I’m currently on the third volume of In Search of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past). I love the surprising ways I can identify with this guy. For example take this passage:
“I was merely the instrument of habits of not working, of not going to bed, of not sleeping, which had to fulfill themselves at any cost; if I offered no resistance, if I made do with the pretext they drew from the first opportunity that arose for them to act as they chose, I escaped without serious harm, I still slept for a few hours toward morning, I managed to read a little, I did not overexert myself; but if I tried to resist them, by deciding to go to bed early, to drink only water, to work, they became annoyed, they resorted to strong measures, they made me really ill, I was obliged to double my dose of alcohol, I did not go to bed for two days, I could not even read, and I would vow to be more reasonable in future—that is to say, less wise—like the victim who allows himself to be robbed for fear of being murdered if he puts up resistance.”
– The Guermantes Way