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aaronwhite 's review for:
To the Lighthouse
by Virginia Woolf
A magnificent and strange achievement. This novel takes place almost entirely subjectively, inside the minds of the characters. There is almost no action, and very little narrative to speak of. The first half of the story focuses on a large English family and a number of guests who are vacationing in a place like the Isle of Skye. They have a large cottage near the ocean, and there is a lighthouse off the coast which some of them hope to visit the following day to bring supplies to the man and his son who live there. Some are painting, some are composing poetry, some are walking along the beach, some are philosophising. They all gather in the evening for dinner, and one of the couples gets engaged a little beforehand.
That is the extent of the outside, objective action, but the inside, subjective action is massive. Each character’s viewpoint is examined, at great length. Subjects such as the conflict between men and women; the nature of beauty; the possibility of advancing abstract thought; permanency vs temporality; and the grounding force of love are all minutely and passionately explored.
I personally don’t know any person - let alone a group of people - who think like the people described in this book, but I don’t think it is the point. The first half of the book is all about the power and potential of life, and the focal point is Mrs. Ramsey, a staggeringly beautiful woman, wife of Mr. Ramsey, mother of eight children, and the centrifugal force around which the other characters tend to revolve. She is the stabilising factor and the impetus for the advancement of life. She brings order into chaos, and most love her for it.
There is then an interlude, which is the only “objective” portion of the book, and in which time rushes into change and in some cases destroys the stability and potentiality offered up in the first half.
The second half of the book, which takes place ten years later, again at the cottage, is then largely about the consequences of change and chaos and inevitability of death. A journey to the lighthouse is finally made, and Lily completes her painting, which she describes as a vision in the last line of the book. The entire book is a vision, almost an apocalypse or revelation, of the spiritual/mental/emotional depths lurking underneath the surfaces of our everyday experiences. Not an easy read, but well worth the effort.
That is the extent of the outside, objective action, but the inside, subjective action is massive. Each character’s viewpoint is examined, at great length. Subjects such as the conflict between men and women; the nature of beauty; the possibility of advancing abstract thought; permanency vs temporality; and the grounding force of love are all minutely and passionately explored.
I personally don’t know any person - let alone a group of people - who think like the people described in this book, but I don’t think it is the point. The first half of the book is all about the power and potential of life, and the focal point is Mrs. Ramsey, a staggeringly beautiful woman, wife of Mr. Ramsey, mother of eight children, and the centrifugal force around which the other characters tend to revolve. She is the stabilising factor and the impetus for the advancement of life. She brings order into chaos, and most love her for it.
There is then an interlude, which is the only “objective” portion of the book, and in which time rushes into change and in some cases destroys the stability and potentiality offered up in the first half.
The second half of the book, which takes place ten years later, again at the cottage, is then largely about the consequences of change and chaos and inevitability of death. A journey to the lighthouse is finally made, and Lily completes her painting, which she describes as a vision in the last line of the book. The entire book is a vision, almost an apocalypse or revelation, of the spiritual/mental/emotional depths lurking underneath the surfaces of our everyday experiences. Not an easy read, but well worth the effort.