6.39k reviews for:

Al faro

Virginia Woolf

3.79 AVERAGE

emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional 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

This book is my Lighthouse.
lighthearted reflective slow-paced
challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

reading this made me feel so illiterate I had to take a break halfway through to read 5 Roald Dahl books
challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This certainly has a smacking of Mrs Dalloway about it with its use of narrative "tunnels" and the haunting of the post-war upon the later chapter of the novel, as well as the alluring beauty of Mrs Ramsay evoking also that of Mrs Dalloway. The metaphorical weight of the lighthouse and the near universal application of aquatic imagery really drew me in and I'm looking forward to uncovering that. I found something hilariously pathetic in the hyperbolic intellectualism and machoism of Mr Ramsay but felt crestfallen in this being replicated in Cam. I particularly enjoyed the battling between female ingenuity and male canonised / intellectually qualified intelligence and thought the way Woolf played with language to reflect this was certainly captivating. Her narrative style really enhances the sense of interconnected isolation between people. 

I think I need to investigate the character of James, the atheist and Mrs Ramsay with more scrutiny. I feel there may be something unreliable in the first and third parts as the revelation of the arguments of Mrs Ramsay and Mr Ramsay in the banging of the doors is instead apparently attributed just to the wind and quantity of the people in the first part. 
There are many, many, recurring elements that must be tracked. 

Really took joy in the metaphor of the table to define Lily's perception of Mr Ramsay's intellectual works. The ending gave me a sense of reward that I worried,, given the title feeling like a "Waiting for Godot" situation, would lack in payoff. 

Great stuff. 

Probably the greatest depiction of individual psychology within family life that I’ve ever read. You could study the syntax alone for the rest of your life. Challenging, but not in a way that resists the reader — it’s still beautiful and enjoyable, and it invites you in. 
challenging emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

First time reading Woolf. I get it now.