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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The most beautiful writing I've ever read. Incredibly rich writing. One could read one sentence per day and that would be enough. The dark chocolate of books.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
of the two woolf novels i’ve read so far (the other being orlando), this was miles more enjoyable. i loved the poetry of the prose and the unfurling and ceaseless self-awareness of the characters. the parallel progressions from dusk to dawn and from childhood to the end of life is a nice enough metaphor, but i found the opening of each section describing the landscape quite tedious and i rushed through to get back to the story. i loved the characters though, especially rhoda and susan and neville, and all the insights and questions and feelings about life that make this such a powerful and worthwhile read. sometimes, the characters would be so fully taken over by the sensual qualities of life, love, landscape, and i too would feel taken over, my body abuzz with pleasure and sensations, with feelings and emotions. yet it didn’t happen enough, and maybe that too is a statement about life, the way it’s too much. too much to have, too much to hold, too much to lose. how much time is lost trying to regain a long-gone experience or feeling? or to reach that elusive state we yearn to know first-hand about? what is real? what is possible? what is forgotten and remembered? that is the magic of the waves. the hope and despair lapping each other up in turns, crashing into me, pulling me under, and changing me. woolf undoubtedly is a product of her time and place and personhood. her thinking is audacious, yet sometimes her anachronisms are too loud to ignore. and sometimes, she makes things seem so heady and complicated. i suppose everything is quite like that when you try to examine and quantify the unfathomable scale and depth of our lives. that she’s able to do that, take me there, a place that approximates life is a towering achievement. yet too much to focus on makes it at times a bit dry and plodding. the image loses crispness, or i lose focus. so much swept away by the stream. i feel quite lost. perhaps that’s where i am in life. or with virginia woolf. will be interesting to note how things change when i read this again.
challenging
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-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
incredibly confusing book, the longest i’ve ever taken to read a single page, but so worth it. beautiful, the imagery and poeticism in this boom are unreal. if you could stand to reread a paragraph 5 times over i’d implore you to read this, a beautiful story of growing up and growing apart, changing, reminiscing, love, loss. it encapsulates so much of how we all move through life and i could find some of myself in all these characters (hehe). i will (hopefully) reread in the future.
Ooophf Virginia …… more like 2.5 stars. Review to follow later today. Got to put my thoughts down on paper first.
I found the first part to be very lyrical. But then the second part took a turn that I didn't like very much. To me, Virginia is a very loquacious writer/person to a fault. I was waiting at one point for her to describe a breadcrumb in her overly, heavy laden 'know-it all' decriptive way. Virigina sometimes a breadcrumb is just that a breadcrumb. I understand this sort of thing is what her readers love about her prose. This is exactly why Virginia I would rather watch your writing in movie form. Ie Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway and hopefully more. But to read another book by you I think not and for that reason I'm out. I bid you adieu.
I found the first part to be very lyrical. But then the second part took a turn that I didn't like very much. To me, Virginia is a very loquacious writer/person to a fault. I was waiting at one point for her to describe a breadcrumb in her overly, heavy laden 'know-it all' decriptive way. Virigina sometimes a breadcrumb is just that a breadcrumb. I understand this sort of thing is what her readers love about her prose. This is exactly why Virginia I would rather watch your writing in movie form. Ie Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway and hopefully more. But to read another book by you I think not and for that reason I'm out. I bid you adieu.
challenging
dark
emotional
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
I feel like I should re read the book to fully understand it. The narrative style is confusing - are things happening or is the character just remembering or are there a lot of metaphors? Also, it was quite cluttered (as most of Virigia's books are, just not Mrs Dalloway which made me hope this book wouldn't be).
Loved the concept anyway, and it was painfully beautiful and sad.
Loved the concept anyway, and it was painfully beautiful and sad.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
"Yet you shall not destroy me. For this moment, this one moment, we are together. I press you to me. Come, pain, feed on me. Bury your fangs in my flesh. Tear me asunder. I sob, I sob"
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Virginia Woolf, the woman you are.