Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Mrs. Dalloway

I really struggled with this. I've been meaning to read some of Woolf's fiction ever since I read A Room Of One's Own but have always been intimidated and it seems I was right to be. I thought I was prepared for her stream of consciousness style of writing but I found it kind of exhausting. I had to listen to the audiobook while also reading along to keep track of what was happening. There were moments where I was invested and enjoying it but they didn't last long. I think her style just isn't for me which is a shame.

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libbygranger's review against another edition

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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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aegagrus's review against another edition

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4.75

Re-read for class. In brief, what strikes me about this book is that it's both very polished and very raw -- Woolf is a great stylist, and elegantly describes the inner lives of her characters, but there's always something jagged and ungovernable, but deeply true, right below the surface. A story of the ways in which we deal with loneliness and isolation in its various forms, but even more so, a story about the incalculable and almost metaphysical threads between us all; about togetherness. A true classic.

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lady_of_shalott's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

I wish I could give this 5 stars, but I need to set it apart from The Waves somehow. If you enjoy Woolfs stream of consciousness, I can guarantee you will love The Waves as well as this book. Beautiful prose. Clarissa is a wonderful character and dominates the text with her ambiguity, that keeps inviting you to interpret her and rethink the past with her. All the others have their interest as well. On the whole, Mrs Dalloway is clearer about events in the characters lives and a bit less experimental and bold than The Waves, but still wonderful

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anxiousapple's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mrs Dalloway is still with me nearly a year after I first turned its final page! Even better, I still think of it fondly after reading it and closely studying it multiple times. This is the kind of book that does it for me, wonderfully immersive language, fascinating commentary, discussions on life in London early in the 20th century, and mental illness (all of which are bookish buzzwords for me)

It has the strange distinction of being tragic - in dealing with Septimus' storyline - whilst also being life-affirming with luscious descriptions of the beauty and consolatory of nature and the sparkling potential offered to women post the vote for. Although I suppose the best term would be bittersweet acknowledging the intervening years.
I found I adore it every time I pick it up.

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ulyssies's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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