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A review by jodar
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I read this novel first in 2015 and I remember the feeling of awe and admiration as I closed the last page. I decided then that To the Lighthouse was my absolutely favourite novel and that I really should reread it again some time. Finally eight years and many novels later I have done so, and it remains my absolute favourite!
The point of view is not ‘the Eye of God’ but instead one that penetrates within the very hearts of the characters and observes their emotions even as they feel them. Relationships between family and friends and estranged friends are the focus, and attitudes towards each other vary between characters – and even within the same character within a few minutes – with psychological realism. Later there is tragedy and grief, but also mixed feelings aroused from a sense of loss of the departed.
Part Two is lyrical and serves to locate the human microcosm within an overarching perspective of the natural world, space and time.
Part Three does not so much resolve the human relationships from Part One but rather strives to discern what our humanity may ultimately signify. This is explored especially through the private reflections of Lily Briscoe: “What a power was in the human soul!” but from the outside “who knows what we are, what we feel?” Although no “great revelation” may ever appear, little daily events and individual endeavours may be able “to make of the moment something permanent ... [and create what] was of the nature of a revelation.”
(I read it both times as an epub ebook, converted from the MOBI ebook at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2537610 which was proofread against the Hogarth Press edition, imprint of 1963).
The point of view is not ‘the Eye of God’ but instead one that penetrates within the very hearts of the characters and observes their emotions even as they feel them. Relationships between family and friends and estranged friends are the focus, and attitudes towards each other vary between characters – and even within the same character within a few minutes – with psychological realism. Later there is tragedy and grief, but also mixed feelings aroused from a sense of loss of the departed.
Part Two is lyrical and serves to locate the human microcosm within an overarching perspective of the natural world, space and time.
Part Three does not so much resolve the human relationships from Part One but rather strives to discern what our humanity may ultimately signify. This is explored especially through the private reflections of Lily Briscoe: “What a power was in the human soul!” but from the outside “who knows what we are, what we feel?” Although no “great revelation” may ever appear, little daily events and individual endeavours may be able “to make of the moment something permanent ... [and create what] was of the nature of a revelation.”
(I read it both times as an epub ebook, converted from the MOBI ebook at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2537610 which was proofread against the Hogarth Press edition, imprint of 1963).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death