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A review by radella_hardwick
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is the first Woolf that I've read, although "A Room of One's Own" has been sitting on my Audible shelf since last September. And I have seen "The Hours", although that was over a decade ago (back when Amazon Prime was LoveFilm), so I had some idea of the atmosphere/story.
What I didn't expect going in is that the narrative doesn't stay with one character.
Because I knew it was stream-of-consciousness, I assumed it would be first-person perspective and sticking faithfully to one character. Instead, it has this slightly odd third-person-adjacent perspective; we're not quite in the character's heads, we're travelling alongside them, but we can peek into their thoughts as we might look into a fish-tank.
Basically, it's a slice of life(s) – which I often love – but I don't see the point here.
Jane Austen's immortal quote about "Emma" seems more appropriate for this novel and "Mrs Dalloway" lacks the redeeming feature of a plot.
What I didn't expect going in is that the narrative doesn't stay with one character.
Because I knew it was stream-of-consciousness, I assumed it would be first-person perspective and sticking faithfully to one character. Instead, it has this slightly odd third-person-adjacent perspective; we're not quite in the character's heads, we're travelling alongside them, but we can peek into their thoughts as we might look into a fish-tank.
Basically, it's a slice of life(s) – which I often love – but I don't see the point here.
Jane Austen's immortal quote about "Emma" seems more appropriate for this novel and "Mrs Dalloway" lacks the redeeming feature of a plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Racial slurs