Reviews with content warning for Sexism - To the Lighthouse

Prepare for a crawling, yet poetically meandering read if you're picking this book up for the first time. It is written in Woolf's classic coveted stream of consciousness style. This doesn't make it a bad book if you don't like that style, it just means it isn't a book for you, most likely.

Quite honestly, I don't think I'm intelligent enough to fully grasp the profundity and implications of everything in the novel, but that didn't detract from my contentment with the text. Others undoubtedly comprehend and therefore appreciate the book much more fully than I do, just something to consider if you are reading this one review and wondering whether to pick this up.

Woolf's eloquent prose scrutinizes human nature and connection, highlighting, despite stark differences, subtle universalities with the extremely fluid and volatile POV. It is very worth noting, however, that this is a very white, privileged scrutiny of white, privileged people. This creates one's of the novel's few downfalls: it reinforces a white gaze within English literature. To expect diversity from this novel would be to set one's self up for disappointment. In the interest of balancing a deep admiration of Woolf's poetic prose and recognition of the stifling whiteness (Woolf was very actively ingrained in the myopism of white, upper class, 20th-century English society), this book earns a hearty 3.75 from me; an enjoyably challenging, reflective read from an excellent author who didn't express much interest in and subsequently did not venture outside the white world view in a work that examined the nature of humankind (which is, of course, not majority white).

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theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.5

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afion's review against another edition

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5.0

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bill369's review against another edition

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reflective 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

3.25

I read this book for the Classics Reading Challenge.

I didn't grow to love the characters. I don't care about them.

The life of members of the Ramsay family. A life filled with tension and commonness. I find this book quite tiresome, yet I must admit it gives a decent inside into the middle-class life of the twentieth century. Also, it's admirable how the author manages to portray everyday life with such sophisticated language.

Page 55, the insufficiency of relationships.

(...), zrovna teď, přímo v okamžiku, kdy ji bolela každá připomínka nedostačujícnosti lidských vztahů – že I ten nejdokonalejší má chyby a nesnese zkoumání, kterému je z lásky k manželovi a svým instinktem pro pravdu podrobila; (...)

Page 218, where to start?

Kde začít? – to je ta otázka; v kterém místě udělat první tah? Jedna linka namalovaná na plátně ji vystavovala nespočetným rizikům, mnohým a neodvolatelným rozhodnutím. Všechno to, co se v myšlenkách zdálo jednoduché, stalo se v praxi okamžitě složitým; zrovna tak jako se vlny z útesu zdají symetricky od sebe vzdálené, a pro plavce uprostřed nich jsou rozdělené hlubokými zátočinami a pěnícími hřebeny. A přece, riskovat se musí, musí se udělat první tah.

Page 236–237, repose.

Paní Ramsayová seděla tiše. Byla ráda, myslela si Lily, že může tiše odpočívat a nemusí s nikým mluvit, odpočívat v nesmírné záhadnosti lidských vztahů. Kdo ví, co jsme, co cítíme?

Page 245–246,

Co je to tedy? Co to znamená? Dokážou věci natáhnout ruku a zmocnit se člověka? může ostří říznout? pěst popadnout? To není nikde bezpečí? Nedá se naučit nazpaměť, jak to na tom světě chodí? Žádné vodítko, žádná záštita, ale všechno je zázrak a vrhá se z vršku věže do vzduchu? Je možné, že i pro starší lidi tohle je život? – překvapující, nečekaný, neznámý?

The end was mediocre.

Refined writing and short chapters were the only things getting me through this book. I don't think this book is for me. Nevertheless, I'm glad I read it and educated myself.

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neali's review against another edition

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reflective 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? Yes

4.0

i loved this, but i think i would have enjoyed it even more if i had read it in more or less one sitting, since it took me a while to get into virginia's writing style and way of storytelling, which i would describe as kind of all over the place.

once you get used to it though, it is very gripping and easier for the reader to acknowledge the beauty that lies in the way virginia tells this story, although it can still be a lot sometimes. what the book "lacks" in plot, it gains through mindful observations of the human nature and the complexity of human relationships.

to the lighthouse for me is a tale on the inconsistency of being human and a study of human relationships, especially between men and women but also between parents and their children. this obviously makes a lot of sense considering virginia's feminist background.

i can definitely see why it is described as a masterpiece and virginia's best work and i'm looking forward to explore her writing even more!

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lectrixnoctis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Virginia Woolf, born Stephen, became one of the most influential authors and London's literary scene at a very young age. She married Leonard Woolf, an author, with whom she founded the Hogarth Press in the year 1917. Although Woolf kept some Victorian traditions in her novels, she experimented with the medium writing and created a new novelistic form. Some of her books like "The Wave", "Mrs Dalloway", and "To The Lighthouse" are to this very day influential. Due to the early deaths of her parents and her sister, Woolf suffered nervous breakdowns throughout her whole life, and in 1941 of fearing another study, she drowned herself in the River Ouse.

"To The Lighthouse" is arguably one of her best works, and the writing genuinely shows this. In a summerhouse on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, Mrs Ramsay tells her guests that they will be able to travel to the nearby lighthouse the following day, but little does she know that this trip will only be completed by her elderly husband teen years later. In the meantime, there will be a guy of war, grief, loss and war as each character tries to adjust to their loss and try come over their grief time and reality shifts. The journey to the lighthouse will not only be a Vito to the tower o steel; it will also be a journey to self-discovery and fulfil their lives.

Lily Briscoe, a Chinese woman who loves to paint, does not fit into her time and tries to break up those old gender roles by becoming her own man in a sense. Although Mrs Ramsay wants Lily Briscoe and William Bankes to marry, they do not seem interested in the idea since Lily likes to paint. Lily paints the scenery of the Island and places a tree a bit off the centre. Throughout the novel, the tree and Lily's inability to paint symbolise Mrs Ramsay, who seems to overshadow everything. But in the end, Lily overcomes her doubts and can finally finish her painting.

The book is set in 1910 as well as in 1920 on the Isle of Skye. Throughout the book, the point of view differs, and you can see it in the minds of almost every character. The narrator views the story in the third person, and it is set in the past.

One of the symbols in this novel is the lighthouse. It symbolised human desire, a force that pulsates over the sea of the natural world and will guide people to their goal. James, Mrs Ramsy's son, seems frustrated with the desire to visit the lighthouse while Mrs Ramsay looks at it and dines her husband the profession of love he so desperately craves. Throughout the book, the lighthouse is an image desired from afar, especially by Mr Ramsay, who always tries to make his life more important for humankind. Like the title say, it is a journey, and it is all about overcoming insufficient and self-improvement. It is "To The Lighthouse", not "at".

Another symbol is the sea itself. It symbolises the natural world and its utter apathy toward human life. Although Mrs Ramsay feels safe at the sounds of the waves and quite soothing during Word War I, the sea turns into a brutal and senseless monster; however, in peacetime, it is stunning.

The writing is an absolute delight, and I lost all track of time during it. However, if you never read anything by Virginia Woolf, it may take some time to get used to since her style is extraordinary. Her style is elegant and full of symbols and nods to her time, for example, how James suffers from the Oedipus complex. The foreshadowing of death by referring to old Victorian suspicions was highly remarkable.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a well-written classic about self-discovery and fulfilment. I never thought this book would touch me so profoundly, and I would be able to create such a deep bond.

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purplemind's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

After years on my "to read" list, and a few months on my "to read" shelf, I finally got round to this book, and to Virginia Woolf in general.

I tend to enjoy dialogue over monologue so, going into it, I fully expected to find this book a bit of a drag for my tastes; I guess, in some places, it nearly was, but never quite got there. The writing is just too damn good. Woolf tricks you into thinking you're only following the barely linear, often repetitive thoughts of kind of boring, painfully ordinary people and then, just like that, she slaps you in the face with stuff like:

"[...] distant views seem to outlast by a million years (Lily thought) the gazer and to be communing already with a sky which beholds an earth entirely at rest.

"[...] and one shrunk, with a sense of solemnity, to being oneself, a wedge-shaped core of darkness, something invisible to others."

(or the entirety of the "Time Passes" chapter, which I will not disclose because spoilers, but <i> man </i>.)

"To the Lighthouse" definitely isn't an easy book to get through, but it is easier to get through than I imagined it would be. Does that make sense? I think it helps if you keep a summary on hand (I used SparkNotes'), to help you decipher the trickier parts of the book, and to better understand the symbolism/context that might be lost on a contemporary reader.
There are some dated (at least in my opinion) ideas about class and the relationship between the sexes although, at the same time, Woolf challenges some notions that were, at the time, taken as a given (women must marry and they cannot create meaningful art, to name just two), as well as the "traditional" narrative structure of a novel. Very little happens in "To the Lighthouse", and also everything happens in it.

In summary, expect a very experimental, definitely slow, emotionally taxing but extraordinarily beautiful read, if you do decide to give it a go.

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