Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Waves

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The Waves by Virginia Woolf

7 reviews

hjb_128's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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erica_cronje's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was my first Woolf, and after attempting to read the first few pages, I realised that it is recommended that you read any of her other books first, considering the experimental style of The Waves. The book is written from multiple perspectives on one page, in that way it's almost written as though it is a dialogue, except it's the characters inner thoughts. This style, and Woolf's use of descriptive language makes it quite confusing to read and i discovered that i needed to focus quite a bit to determine what was the characters thoughts, when were the addressing each other and when were they simply noting things around them, which meant it took about 2 months for me to finish reading this book, but i do believe it was for the best to read it so slowly.

reading at my own pace, allowed me to truly absorb each sentence and chapter, and i found i related so much to what these characters were thinking and feeling through various stages of their lives. I enjoyed analyzing these characters and their thoughts and i do think there is something to be said about the theme of friendship in this novel, and how, on the surface the friends seem to get along, but their innermost thoughts expose how they really feel towards each other, which was just absolutely fascinating and it made me wonder how many groups of friends would fall apart if everyone knew what the others really thought of them. In the same breath, Woolf expresses the importance of friendship and keeping friendships alive, and how friends can become your safe place even if you had drifted apart.

I really enjoyed this book, the only thing that brought the rating down for me from a four star, is the fact that it took quite an emotional toll on me to read it, since the entire book you constantly hear these characters deepest fears, insecurities, joys and how they strive to accomplish certain things in life, it just means that the book is incredibly intense due to the fact that the reader experience every thought and emotion the character does, in a way that has not been done in any other book i have heard of.

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diana_raquel's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

“I am not one and simple, but complex and many.”

I always had a somewhat complicated relationship with Woolf. Mrs Dalloway took me three times to finish but I ended up loving it and A Room of one's Own is probably one of my favorite books of Woolf (I haven't read all of her books). After these two books my conclusion was that although Woolf's quintessential writing style isn't a favorite of mine, I liked her books. So, I decided to buy The Waves. And that was my second mistake with Woolf (the first was to try reading Mrs Dalloway without an audiobook).

Look, I feel like I'm being generous with my rating, however, this year has been a year where I just want to read romance stories, with cuteness and fluff. So, maybe I just decided to read this book at the wrong time. Maybe, in the future, I might came back and love this book.

I just couldn't connect with this book. I don't know why. But I couldn't. The characters are interesting but I couldn't care about their lives and thoughts.

I think that I will give Orlando a try. But this may be my least favorite of Virginia Woolf.

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