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A review by aserra
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Prepare for a crawling, yet poetically meandering read if you're picking this book up for the first time. It is written in Woolf's classic coveted stream of consciousness style. This doesn't make it a bad book if you don't like that style, it just means it isn't a book for you, most likely.
Quite honestly, I don't think I'm intelligent enough to fully grasp the profundity and implications of everything in the novel, but that didn't detract from my contentment with the text. Others undoubtedly comprehend and therefore appreciate the book much more fully than I do, just something to consider if you are reading this one review and wondering whether to pick this up.
Woolf's eloquent prose scrutinizes human nature and connection, highlighting, despite stark differences, subtle universalities with the extremely fluid and volatile POV. It is very worth noting, however, that this is a very white, privileged scrutiny of white, privileged people. This creates one's of the novel's few downfalls: it reinforces a white gaze within English literature. To expect diversity from this novel would be to set one's self up for disappointment. In the interest of balancing a deep admiration of Woolf's poetic prose and recognition of the stifling whiteness (Woolf was very actively ingrained in the myopism of white, upper class, 20th-century English society), this book earns a hearty 3.75 from me; an enjoyably challenging, reflective read from an excellent author who didn't express much interest in and subsequently did not venture outside the white world view in a work that examined the nature of humankind (which is, of course, not majority white).
Quite honestly, I don't think I'm intelligent enough to fully grasp the profundity and implications of everything in the novel, but that didn't detract from my contentment with the text. Others undoubtedly comprehend and therefore appreciate the book much more fully than I do, just something to consider if you are reading this one review and wondering whether to pick this up.
Woolf's eloquent prose scrutinizes human nature and connection, highlighting, despite stark differences, subtle universalities with the extremely fluid and volatile POV. It is very worth noting, however, that this is a very white, privileged scrutiny of white, privileged people. This creates one's of the novel's few downfalls: it reinforces a white gaze within English literature. To expect diversity from this novel would be to set one's self up for disappointment. In the interest of balancing a deep admiration of Woolf's poetic prose and recognition of the stifling whiteness (Woolf was very actively ingrained in the myopism of white, upper class, 20th-century English society), this book earns a hearty 3.75 from me; an enjoyably challenging, reflective read from an excellent author who didn't express much interest in and subsequently did not venture outside the white world view in a work that examined the nature of humankind (which is, of course, not majority white).
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Sexism, and War