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idlemild 's review for:
To the Lighthouse
by Virginia Woolf
Cards on the table: I don't really read for the challenge of it all. I like weighty themes, moral grey areas, 'are you keeping up?' style plots, don't get me wrong. Being challenged by concepts, I'm on board with that.
To the Lighthouse takes some unlocking. Seriously, I used Sparknotes for the first time since my undergrad. With its long stream-of-conscious style which jumps between characters, and with little dialogue to ground you, it takes some adjusting. My approach was to push my eyes across each line until my brain got used to the writing, the constant commas and the asides, hoping I'd find the rhythm. I just about got it by the third section.
Now, I'm desperate for a palate cleanser. Reading To the Lighthouse, at times I worried I'd forgotten how to read, or that I was actually just a dumdum. My newfound love and discipline for reading regularly hasn't quite extended to the sorts of books which push back against you, yet.
But I appreciated it all the same, and it was a reminder to not get too comfortable in the boxes we build for ourselves. By its end, while I couldn't say I'd emotionally engaged with it amid all the trying-to-understand-it, it felt fulfilling to give something different a go. I already know I'd appreciate it all the more on a reread.
It was a lesson in making space to be challenged, I think. I don't want to be set in my ways, or too comfortable, or to stop learning. I'm not ready to say I enjoyed To the Lighthouse, but I'm glad for it.
To the Lighthouse takes some unlocking. Seriously, I used Sparknotes for the first time since my undergrad. With its long stream-of-conscious style which jumps between characters, and with little dialogue to ground you, it takes some adjusting. My approach was to push my eyes across each line until my brain got used to the writing, the constant commas and the asides, hoping I'd find the rhythm. I just about got it by the third section.
Now, I'm desperate for a palate cleanser. Reading To the Lighthouse, at times I worried I'd forgotten how to read, or that I was actually just a dumdum. My newfound love and discipline for reading regularly hasn't quite extended to the sorts of books which push back against you, yet.
But I appreciated it all the same, and it was a reminder to not get too comfortable in the boxes we build for ourselves. By its end, while I couldn't say I'd emotionally engaged with it amid all the trying-to-understand-it, it felt fulfilling to give something different a go. I already know I'd appreciate it all the more on a reread.
It was a lesson in making space to be challenged, I think. I don't want to be set in my ways, or too comfortable, or to stop learning. I'm not ready to say I enjoyed To the Lighthouse, but I'm glad for it.