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A review by pascalthehoff
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
4.0
To the Lighthouse takes the proven formula of Mrs Dalloway and puts it into a context in which this introspective approach has way more room to breath. By narrowing the setting from London to only a small summer abode and its immediate vicinity, it becomes even less important (or distracting) what is happening outside the characters' streams of consciousness.
During the first hour or so, I felt utterly lost. It definitely helps to have a list of characters and their most important attributes close at hand. Other than that, there is next to no plot and with that, this novel works way better than it should on paper. How the beautiful prose makes thoughts and emotions feel tangible, almost material, is mesmerizing – even when you lose track at times of which character is in charge right now.
Would it have helped if the author had used the characters' actual names instead of only their pronouns for pages on, after mentioning the name one initial time when passing the focal baton? Sure, it would have. On top of that, even in the rather narrow setting, it's not always clear where the characters are right now, spatially. In the second half, especially, I constantly caught myself wondering "Are they still in a boat? How big is the boat? Are they ALL in that boat? Have they arrived at the lighthouse yet? Huh, it sounds like they're back on some shore!?"
The good thing – and maybe the best thing about this entire novel – is that you can just let go. It isn't even necessarily important who is talking (or thinking) at all times. The prose itself, and the images it creates, are beautiful enough. And every few beats, I felt myself relating to individual thoughts of characters; or I was astounded by their sharp observations and takes on certain kinds of behavior, relationships or their own feelings. The fact that all characters are rather average, some almost dull, makes their perspectives and individual thoughts all the more relatable.
It's amazing how To the Lighthouse fills the inner worlds of these – in the greater context of literature – extremely mundane people with such rich detail and texture. All while tackling its breaking points and disruptions like sudden deaths or the implications of World War I with shaking bluntness – like sharp nails in an evenly planed piece of soft bright wood.
During the first hour or so, I felt utterly lost. It definitely helps to have a list of characters and their most important attributes close at hand. Other than that, there is next to no plot and with that, this novel works way better than it should on paper. How the beautiful prose makes thoughts and emotions feel tangible, almost material, is mesmerizing – even when you lose track at times of which character is in charge right now.
Would it have helped if the author had used the characters' actual names instead of only their pronouns for pages on, after mentioning the name one initial time when passing the focal baton? Sure, it would have. On top of that, even in the rather narrow setting, it's not always clear where the characters are right now, spatially. In the second half, especially, I constantly caught myself wondering "Are they still in a boat? How big is the boat? Are they ALL in that boat? Have they arrived at the lighthouse yet? Huh, it sounds like they're back on some shore!?"
The good thing – and maybe the best thing about this entire novel – is that you can just let go. It isn't even necessarily important who is talking (or thinking) at all times. The prose itself, and the images it creates, are beautiful enough. And every few beats, I felt myself relating to individual thoughts of characters; or I was astounded by their sharp observations and takes on certain kinds of behavior, relationships or their own feelings. The fact that all characters are rather average, some almost dull, makes their perspectives and individual thoughts all the more relatable.
It's amazing how To the Lighthouse fills the inner worlds of these – in the greater context of literature – extremely mundane people with such rich detail and texture. All while tackling its breaking points and disruptions like sudden deaths or the implications of World War I with shaking bluntness – like sharp nails in an evenly planed piece of soft bright wood.