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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I have been reading this book on and off for months. At first I thought of stopping but could never quite put it away. When I could get into the novel it felt like poetry and I wallowed in it. It just needed more dedicated focus than I had. I can't say I "really liked it" but I more than liked it on some level too. Glad I finished!
woolf has a magnificent grasp of interpersonal subtleties, and she plays with time scale like taffy, milliseconds expand to fill an entire page, and years are blown into nowhere. for such a sad book, woolf seems to carry the story with a kind of unsentimental coldness that is really pleasant and addictive.
made me feel things, vet inte riktigt vad
edit: jag vet vad! Woolf menar att meningen med livet är de små ögonblicken, de korta sekunderna man vill ska vara för evigt. And I agree
edit: jag vet vad! Woolf menar att meningen med livet är de små ögonblicken, de korta sekunderna man vill ska vara för evigt. And I agree
It took me a minute to get into it, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. I read this at the right time in my life, and I think as I revisit it at different ages, I'll get something different from it every time. A beautiful book and I will be thinking about it for awhile.
I'd wanted to read this because it was set on Skye, which was probably the wrong reason as I came to this book expecting the wrong thing. I'm not even sure if it really is set on Skye as they only ever refer to the Hebridies, which cover several Scottish islands. And either way, there was no atmosphere of Scotland whatsoever - it could have been set on the south coast of England for all I knew or cared.
I don't think Virginia Woolf is a writer I'm going to get into in a big way. I can see it's a wordy, well-written piece of literature, but I didn't get into it that well, sometimes felt like it was trying to be too clever for its own good, and was, quite frankly, relieved when I got to the end.
Mr and Mr Ramsay and their 8 children, plus various random people are all staying at the summer house by the sea. I lost track of who was who as from word go you dot about from one person's head to the next (as is her style) so it's quite hard to find your bearings. So they hang about, analyse each other and have a marvellous time. All the men think they're intellectuals and look down their noses at the women. I liked Lily Briscoe the best - she had the most depth, wanted to do things for herself and didn't seem to think that marriage and motherhood was the be all and end all of life.
Then we skip ahead years and various characters have died, and the house isn't visited and is just forgotten about like the unwanted Christmas puppy. So it falls into ruin. And then some of them are there and they finally get in a boat and go to this sodding lighthouse. The end.
I don't think Virginia Woolf is a writer I'm going to get into in a big way. I can see it's a wordy, well-written piece of literature, but I didn't get into it that well, sometimes felt like it was trying to be too clever for its own good, and was, quite frankly, relieved when I got to the end.
Mr and Mr Ramsay and their 8 children, plus various random people are all staying at the summer house by the sea. I lost track of who was who as from word go you dot about from one person's head to the next (as is her style) so it's quite hard to find your bearings. So they hang about, analyse each other and have a marvellous time. All the men think they're intellectuals and look down their noses at the women. I liked Lily Briscoe the best - she had the most depth, wanted to do things for herself and didn't seem to think that marriage and motherhood was the be all and end all of life.
Then we skip ahead years and various characters have died, and the house isn't visited and is just forgotten about like the unwanted Christmas puppy. So it falls into ruin. And then some of them are there and they finally get in a boat and go to this sodding lighthouse. The end.
The writing in this book was beautiful and it had translated well into Finnish (I read a Finnish edition), but I have to say I needed something more. I lost the connection with the story/text many times and I had to work to stay with the book. It was like reading an intense poem..that is 258 pages long and it got exhausting.
Have you ever read a novel that made you want to gouge your own eyes out? No you say? Oh do by chance pick up a copy of To The Lighthouse, it is after all in the public domain and a free copy can easily be found online. I just want at least one other poor sod to read this 200 pages of nonsense and see if they also start searching for a fork to poke into their visual orbitals.
Where do I start? Ok let me start with a the singular positive.
Virgina Woolf has an exceptional ability to make you feel her own depression. I call that a plus. I do not have to read her biography to know that this woman is bitterly miserable in life and had a negative world view towards men. Just a suggestion and I would love to see a research paper on it but perhaps Virgina Woolf struggled with depression because she read her own writings.
The negatives:
1. There is no action sequences except maybe a stroll in a boat to a lighthouse which comes near the end of the book.
2. The air of snobbery is overwhelming. I think it might be a colonial Brit thing I don't know. Maybe it is just Virginia Woolf generating her "writing voice" as a elitist to make herself feel better.
3. There is no real plot, this book is all over the place trying to demonstrate the differences between sexes and the proper roles of men and women (women are to meddle and men are to rule countries and build economies)
4. The characters are not likable and for the most part no redeeming attributes unless you fill those in for yourself.
5. The painted scene that writer creates is simply not enjoyable. It doesn't portray a typical snapshot in time, it doesn't spark an emotion to better myself, it doesn't provide any elements of escapism from the real world. What does this book do? It makes you want to gouge your eyes out!
they really need to be able to give the reviewer on here the ability to score a zero on a book as that is a very fair review score. I would give this one a zero across all possible aspects.
Dribble, dribble, dribble drool. The only purpose to ever read this book would be for school. If you own a copy and have not read it yet burn, bury it or sink it in a pool.
Where do I start? Ok let me start with a the singular positive.
Virgina Woolf has an exceptional ability to make you feel her own depression. I call that a plus. I do not have to read her biography to know that this woman is bitterly miserable in life and had a negative world view towards men. Just a suggestion and I would love to see a research paper on it but perhaps Virgina Woolf struggled with depression because she read her own writings.
The negatives:
1. There is no action sequences except maybe a stroll in a boat to a lighthouse which comes near the end of the book.
2. The air of snobbery is overwhelming. I think it might be a colonial Brit thing I don't know. Maybe it is just Virginia Woolf generating her "writing voice" as a elitist to make herself feel better.
3. There is no real plot, this book is all over the place trying to demonstrate the differences between sexes and the proper roles of men and women (women are to meddle and men are to rule countries and build economies)
4. The characters are not likable and for the most part no redeeming attributes unless you fill those in for yourself.
5. The painted scene that writer creates is simply not enjoyable. It doesn't portray a typical snapshot in time, it doesn't spark an emotion to better myself, it doesn't provide any elements of escapism from the real world. What does this book do? It makes you want to gouge your eyes out!
they really need to be able to give the reviewer on here the ability to score a zero on a book as that is a very fair review score. I would give this one a zero across all possible aspects.
Dribble, dribble, dribble drool. The only purpose to ever read this book would be for school. If you own a copy and have not read it yet burn, bury it or sink it in a pool.
This book was hard to read and depressing but really really great.
My reading experience for this book was interesting. It is not like I was bored, I was intrigued... but also confused. I feel like I spent much of the book trying to dig out the meaning in it all. It would have been nice to have had someone to discuss the book with. I miss that. Overall, not my favorite Virginia Woolf book, but still worth pondering...