Ruiz's rendering of Proust is a miracle – fidelity achieved through audacity. . . . Marshalling a cast of France's finest actors, and knowing that translation works best when it is freest, Ruiz conures the Proust one encounters in the novel: by turns magical, shocking, immensely sad, woundingly cruel, delectably funny. And as ornate as in its t rappings as the swank SWANN IN LOVE, it never imprisons itself in period detail; it manages to be opulent and bracing, luxe and léger at the same time.
James Quandt
March 23, 2001