Boy, is it so painfully dull and boring to me🙈. I just don’t see the appeal. I get the hype and praise for it as Woolf masterfully goes in and out of the subconscious of her characters and revels in the stream of consciousness but I just find it really depressing, considering the plot and the vapid mundane life of British aristocrats in those times. I literally have to force myself to read this book so that I don’t abandon it😅. Also it nearly put me into a reading slump. I read a few pages of To The Lighthouse in school like 6 years ago and now recently and I have a feeling I’m gonna enjoy that book much more than this one! What do y’all think? Chime in your thoughts!
by Notyourmermaid25
8 Comments
likewise, I DNF’d it
I had to read this as an assignment back in university twenty years ago. I would literally fall asleep a couple times per page.
…I absolutely love it lmfao. The pacing is NAWT for everyone though. The entire novel takes place over one day. Woolf is a slow builder, really languishes in the scene and character, which is what connects me to her but not many others. Honestly To The Lighthouse is not that much better in that regard.
Try Orlando. It’s her best book IMO, and the pacing is a lot more reasonable as it’s a fictional biography.
I have tried at least three times in my life to read this book. I never finished it because it is very dull.
I picked this book up a few years ago thinking that I would like it because I liked The Voyage Out. Boy was I wrong.
I love this book!
However, I can see why others don’t. That period in history *is* depressing. I think you might have been hinting at this, but the whole social thing is so vapid and I think Woolf is exploring that in contrast to characters like Septimus who had just returned from the horrors of war. How can we reconcile the end of the gilded age with the current modern age after the worst war in history (up to that point)?
I actually have been finding this period one of my favorites in history lately. It’s fascinating to see how people had such an idea of humanity making so much progress—cars are becoming a thing, electricity and indoor plumbing are becoming the norm, humanity has reached its peak, everyone thought things were all going to keep getting better. And then WWI happens and everyone starts to question that. So yes, very depressing time period, but I also find it very interesting and relevant to today.
As for the writing itself, I read it like poetry. I take my time and savor it. I find a lot of people recommending to read without trying to figure out what’s happening and just keep pushing through to enjoy. For me, the best way to read it was to go slow and not try to figure out what is *literally* happening, but letting it feel like my own thoughts and how they jump all over the place and like poetry in that it represents more feeling and interpretation than factual happenings.
I hope you can grow to enjoy it, but if not, some books just aren’t for everyone. For me, it’s Vonnegut. I want to like him so badly, I get what he’s doing and think the idea is brilliant (actually Slaughterhouse Five is probably a great read along for a character like Septimus), but I just don’t jive with it.
I have this book on my shelf, and I’ve honestly never been able to finish it.
This is my favourite novel!
The interpersonal relationships are so nuanced and Clarissa is a fascinatingly modern woman for the period.
I wasn’t able to read Woolf until I was in my 30s and had a little more life experience. Don’t force yourself to read something that isn’t speaking to you at the moment. It might just not be the right time for you.