Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
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Book Reviews of Mrs. Dalloway
Book Review: Clarissa -- why Clarissa?
Summary: 5 Stars
Read as much as you can about Virginia Woolf -- especially the biographies by Quentin Bell, Hermione Lee, and Julia Briggs (2005) before re-reading Mrs Dalloway. In fact, I can't imagine enjoying Mrs Dalloway without "knowing" Virginia Woolf. Some say Sir Walter Scott invented the historical novel. If true, I think one can say Virginia Woolf invented the modern autobiographical novel. Clarissa, Mrs Dalloway, is Virginia. Mrs Dalloway was published in 1925 when VW was 43 years old; Clarissa is 52 and perhaps that's how old Mrs Woolf felt when she wrote her autobiography of middle age. When sane, she is Mrs Dalloway; when mad, she is Septimus. Her descriptions of madness (hallucinations, paranoid delusions) are incredible, especially when written at a time when Freud (whose work Virginia's Hogarth Press had published) was all the rage. Her questioning lesbian love is extraordinarily interesting -- not so much whether it was morally right or wrong but, at a deeper level, what was lesbian love all about and where did it fit in. It becomes a parlour game to correlate details on every page with the corresponding details in Mrs Woolf's life. Her questioning lesbian love in 1925 would have occurred at the height of her involvement with Vita Sackville-West, whom she first met in 1922. Even little references to the fact that an individual would not inherit a family home due to male preference inheritance laws tracks with Vita's predicament. And why "Clarissa"? Where did that name come from? Mrs Woolf's diary entries and letters suggest it was a random choice, but I wonder if it was not a reference to Samuel Richardson's Clarissa?Book Review: Ask not what the book can give to you. . .
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps the helpful remarks I can add to those above is that this dense little book does demand a lot of its readers. It is not a book for that airplane trip, nor is it a book for the beach. It is a book to be read amid quiet with no distractions, and only a few of us have managed to fashion such a place in our lives. If one has not, perhaps a different choice would be better.Having said that, the stream-of-consciousness narrative is very accessible. Ms. Woolf has a knack for capturing the essence of many minor characters in very quick, brief sketches, giving the book a great deapth.
Clarissa is a more complex person than her passion for parties would indicate, complex in her sensibility and love of the beautiful, complex in those aspects of life that she has rejected. Septimus is a vivid study in madness, something which Ms. Woolf knew a great deal about. Then there is third principle character, Peter Walsh, about whom little has been said here. He is in his early fifties, was radical in his youth, a "failure" in middle life according to the estimate of the "successful," and plagued with women problems for a lifetime probably attributable to his constant love for the frigid Clarissa. Peter Walsh is a brilliant character study from the point of view of one similarly situated. Sally Seton, the only person whom Clarissa ever truly loved, is a vividly portrayed secondary character whom one runs into every day today--the aging hippie. All of these people move through a finely recreated London of that time.
I have to rate this novel a nearly perfect little gem.
Book Review: Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Summary: 5 Stars
I decided to read this before "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham, since his book was heavily based off of "Mrs. Dalloway." Later I found that it was not necessary, but it certainly was helpful; plus, I read a great book on the way.
Firstly, "Mrs. Dalloway" is not for everybody. I could see where people would get really frustrated, but I didn't find it all too troublesome for myself, half because I knew well what I was getting into, and also because it was for an assignment in school (electively). Virginia Woolf has an amazing talent for making enormous sentences, pages spanning sentences... but as I said, I found these quite entertaining.
Though the book is rather short, the print is fairly small, and with the writing style, which is likely to cost a few pages to be reread, it will take a little bit of a time investment. Not being the quickest reader, I was able to get thought it and write a fair analysis of it in about two weeks.
If you are to read this for school, I would definitely take the time to read it twice, which I did not allow myself to do.
Should you be questioning whether or not to read this for "The Hours," I would highly recommend it, but should you decide to skip "Mrs. Dalloway," you'll do just fine, perhaps not understand the references, but you should still enjoy Cunningham's piece.
Basically, to enjoy this, you'll need patience, otherwise you may want to go onto something else... but if you are interested and have a little time to spare, got for it!
Book Review: Mrs. Dalloway
Summary: 5 Stars
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe is an intimate look at a day in the life of a woman called Clarissa Dalloway. The story takes place mid-June in the city of London. As the young socialite prepares for a party she is holding that evening, we as readers are allowed an inside look at her innermost thoughts. A series of unexpected events, including the arrival of an old friend, evoke a series of memories from Clarissa's past. As we live through these memories once again with Mrs. Dalloway, we are exposed to her worries and fears of the future and what lies ahead. Clarissa begins to revaluate the choices she has made throughout her life, and how these choices have effected who she is today.
Wolfe writes in a talented and descriptive manner which allows for readers to truly enter the story themselves. Because of her strong ability to illustrate and portray characters, you feel like you've personally met and understand each one. The complexity of each character gives each one their own expression in the novel.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the dynamics of human relationships. What I enjoyed most was that the ending is not conventional, however its simplicity is what makes it beautiful. The challenge in this read is to find the hidden feelings that emerge behind what appear to be simplistic, daily events. Virginia Wolfe is an exquisite writer whose abilities to create such vivid images in one's mind is what makes this novel so captivating.
Book Review: if it were now to die, 'twere now to be most happy
Summary: 5 Stars
like many people i got to this book after seeing and later on reading "the hours". i was pretty indimedated at first, knowing that this is almost a mythologicly difficult book to read, but i have to say that once opening this book, i could barely put it down, it draws you in from the first second and stays with you trough, as it leads you through a soul search and revelation.this is a story of several charecter throughout one day, which tend to be a day in which all either have importent disocveries or life changes events. it talks about a lot of big issues, such as the world war, classes in england, madness, womanhood and masculinty and how we iteract with those turms, the obligation to oneself Vs. the obligation to societly, old age and growing up and so on. it's amazing to see how all dilemas those are delt with without loosing the tread of the story and the events of the day.
personaly, the most interesting parts for me were the one duelt with spesimus, a young PTSD soldier who's gettingmore and more ill as the day advance, verginia woolf's own experience with deppression and madness deffenetly shows in this book, it made me realate to the book very emotionaly from that angle.
stream of consciusness type of writing's offen very confusing and demanding, and while in other books i couln't quite relate to it, in this book, i think i finelly got the idea behind it. it's a very deep book, one of the greatest books of modern times for sure.