A review by libbygranger
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
For me, reading any Virginia Woolf text for the first time is like reading through a frosted glass window. Every so often I can identify the blurry images as real people, places and objects – but most of the time I’m just hopefully peering through, trying to piece fragments together into some coherent image. I don’t mind it, though. Each time I reread one of her works, the glass becomes clearer and clearer, and I notice more and more. This is what makes her books so special for me – there’s so much packed in there, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, and Mrs Dalloway was certainly no exception. There were some quotes that struck me, some story threads that gripped me, and some characters that intrigued me. I loved best Clarissa Dalloway’s reminiscences on her youth with Peter Walsh and Sally Seton; that storyline was the easiest to follow and most accessible upon first read. Though the eponymous character is central to the novel, the story follows an ensemble cast of characters whose lives intertwine in both past and present. I was astounded at Woolf’s deftness in slipping effortlessly from one character’s internal monologue to the next, sometimes within the span of a single sentence. 
 
Upon finishing Mrs Dalloway, I felt the same overwhelming melancholy as I did after The Waves. It was like I wanted to cry, but couldn’t. The weight of everything Woolf had expressed over the course of 190 pages just felt like too much to handle. Something about Virginia Woolf's writing is just magical. I look forward to the day when I feel emotionally prepared enough to dive back in for a reread. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings