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towercity's review against another edition
5.0
this is an incredibly important work that explains whats been called a "marxist pacifist feminist manifesto" before but which cannot be fit into such a small essentializing phrase, not even close
ellie_the_kraken's review against another edition
2.5
She makes some very good, very informed and thought-out points, but the way she expresses her thoughts are tangential and often hard to follow. She is also very repetitive when it comes to her ideas. Her writing style is difficult for me to enjoy, and it took me a very long time to get through such a short book.
So far, I've only read Virginia's Woolf's essays, so maybe her writing style is more enjoyable in her fiction? I'll have to give some of her stories a try.
But reading this, I can understand why Virginia Woolf's works played such a key role in the feminist movement. She takes great care to lay out interesting and thought-provoking arguments in favour of women playing a more important part in society.
So far, I've only read Virginia's Woolf's essays, so maybe her writing style is more enjoyable in her fiction? I'll have to give some of her stories a try.
But reading this, I can understand why Virginia Woolf's works played such a key role in the feminist movement. She takes great care to lay out interesting and thought-provoking arguments in favour of women playing a more important part in society.
itssilvia99's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
helgamharb's review against another edition
4.0
As a woman, I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.
This novel-length essay or more aptly put, manifesto, is a long letter written in response to an unnamed gentleman’s request, asking Woolf’s contribution and her opinion on war and how best to prevent it.
How in your opinion are we to prevent war?
Alongside this question, Woolf received two other letters. One asking for funds to help rebuild a women's college and another for an institute which helped women enter the professions.
But how any woman would be able to contribute in a society and at a time when she can’t have the same level of education as a man or work in a profession of her choice; when she is told to stay in the kitchen and learn to cook for her man rather than go out and fight for something that should rightfully be hers? When even the ‘war’ which is to be prevented by a woman is made by man?
Here’s an excerpt:
"Some more energetic, some more active method of expressing our belief that war is barbarous, that war is inhuman, that war, as Wilfred Owen put it, is insupportable, horrible and beastly seems to be required. But, rhetoric apart, what active method is open to us? Let us consider and compare. You, of course, could once more take up arms—in Spain, as before in France—in defence of peace. But that presumably is a method that having tried you have rejected. At any rate that method is not open to us; both the Army and the Navy are closed to our sex. We are not allowed to fight. Nor again are we allowed to be members of the Stock Exchange. Thus we can use neither the pressure of force nor the pressure of money. The less direct but still effective weapons which our brothers, as educated men, possess in the diplomatic service, in the Church, are also denied to us. We cannot preach sermons or negotiate treaties. Then again although it is true that we can write articles or send letters to the Press, the control of the Press—the decision what to print, what not to print—is entirely in the hands of your sex. It is true that for the past twenty years we have been admitted to the Civil Service and to the Bar; but our position there is still very precarious and our authority of the slightest. Thus all the weapons with which an educated man can enforce his opinions are either beyond our grasp or so nearly beyond it that even if we used them we could scarcely inflict one scratch. "
This novel-length essay or more aptly put, manifesto, is a long letter written in response to an unnamed gentleman’s request, asking Woolf’s contribution and her opinion on war and how best to prevent it.
How in your opinion are we to prevent war?
Alongside this question, Woolf received two other letters. One asking for funds to help rebuild a women's college and another for an institute which helped women enter the professions.
But how any woman would be able to contribute in a society and at a time when she can’t have the same level of education as a man or work in a profession of her choice; when she is told to stay in the kitchen and learn to cook for her man rather than go out and fight for something that should rightfully be hers? When even the ‘war’ which is to be prevented by a woman is made by man?
Here’s an excerpt:
"Some more energetic, some more active method of expressing our belief that war is barbarous, that war is inhuman, that war, as Wilfred Owen put it, is insupportable, horrible and beastly seems to be required. But, rhetoric apart, what active method is open to us? Let us consider and compare. You, of course, could once more take up arms—in Spain, as before in France—in defence of peace. But that presumably is a method that having tried you have rejected. At any rate that method is not open to us; both the Army and the Navy are closed to our sex. We are not allowed to fight. Nor again are we allowed to be members of the Stock Exchange. Thus we can use neither the pressure of force nor the pressure of money. The less direct but still effective weapons which our brothers, as educated men, possess in the diplomatic service, in the Church, are also denied to us. We cannot preach sermons or negotiate treaties. Then again although it is true that we can write articles or send letters to the Press, the control of the Press—the decision what to print, what not to print—is entirely in the hands of your sex. It is true that for the past twenty years we have been admitted to the Civil Service and to the Bar; but our position there is still very precarious and our authority of the slightest. Thus all the weapons with which an educated man can enforce his opinions are either beyond our grasp or so nearly beyond it that even if we used them we could scarcely inflict one scratch. "
ethanme18's review against another edition
2.0
I think the book had great themes and Woolf made a lot of great points, but it was so lengthy and ran on and on. Miss girl slayed but fumbled at the same time