephine Baker bio that I had very much enjoyed some years ago. What a disappointment Rose's "Year of" was, and all the more so after I realized she had also penned the Baker bio. I found much of "Year of" to be self-indulgent and repetitive and of little import. I also feel that I know virtually nothing more about Proust after having read Rose's book... This book was a major disappointment on many levels. One possible exception to that was Rose's exploration of the mother-daughter relationship.... The upshot is that I was glad that I had bought the book at used-book rates. Even though I'm something of a packrat, I unhesitatingly gave this book away after finishing it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Honest Lively Memoir
Review: I didn't know this book existed. I was heading across thefloor of a real (not virtual) bookstore, on my way to the Proustsection. I had finally decided I should try and read Proust. Probably because I finally went to Paris for the first time a few months ago and because a friend lent me a book called "Le Divorce," which also reminded me I should read some Proust. On my way to Proust, I passed "The Oprah Table" (which I always check, because this bookstore puts both the book club selections and other things that might be of interest). Lo and behold, there on that table is a book called "The Year of Reading Proust...." I picked it up -- it felt wonderful (important, if you're going to spend intimate times holding a dead tree of knowledge). I looked at page one of her introduction, wherein Ms. Rose expresses her fondness for Cornelia Otis Skinner and "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay." Since that had been one of my favorite books as a pre-teen, she hooked me in right then and there. I have since completed the reading. I can understand how some of the consumer reviewers were not pleased, based on what they were expecting. I didn't know what to expect, and feel like I made a new friend. I also feel like I now know just enough of what Proust is and isn't and what to expect, that I can start volume one (which I picked up next on that same day). I learned so much about the writing process, the creative process in general, and when to "let it go," that I hope some day I can thank Ms. Rose in person for her contribution to the furthering of my life. I don't know what you've learned from this "review," as it's not very customary, but if you buy this book, you could get a great time with a new friend -- not to mention an 11-page list of her important books to read (some from authors mentioned in the book, some not), which is a great thing to have next time you don't know what you should read next.
Rating:
Summary: When the Student is Ready....
Review: I didn't know this book existed. I was heading across thefloor of a real (not virtual) bookstore, on my way to the Proustsection. I had finally decided I should try and read Proust. Probably because I finally went to Paris for the first time a few months ago and because a friend lent me a book called "Le Divorce," which also reminded me I should read some Proust. On my way to Proust, I passed "The Oprah Table" (which I always check, because this bookstore puts both the book club selections and other things that might be of interest). Lo and behold, there on that table is a book called "The Year of Reading Proust...." I picked it up -- it felt wonderful (important, if you're going to spend intimate times holding a dead tree of knowledge). I looked at page one of her introduction, wherein Ms. Rose expresses her fondness for Cornelia Otis Skinner and "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay." Since that had been one of my favorite books as a pre-teen, she hooked me in right then and there. I have since completed the reading. I can understand how some of the consumer reviewers were not pleased, based on what they were expecting. I didn't know what to expect, and feel like I made a new friend. I also feel like I now know just enough of what Proust is and isn't and what to expect, that I can start volume one (which I picked up next on that same day). I learned so much about the writing process, the creative process in general, and when to "let it go," that I hope some day I can thank Ms. Rose in person for her contribution to the furthering of my life. I don't know what you've learned from this "review," as it's not very customary, but if you buy this book, you could get a great time with a new friend -- not to mention an 11-page list of her important books to read (some from authors mentioned in the book, some not), which is a great thing to have next time you don't know what you should read next.
Rating:
Summary: Self indulgence masked by literary allusions
Review: I was so excited to purchase and read this book. I loved Rose's critical biography of Virginia Woolf and now her clarity and insights would be extended to her own life and to Proust. What a disappointment. Rose's candor is amazing, because it reveals a rather shallow and self-satisfied woman. Her use of Proust is quite minimal and superficial. I found no relationship between her life and writing and that of Proust's. Read Proust instead!
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Honest Lively Memoir
Review: If you have read Proust, or attempted to, or mean to someday... Ms. Rose will not let you down. I love how she sees Proust...and how others feel he "doesn't apply" and miss the point. How many times have we been told that some great writer is "passe" or "impossible" or just not trendy enough? (those who sneer may just feel unequal to the task of reading a particular author) Rose takes it slowly, she weaves Proust into her daily life. It is a brisk read, but I found myself stopping & sharing bits with others. I hope to re-tackle Proust soon! I have been inspired.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Honest Lively Memoir
Review: If you have read Proust, or attempted to, or mean to someday... Ms. Rose will not let you down. I love how she sees Proust...and how others feel he "doesn't apply" and miss the point. How many times have we been told that some great writer is "passe" or "impossible" or just not trendy enough? (those who sneer may just feel unequal to the task of reading a particular author) Rose takes it slowly, she weaves Proust into her daily life. It is a brisk read, but I found myself stopping & sharing bits with others. I hope to re-tackle Proust soon! I have been inspired.
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