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A review by leonormsousa
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
TRIGGER WARNINGS
classism, misogyny, sexism
REVIEW
I was expecting to love this book but the truth is: I’m not sure I have what it takes to be a Virginia Woolf reader… After my failed attempt at reading The Waves (20 pages in and I decided to leave it for the future), I went with A Room of One’s Own because 1. it’s non-fiction so I guessed the writing would be more straightforward and 2. so many people have been recommending it to me. In the end, although I really did enjoy the book, I can’t help but feel that I’m missing skills to fully grasp and appreciate it (and that’s the reason why I settled on not attributing a rating to this read). While I delighted myself in the more “direct” parts of the book, where she indeed explained the presence of women in literature, I admit I felt a bit bored when reading about her walks, and her meals. I kept feeling like they were there for a reason (which I understood more or less in the end) but I honestly didn’t see a point in them being so long and descriptive. I will give her that her writing was quite beautiful but that wasn’t enough to really grab me. In summary, reading A Room of One’s Own felt a bit like a rollercoaster: there were sections where I was glued to the page, learning about a topic that speaks so much to me, and then moments where I felt no interest at all in what I was reading. I will be giving this book another try, but I feel like I need to expand my skills as a reader before diving into Virginia Woolf again.
classism, misogyny, sexism
REVIEW
I was expecting to love this book but the truth is: I’m not sure I have what it takes to be a Virginia Woolf reader… After my failed attempt at reading The Waves (20 pages in and I decided to leave it for the future), I went with A Room of One’s Own because 1. it’s non-fiction so I guessed the writing would be more straightforward and 2. so many people have been recommending it to me. In the end, although I really did enjoy the book, I can’t help but feel that I’m missing skills to fully grasp and appreciate it (and that’s the reason why I settled on not attributing a rating to this read). While I delighted myself in the more “direct” parts of the book, where she indeed explained the presence of women in literature, I admit I felt a bit bored when reading about her walks, and her meals. I kept feeling like they were there for a reason (which I understood more or less in the end) but I honestly didn’t see a point in them being so long and descriptive. I will give her that her writing was quite beautiful but that wasn’t enough to really grab me. In summary, reading A Room of One’s Own felt a bit like a rollercoaster: there were sections where I was glued to the page, learning about a topic that speaks so much to me, and then moments where I felt no interest at all in what I was reading. I will be giving this book another try, but I feel like I need to expand my skills as a reader before diving into Virginia Woolf again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism