agree. I read the series in english translation, in my thirties.

seems to me I wouldn't have been able to make sense of it when I was any younger.

swann's way (the first volume) and the past recaptured (the last volume) are the best, and were written first, as I understand it. the middle volumes can be thought of as digressions, elaborations on a theme, or set of themes, and although they have merits of their own, they can drag on in my opinion. some of the references are so specific, they make you nostalgic for a time and place that you yourself never knew.
it's remarkable.

like they say, some experiences can never be known, they can only be referred to, and perhaps recognized.

but don't fight it. skip them if they bore you. burn them if they infuriate you. that's what he did with some earlier versions, and that's he would tell you to do, too.

proust's inner voice is one of those things, one either relates to and recognizes it as if it were your own, or perhaps not. if so, then it becomes so engaging it is irresistible.

but proust's immense powers of observation are undeniable, have been vastly influential and remain, I think, unique.

these are some of the few books that whatever else happens, when you finish, you are not the same person you were when you started them.