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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Lolly Willowes is one of those books I found worth reading, once... as an item of literary and feminist history, but which didn't really work for me as an actual story.
I just found it really... odd? In a way I found interesting, rather than enjoyable stricto sensu. The writing was good, overall, although there were a few times when I didn't really understand a sentence or turn of phrase, in a way that felt confusing, even a little jarring to be honest.
I mostly liked Lolly as a character, yes, but... I don't know, the plot, its structure, its pacing? All of it just felt a bit off to me. The (rather late) transition to there being witchcraft in the world, and it all feeling rather normal to Lolly mostly felt like it came out of nowhere, and was thus also a bit jarring and, well, almost absurdly comical in a way. Lolly finds a kitten on her doorstep, and she then just knows it's a familiar, sent by Satan (who is thus real) and all of a sudden, she's a witch, just like that, and it's all fine and chill. Aight. She goes to the local Sabbath, and finds it all rather tedious – just as she's always found social occasions rather tedious. And that was amusing, yes, but I'm not sure that's what the text was actually going for, if that makes sense? The tone was all over the place, and I'm just not convinced it really worked.
The book's theming was also very clumsily developed, mostly because it wasn't, actually, developed, as in progressively expressed through the text. Rather, it all came in as one giant 'theming dump', as Lolly chats with Satan, in a quiet garden, about the necessity for women to have space to themselves, in order to develop their individuality, inner life, creativity, intellectual pursuits, etc... unhampered by the demands of the people around them (family members especially). So yes, it was very 'A Room of One's Own' before A Room of One's Own, but like... Virginia Woolf's text is a masterfully crafted piece of non-fiction; Lolly Willowes is supposed to be a piece of fiction, and tell an engaging story within which theming can then be woven, but alas... the heavily expository nature of its theming just felt rough-shod and heavy-handed to me.
Still, it was a quick read and not fundamentally unpleasant. I'm not mad about this one, but I also wouldn't re-read it.
I just found it really... odd? In a way I found interesting, rather than enjoyable stricto sensu. The writing was good, overall, although there were a few times when I didn't really understand a sentence or turn of phrase, in a way that felt confusing, even a little jarring to be honest.
I mostly liked Lolly as a character, yes, but... I don't know, the plot, its structure, its pacing? All of it just felt a bit off to me. The (rather late) transition to there being witchcraft in the world, and it all feeling rather normal to Lolly mostly felt like it came out of nowhere, and was thus also a bit jarring and, well, almost absurdly comical in a way. Lolly finds a kitten on her doorstep, and she then just knows it's a familiar, sent by Satan (who is thus real) and all of a sudden, she's a witch, just like that, and it's all fine and chill. Aight. She goes to the local Sabbath, and finds it all rather tedious – just as she's always found social occasions rather tedious. And that was amusing, yes, but I'm not sure that's what the text was actually going for, if that makes sense? The tone was all over the place, and I'm just not convinced it really worked.
The book's theming was also very clumsily developed, mostly because it wasn't, actually, developed, as in progressively expressed through the text. Rather, it all came in as one giant 'theming dump', as Lolly chats with Satan, in a quiet garden, about the necessity for women to have space to themselves, in order to develop their individuality, inner life, creativity, intellectual pursuits, etc... unhampered by the demands of the people around them (family members especially). So yes, it was very 'A Room of One's Own' before A Room of One's Own, but like... Virginia Woolf's text is a masterfully crafted piece of non-fiction; Lolly Willowes is supposed to be a piece of fiction, and tell an engaging story within which theming can then be woven, but alas... the heavily expository nature of its theming just felt rough-shod and heavy-handed to me.
Still, it was a quick read and not fundamentally unpleasant. I'm not mad about this one, but I also wouldn't re-read it.