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waytoomanybooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I’m glad I gave this book a second chance! While it is often difficult keeping track of whose head we’re in, I got used to the style/flow after a while. It helped me to note down in the margin who was thinking or speaking. It’s difficulty, I think, is part of its charm. It kept me on my toes, revealing just enough to keep me guessing, but in a good way. Most of the characters felt very distinct from each other, but some of the one-line characters didn’t stick out to me...but then again, they weren’t supposed to. There is so much contained within the 24 hours over which the book takes place that it would be impossible to become familiar with every single person in much the same way it would be for you or me in my day-to-day life.
Why I’m giving it a 3 out of 5 comes down to the fact that this worth a read if you have the time and brain power to dedicate to following along with it. And there are no chapter breaks. And there are a lot of trigger warnings to be wary of!
Why I’m giving it a 3 out of 5 comes down to the fact that this worth a read if you have the time and brain power to dedicate to following along with it. And there are no chapter breaks. And there are a lot of trigger warnings to be wary of!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, War, Abandonment, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
hollystopreading's review against another edition
dark
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Very “yellow wallpaper” esque with lots of tangents, metaphors and analogy’s. You get flung into different people’s minds sporadically throughout the book. Short yet very dense, no chapter breaks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
zomvi's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I loved the character work that Woolf employs, and the societal commentary and examination of mental health is brilliant! However, I wasn't a fan of the rambling stream-of-consciousness style in which it's written; I'm sure others will disagree, but it's just not a style I generally enjoy altogether. I recommend the Listen With Audrey audiobook edition specifically, as there is substantial extra material giving a lot of historical context and information on the author herself that greatly helped my understanding. There are some unfortunate references to POC, as well, but this is almost inevitable, sadly, given the time period, and in many other ways, this was an extremely progressive book. I was also not super clear on if it was just the characters themselves viewing them in that light, so perhaps I'm misjudging Woolf's perspective on that matter as well? Overall, I'm glad to have finally read such an influential author's work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and War
gillian_aftanas's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicide, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
joensign's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Racism, Sexism, War, and Misogyny
annaki_laila's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide
Minor: Colonisation and Racism
kers_tin's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Racism, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, War, Classism, Ableism, Colonisation, and Mental illness
Moderate: Gun violence and Grief
vulpini's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Mental illness
Minor: Racism
diana_raquel's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"It might be possible that the world itself is without meaning."
I always had a very interesting relationship with Virginia Woolf. I usually don't gravitate toward modern authors (I'm a classicist at heart). And I don't particularly agree with some things that Woolf said about English classic authors. But, I do believe in the separation between art and artist (with some nuance), and this book constantly appears in those lists of books that you should read, at least, once in your life. So when I had the opportunity to buy this book, I decided to give it a try.
I have to say that this was a challenge. The first two times I tried to read this book I had to DNF it because I couldn't understand what was happening. To me, it was a boring book when nothing happened. And for a couple of years, I had given up on Woolf. But then, I decided to give this book another chance. The third time's the charm, right? And if I can read books with 800 pages, I could read a book with less than 200 pages! But this time I decided to read the book with the help of an audiobook.
This isn't an easy book. There's not much in terms of a plot and the narrative focuses on the characters and their internal conflicts. The story doesn't have a payoff and the ending leaves you with more questions than answers. There's a constant back and forward between the present and the past, that might take some time to get used to. And to make matters worse, although the writing style is beautiful, almost poetic, it can be very hard to follow.
So, why do I like this book? The answer is simple: the characters. I loved the characters and their internal demons and conflicts. And although there's not much of a plot, halfway I realize that Mrs. Dalloway is a tragic love story. Every character has suffered or is suffering from a tragic love. And that suffering shapes the way characters think and act. There are a lot of parallels between characters that never met and, even so, those characters have an impact on each other. At heart, Mrs. Dalloway isn't a story about how society shapes the individual, but how the individual falls victim to society.
In addition to the existential issues, this story also deals with mental health, bisexuality, and feminism (that's why this book was so controversial when it was first published). And using these themes, Woof manages to shape the character's interior conflicts and built the society (that is at war with itself) around them.
So you can say that I reconciled with Woolf. And I do recommend this book. It's a beautifully written, thought-provoking book, that can be a bit hard to follow but don't give up. If you can't read it by yourself, try with an audiobook. You won't regret it.
I always had a very interesting relationship with Virginia Woolf. I usually don't gravitate toward modern authors (I'm a classicist at heart). And I don't particularly agree with some things that Woolf said about English classic authors. But, I do believe in the separation between art and artist (with some nuance), and this book constantly appears in those lists of books that you should read, at least, once in your life. So when I had the opportunity to buy this book, I decided to give it a try.
I have to say that this was a challenge. The first two times I tried to read this book I had to DNF it because I couldn't understand what was happening. To me, it was a boring book when nothing happened. And for a couple of years, I had given up on Woolf. But then, I decided to give this book another chance. The third time's the charm, right? And if I can read books with 800 pages, I could read a book with less than 200 pages! But this time I decided to read the book with the help of an audiobook.
This isn't an easy book. There's not much in terms of a plot and the narrative focuses on the characters and their internal conflicts. The story doesn't have a payoff and the ending leaves you with more questions than answers. There's a constant back and forward between the present and the past, that might take some time to get used to. And to make matters worse, although the writing style is beautiful, almost poetic, it can be very hard to follow.
So, why do I like this book? The answer is simple: the characters. I loved the characters and their internal demons and conflicts. And although there's not much of a plot, halfway I realize that Mrs. Dalloway is a tragic love story. Every character has suffered or is suffering from a tragic love. And that suffering shapes the way characters think and act. There are a lot of parallels between characters that never met and, even so, those characters have an impact on each other. At heart, Mrs. Dalloway isn't a story about how society shapes the individual, but how the individual falls victim to society.
In addition to the existential issues, this story also deals with mental health, bisexuality, and feminism (that's why this book was so controversial when it was first published). And using these themes, Woof manages to shape the character's interior conflicts and built the society (that is at war with itself) around them.
So you can say that I reconciled with Woolf. And I do recommend this book. It's a beautifully written, thought-provoking book, that can be a bit hard to follow but don't give up. If you can't read it by yourself, try with an audiobook. You won't regret it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Death, War, and Suicide
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Racism, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia and Misogyny
closet_bibliophile's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I'd like to start by saying I get a lot of inspiration from Virginia Woolf, her style of writting and the vivid real images she manages to portray through her writting are magnificent and incredibly moving.
That said, reading this book felt like putting myself through purgatory. The writting style, constantly ebbing and flowing from place and thing and character, is remarkably similar to the way my brain likes to function and so it took the writting in this book as a distraction manual. Time lost all meaning as my mind meandered through topics not even slightly related to the writting and when I snapped back into it I'd realised I read over 10 pages in a haze and have to figure out when I'd zoned out.
In the rare moments of clarity when I could read (and only read), it was really a pleasant experience.
That said, reading this book felt like putting myself through purgatory. The writting style, constantly ebbing and flowing from place and thing and character, is remarkably similar to the way my brain likes to function and so it took the writting in this book as a distraction manual. Time lost all meaning as my mind meandered through topics not even slightly related to the writting and when I snapped back into it I'd realised I read over 10 pages in a haze and have to figure out when I'd zoned out.
In the rare moments of clarity when I could read (and only read), it was really a pleasant experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Minor: Racism and Classism