A review by martydah
Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

3.0

This is Woolf's second novel and it's apparent that she's still perfecting the stream of consciousness approach she uses so effectively in her later work. Night and Day is an illustration of the difficulties a young woman faces in finding what she really wants in a relationship in an era that still expects very restrictive conventional behavior. Katharine Hilbery struggles with her engagement to a man whom is a very suitable match, but she can't manage to feel anything for him but mild friendship. The man she really loves (but doesn't quite know it yet) is Ralph Denham, a young barrister. The book follows the painful, twisting progress of the three young people's journey toward at least a partial understanding of what they really want out of life, marriage and each other.

This book had really absorbing moments and then there would be long passages where it was a struggle to maintain interest. I think that it's a good book to read if you have plenty of uninterrupted time and haven't already read Woolf's later novels. I liked it, so maybe it will be one of those difficult books that grows on a person after the first one or two readings.