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the prologue was good, and I enjoyed the chapters on mrs brown and mrs woolf. the middle felt draggy, unnecessarily draggy. the ending came as a little surprise but the ending remarks about laura brown felt…wrong.
throughout the whole novel, I thought the author wanted to protect virginia woolf’s decision on to live or to leave.
however as i approached the end, laura brown’s struggle with her guilt & responsibilities got brushed over. she was reduced to a “melancholic wife who didn’t appreciate what she had and was emotionally neglecting her son and wanted to drag her unborn child to death too”. her suicide attempt then traumatized her son to write about it in his work, and then eventually do the same.
i guess what made me uncomfortable was the sentiment that suicide is selfish. laura brown’s tragic ending, having to overlive everyone around her, seems almost like a “punishment”.
what i wanted to read from this: across time and space, suffering is our existence and death can be so close to us, it is within our reach if we turn to it or stretch out our hands. and sometimes an individual, when plagued with the constant presence of pain, leans just a little forward towards death, and their life will come to its end. it’s like septimus’s leap from the window, it’s a moment that you cannot logically explain. it’s an outburst of everything one bears. yet people with suicidal intentions can also be some of the most passionate and optimistic spirits. the two are not exclusionary. they are not selfish people who are obsessed with their melancholy.
what i got from this book instead: people with suicidal thoughts want to flee from their obligations and the people who have given them so much love. sometimes they will be punished by failed attempts (laura brown).
idk but it’s 6am i have just finished this book and i am: disappointed
throughout the whole novel, I thought the author wanted to protect virginia woolf’s decision on to live or to leave.
however as i approached the end, laura brown’s struggle with her guilt & responsibilities got brushed over. she was reduced to a “melancholic wife who didn’t appreciate what she had and was emotionally neglecting her son and wanted to drag her unborn child to death too”. her suicide attempt then traumatized her son to write about it in his work, and then eventually do the same.
i guess what made me uncomfortable was the sentiment that suicide is selfish. laura brown’s tragic ending, having to overlive everyone around her, seems almost like a “punishment”.
what i wanted to read from this: across time and space, suffering is our existence and death can be so close to us, it is within our reach if we turn to it or stretch out our hands. and sometimes an individual, when plagued with the constant presence of pain, leans just a little forward towards death, and their life will come to its end. it’s like septimus’s leap from the window, it’s a moment that you cannot logically explain. it’s an outburst of everything one bears. yet people with suicidal intentions can also be some of the most passionate and optimistic spirits. the two are not exclusionary. they are not selfish people who are obsessed with their melancholy.
what i got from this book instead: people with suicidal thoughts want to flee from their obligations and the people who have given them so much love. sometimes they will be punished by failed attempts (laura brown).
idk but it’s 6am i have just finished this book and i am: disappointed