That's it for Virginia Woolf

[MsAmerica]

I've now read To the Lighthouse and hated it, and just finished Mrs. Dalloway which was almost as awful for me. I figure I can stop now.

I can appreciate an occasional clever description. I can appreciate an occasional elegant sentence. I can appreciate her conveying the ephemeral flitting of people's thoughts. But I can't find anything interesting or entertaining in there.

Apologies to her fans here.

A Room of One's Own is probably her most poignant read, it's half fiction half biographical and considered a feminist classic, it's probably one of my favourite books. But I did read Orlando afterwards and it went completely over my head.

I love Orlando. If the book doesn't appeal try the film with Tilda Swinton.
I also love A Room of Ones Own.
But agree with you about To the lighthouse.

Oh God. I gave up on Mrs Dalloway. Not for me.

Mrs Dalloway is one of my favourite books

I'm totally with you. OP. And it's not just Woolf; it's others in that era, too, e.g. Joyce, Huxley, etc.
Middle-class stream-of-consciousness and navel-gazing, whilst not much actually happens, is not my idea of a great book.

@senua “Middle-class stream-of-consciousness and navel-gazing, whilst not much actually happens”
Yep, very relatable!

I'm with you, OP. I don't think I ever managed to finish one of her books. Too self indulgent for me, tbh.

Ah, well, you tried. Shame you missed her best book though 😉

I thought To The Lighthouse was very dull, so much so that I did not finish it. I found the writing to be self-conscious and I really did not care about any of the characters.

I absolutely adore Woolf, OP, but if you don't like either Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse, you're probably unlikely to have a 'road to the Damascus' moment with The Voyage Out or Jacob's Room or her last, unrevised novel Between the Acts. You can congratulate yourself on having given her a fair shot. (Her journals are fabulous, though...😀)

There are writers whose merits you can appreciate while acknowledging their sensibility just doesn't work for you. I can see that Muriel Spark is brilliant, and I can acknowledge all the value of her work. I just don't like any of it. Ditto Huxley, Don Delillo, Marilynne Robinson, Elena Ferrante etc etc.

So glad to see this thread! Felt exactly the same, read To the Lighthouse over Christmas and was sorely bored and disappointed. Being from a not at all affluent background, my reaction was "Wow, rich people (who can afford holiday homes and boats and spend all day on art and philosophy) are really good at creating problems out of nothing and coming up with almost perversely convoluted chains of thought!"

I did buy Mrs Dalloway already so I will read it, but my expectations have been set very low. Many years ago I read A Room of One's Own at uni and I think I liked it, but later I also felt it was a very "first-world" reflection. I recall reading that there was a famous African American author (Toni Morrison maybe?) who pushed back on Woolf's arguments, saying that women like the enslaved poet Phyllis Wheatley and many others in less privileged situations did not have a room of their own, and yet created wonderful literary works.

I do want to read Orlando though, if it is a "normal" story not in the same stream-of-consciousness style -- can anyone confirm? I enjoy humour / historical time travel fiction so I thought I might like it.

I wasn’t too keen on To the Lighthouse, but, to my surprise, I loved Mrs Dalloway.

It might just be the style. Martin Amis described the stream of consciousness as “a bore,” and there was a collective sigh of relief/joy from the audience. I think Amis is right. Ulysses contains some very beautiful passages, but overall it is kind of boring. When you compare Joyce and Woolf, probably the most famous practitioners of S of C, to the great 19th-novelists, they’re just not as entertaining. S of C doesn’t really work that well. It’s an interesting idea, and in places it’s astonishing and fascinating, but it can’t sustain an entire novel. Most people’s interior monologue isn’t that interesting. Leopold Bloom’s thoughts are tedious (“hot sun…be a warm day I fancy,” etc). No, give me Pride and Prejudice or Middlemarch or Wuthering Heights any day.

I wouldn’t lump Huxley in with Woolf and Joyce. He’s a very different kind of writer. There is no stream of consciousness in his work. What he really excels at is dialogue. I have never found a writer capable of such brilliant, urbane, exhilarating dialogue as Huxley (except Oscar Wilde). His later novels are weaker (The Genius and the Goddess is almost unreadable), but Chrome Yellow and Point Counter Point are superb.

Arguably the greatest British novelists of the early 20th-century are both comic (P G Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh). I’ve always found that kind of odd.

I enjoyed Mrs Dalloway, and I do find it very interesting to think about how Woolf's writing was influenced by her episodes of psychosis. For people who have not been through psychosis, it is such a difficult thing to try to grasp at, and any crumb on insight is welcome.

I can't say that I found Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse pleasurable reads. Valuable though.

And I love her short stories. Especially Kew Gardens.

May I recommend the superb radio 4 comedy Gloomsbury to you all. Featuring the owner of Sizzlinghurst Castle Vita Sackcloth Vest, Ginny Fox and her novel Borelando, their husbands and such literary colossi as TS Jellitot and DH Lollipop. It's very very funny and stars Miriam Margolyes and Alison Steadman in the ensemble cast.

There's something utterly charming about someone admitting something went over one's head.

:)

May I ask why? What am I missing?

The only reason I finished it, that I forced myself to finish it, was my determination to try to give respected authors a chance. If it had been a random book by an unknown, I would have chucked it early on.

I think that was my attitude to To The Lighthouse, too. Very much an eat up your vegetables kind of a book.

I didn't like To the Lighthouse but I was only in my 20s so probably too young. Keep meaning to reread Mrs Dalloway, I loved The Hours which is inspired by it andI think I'll relate to it more now.

I think Orlando is the most accessible, stuff happens and it's great fun.

I’ve always meant to watch that film. Is it any good? Wasn’t there a film adaptation of Mrs Dalloway as well?

I started reading Woolf again in 2023. I read Orlando at university a long time ago and didn't think much of it. The Waves went a bit over my head but I loved Mrs Dalloway. I also really enjoyed The Years - this is the most accessible. I read Flush, the biography of a dog and was thrilled by it.

I've just read and enjoyed A Room of One's Own - I had to read it aloud though!

I've found all of this really unexpected. I can see why she isn't for everyone. That's the joy of reading widely, right?

I remember absolutely loving To the Lighthouse when I read it at university! Mrs Dalloway was ok, I liked the descriptions of people from her vantage point on the bus. What was the one about 2 sisters trying to put on a play & asking, "But will it rain?" repeatedly? I find myself quoting this when I'm considering hanging the washing out .

There's a 2002 film of The Hours with Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman (famously wearing a prosthetic nose) which is inspired by Mrs Dalloway. It was nominated for 9 Oscars and 11 BAFTAs and won loads of awards including an Oscar for Nicole Kidman.

And there's a 1997 film of Mrs Dalloway starring Vanessa Redgrave which is much less famous.

Yes, the film version is fantastic.