Reviews - The Waves | The StoryGraph

2.22k reviews for:

The Waves

Virginia Woolf

4.13 AVERAGE

aspiegs's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

"There is a sound like the knocking of railway trucks in a siding. That is the happy concatenation of one event following another in our lives. Knock, knock, knock. Must, must, must. Must go, must sleep, must wake, must get up - sober, merciful word which we pretend to revile, which we press tight to our hearts, without which we should be undone."

This is now my third time returning to this book in ten years. There is something so special about the look at how we are who we are through those closest to us.

I also think it's such a deep and specific look at differing personalities, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Rhoda (me) and Jinny (not me)

sashamrti's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Virginia woolf books take me forever to read

poetryandsolitude's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

This book is so beautifully crafted, Virginia Woolf is an extremely talented author !! the way she weaves so intricately the lives of 6 people around their shared experiences, their grief and their perception of each other, and how gradually they all change and merge into one another over the years is simply breathtaking. I dare say this has become one of my all time favourite books <3

But now I have not a moment to spare. There is no respite here, no shadow made of quivering leaves, or alcove to which one can retreat from the sun, to sit, with a lover, in the cool of the evening. The weight of the world is on our shoulders;

litchyn's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

bookbanshee's review against another edition

5.0

Beautiful to revisit, although also at times enlightening about the mindset of the educated class in England about peoples and places their country has colonised. There is a great sadness underlying the whole work, to me, not only Percival’s death but also the passing of time, the changing priorities and concerns of each person, as they navigate life and love and ambition and mediocrity. It seems to me each represents a possible angle on Woolf’s own character, and perhaps relationship to depression. I felt deeply for each of the six friends (none more than Rhoda) and through them felt for Woolf also.