Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

9 reviews

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!

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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

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

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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

gabriella_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Incredibly depressing but I didn’t expect any differently. This book had one of the most touching depictions of PTSD I’ve ever read. Parts of it moved really slow and I found myself getting lost in the prose. It was a bit long winded and I know that’s a me-problem. It was a LOT more Sapphic than I anticipated (and what a treat that was)! It was very casually racist though and that deducted some points from me.

I think I will appreciate reading this more when I’m in my fifties, I think I’m just not in the right demographic for this one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Self harm, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, War, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Blood, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

toffishay's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Classism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Cursing, Grief, Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

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

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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

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.

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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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, and War

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Biphobia

b_caligari's review

emotional reflective fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Death and Grief

libbygranger's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

For me, reading any Virginia Woolf text for the first time is like reading through a frosted glass window. Every so often I can identify the blurry images as real people, places and objects – but most of the time I’m just hopefully peering through, trying to piece fragments together into some coherent image. I don’t mind it, though. Each time I reread one of her works, the glass becomes clearer and clearer, and I notice more and more. This is what makes her books so special for me – there’s so much packed in there, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, and Mrs Dalloway was certainly no exception. There were some quotes that struck me, some story threads that gripped me, and some characters that intrigued me. I loved best Clarissa Dalloway’s reminiscences on her youth with Peter Walsh and Sally Seton; that storyline was the easiest to follow and most accessible upon first read. Though the eponymous character is central to the novel, the story follows an ensemble cast of characters whose lives intertwine in both past and present. I was astounded at Woolf’s deftness in slipping effortlessly from one character’s internal monologue to the next, sometimes within the span of a single sentence. 

 

Upon finishing Mrs Dalloway, I felt the same overwhelming melancholy as I did after The Waves. It was like I wanted to cry, but couldn’t. The weight of everything Woolf had expressed over the course of 190 pages just felt like too much to handle. Something about Virginia Woolf's writing is just magical. I look forward to the day when I feel emotionally prepared enough to dive back in for a reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death and Grief