Mrs Dalloway

Love and religion! thought Clarissa, going back into the drawing-room, tingling all over. How detestable, how detestable they are! For now that the body of Miss Kilman was not before her, it overwhelmed her - the idea. The cruelest things in the world, she thought, seeing them clumsy, hot, domineering, hypocritical, eavesdropping, jealous, infinitely cruel and unscrupulous, dressed in a mackintosh coat, on the landing; love and religion. Had she ever tried to convert any one herself? Did she not wish everybody merely to be themselves? And she watched out of the window the old lady opposite climbing upstairs. Let her climb upstairs if she wanted tp; let her stop; then let her, as Clarissa had often seen her, gain her bedroom, part her curtains and disappear again into the background.''

I fully understand that Virginia Woolf is an icon of modernist writing, but I cannot read her writing. Despite only having a reading length of about 5 hours, it felt like six months. Her style of writing is so rambly, and while I understand that being rambly is a part of the stream of consciousness model, it's done in a way where it feels unauthentic and without purpose. Jean Rhys also used stream of consciousness in Voyage in the Dark, and it worked very well, it's one of my favorite books. I can only assume that Virginia Woolf's writing just isn't for me. That being said, one of my biggest pet peeves in writing is definitely meandering around points rather than using smaller points to reach the main point, and Woolf's writing resides in the former category (from my point of view). There were bits and pieces I really enjoyed, but they were so far apart between the pages and pages I skimmed as I got bored that I can't give this book more than one star. I was initially going to give this book two stars because I thought Septimus' story was interesting, but his conclusion was so incoherent that it made me laugh.

Such an interesting novel. The stream-of-consciousness writing style was hard to read at times (it required immense focus), but it was also really well done. It felt like reading people's *actual* thoughts—in the disjoint, uncontrolled manner in which they actually occur. I definitely want to reread this book; I know that I'll get more out of it.

It's alright... I like how it reaches inside the minds of people but damn this book lacks plot

Very very boring book. Thought of DNF-ing it several times. 

Woolf nos mete en la psiquis de cada personaje, y cada personaje es único. Se sienten tan reales, y es precioso poder decir: Yo sentí eso que escribió Virginia Woolf.

Constant motion - slow at first, little worlds moving down Bond Street, reflecting and refracting parts of each other as the torch of narration passes between them. At the center of it all Mrs. Dalloway, both very young and very old (indeed every age) in the middle of her life; hands and feet, sensing and moving and doing. And the interactions, with Lucy or Peter Walsh... I can't even begin to take that apart, look under the hood to understand how it beats with life.

Started as a library loan and knew within 20 pages i would have to own a copy. I'll spare everyone (primarily myself) and try not to Say Something; I can only recommend.

Instagramissa keväällä pidetty Kevät Virginian kanssa -kimppaluku kannusti Virginia Woolfin kirjojen pariin. Tartuin itsekin Woolfin kevyempiin teoksiin ja esseisiin jo keväällä, mutta pidempi romaani sai odottaa vuoroaan pitkälle kesään. Valintani kohdistui Mrs. Dalloway -romaaniin vuodelta 1925, joka on Woolfin keskeisistä romaaneista ainoa, jota en ole vielä lukenut.
Vuonna 1925 ilmestynyt Mrs. Dalloway on yhdenpäivänromaani, joka kuvaa yläluokkaisen Clarissa Dallowayn elämää Lontoossa maailmansotien välisenä aikana. Rouva Dalloway järjestää illalla seurapiirijuhlat, valmistautuu niihin ja lopulta juhlat tapahtuvat. Juoneltaan kirja on hyvin yksinkertainen, mutta sen kansien välistä avautuu näennäistä juonenkulkua laajempi näkymä aikakauden maailmaan.
Kirja ei ensinnäkään kerro pelkästään rouva Dallowaysta, vaan tarinaan kietoutuu muitakin ihmisiä. Lontooseen palaa pitkään Intiassa aikaansa viettänyt Peter Walsh, jonka kanssa avioitumista rouva Dalloway harkitsi ennen kuin päätyi vakaaseen, jos vähän tylsään herra Dallowayhyn. Walsh on tullut järjestelmään asioitaan ja onnistuu siinä sivussa herättämään rouva Dallowayssa monenlaisia muistoja ja tuntemuksia.
Kirjassa kerrotaan myös Septimus Warren Smithistä ja tämän italialaisesta vaimosta Lucreziasta. Septimus on arvostettu sotaveteraani, koulutettu ja töissään menestynyt mies, mutta kärsii sotatraumoista. Septimusta hoitaa ensin yleislääkäri, joka ohjaa hänet maineikkaalle spesialistille tohtori William Bradshaw'lle. Bradshaw kuuluu luonnollisesti rouva Dallowayn seurapiireihin ja Peter Walsh tapaa Warren Smithit ohimennen puistossa, joten sinänsä irralliset henkilöt kytkeytyvät toisiinsa kirjan aikana.
Teos edustaa Woolfin tajunnanvirtatyyliä, jossa kirja kuvaa päähenkilöidensä ajatuksenjuoksua. Kerronta on paikoin vähän vaikeaselkoista, sillä kerrontatapa vaihtelee nopeasti kaikkitietävästä kertojasta sisäiseen monologiin, suora ja epäsuora puhe sekoittuvat ja näkökulmahenkilökin voi vaihtua lennosta. Etenkin tyyliin tottumattomalle teksti voi olla hankalaa seurata.
Vaivannäkö kuitenkin kannattaa, sillä Mrs. Dalloway on hieno kirja. Se kuvaa pintatasollaan 1920-luvun englantilaisen yläluokan elämää, mutta samalla sukeltaa syvälle ihmismielen kiemuroihin. Clarissa Dalloway palaa muistoissaan aina uudestaan nuoruutensa Bourtoniin ja silloin tehtyihin valintoihin. Septimus Smithille tämä kiintopiste on sota ja silloin kaatunut toveri, joka hänen mielessään yhä kummittelee. Ajan kuluminen on yksi romaanin keskeisistä teemoista: Woolf mainitsee moneen kertaan Big Benin lyönnit, jotka kaikuvat halki kaupungin. Eivätkä teoksen teemat tähän tyhjene – esimerkiksi mielenterveyden käsittely on kiinnostavaa.
Mrs. Dalloway on syystäkin klassikko. Paikka paikoin löysin kuitenkin itseni toivomasta uutta suomennosta. Kirjan suomennos on Kyllikki Hämäläisen käsialaa ja vuodelta 1956. Ikä näkyy jonkin verran, vaikka kirja sinänsä aivan luettava yhä onkin. Voisi se helppolukuisempikin kuitenkin olla. Toivottavasti joku tarttuu haasteeseen ja tekee Mrs. Dallowaysta uuden suomennoksen.

I'm a classics fan but I've never been particularly drawn to Virginia Woolf. I picked up a copy of Mrs. Dalloway because the cover was pretty. I hadn't the faintest idea what it was about. When the Audrey app chose this as one of their listen-alongs, I figured now was as good a time as any to read it.

Some classics are wasted on people... this one was wasted on me. I wanted to like it so much given the time it was written and the portrayals of PTSD and mental health disorders. By the time I got to this point, I was painfully bored and cared nothing about the characters. Personally, it was not a good time to read it, either.

Whether it's a matter of the wrong place, the wrong time, or the book itself, it wasn't for me. I know I'm in the minority here but even lively discussion couldn't draw me in. It only made me ask if I was really listening to the same book as everyone else.

This has to be what being a mindreader feels like: very interesting but also very unpleasant?

Mrs. Dalloway is a novel about a woman named Clarissa Dalloway who chose to marry a man named Richard instead of Peter who was in love with her. Even though she married Richard, she still feels unhappy and confused about her life. Later, she throws a party which gives readers an interesting look into the lives of wealthy Londoners in the 1920s. The book explores themes of love, society, and the human condition, and is written in a beautiful style that allows readers to understand Clarissa's thoughts and emotions.

I understand the literary merit and significance of this book and my rating in no way is meant to imply I don't think this wasn't a good book for a certain reader.

But my experience of listening to the stream on consciousness writing style as an audiobook was not enjoyable. I didn't care about anything I was listening to and probably should have DNF'd

It's worth checking out to see if you vibe with it. The concept is really intriguing, it just didn't work for me.

This was a lovely read. A stream of consciousness storytelling and I just loved the way Woolf wrote it.

Nothing is clear but rather a blur, no distinction between direct and indirect speech and the mode of narration changes a lot. I like how one moment you were with one character and then the next you're somewhere else because that character remembered something, for example. The way you slowly get to know their history and their stories. And keep returning to the present and then back to the past.

I really enjoyed this although it took me a while to read it and it was a very slow read.

No sé si volvía a la crisis lectora, lo que si es que mi cerebro no está en el lugar indicado para este libro por el momento.

As I was going through the book, it suddenly dawned on me that I'm dealing with a writer of extreme intelligence, wit and understanding who at the same time is completely unapologetic for her craft. I've dealt with clever writers in the past, but never in so condensed a form. Her ever flowing stream of consciousness presents thoughts and feelings of various characters, never taking sides, never judging, never blaming. You would expect her to wholeheartedly support her protagonist and blame men for everything that has happened to her but instead she is objective, she presents Mrs. Dalloway's weaknesses and the choices she made willingly while at the same time presenting most beautifully and painfully Septimus's shell shock symptoms (in a time that many still considered men with these symptoms simply cowards). When I read the first sentence I just wanted to touch a bit of another famous writer but by the time I was reading the last sentence I was certain that I want to return in the future and follow Woolf's rivers of words in her other works.

The story isn't that interesting, but I do enjoy seeing all the character's perspective. We get to know what everyone is thinking and that's what made this book interesting to me.

Brilliant!

Overall I really enjoyed this. I think a reread would make some things a bit more clear (character POV changes and some of what was going on), but enjoyable even on a first read.

It was fine, but I was bored. I mostly only read a page or two at a time, and was never compelled to pick it up again. 

Her style is a bit mind-bending (crimes against semicolons! subclause abuse!) though I concede that there is some really lovely writing in there. I liked the perspective shifting from one mind to another, and the meandering thoughts punctuated by snippets of reality. But it was really all just a bit... nothing. I was craving plot, or drama, or some sort of excitement - nothing happens (except that one brief shocking moment which is then basically put aside for the rest of the novel) - and the style and characters and social commentary weren't enough to counteract that dullness for me.

A book that is almost entirely description and no plot, written in a stream-of-consciousness style; in short, my ultimate snooze-fest. There were times this weekend when I felt open to description that served no purpose, to simply have a picture painted in my mind, and at these times I liked the book. The rest of the weekend I was more my normal self, wanting a story that would grab me and whisk me away, and at these times I was bored with the book. Glad to have read it in case it comes up sometime in my life, and that's about the best feeling I can muster for this book.

One day in the heads of Clarissa Dalloway, Septimus Warren Smith, and the people surrounding them. Woven together with inner monologues: the past and the present, some regret, some doubt, and the minute details of the every day that produce joy and distraction.

At part I felt lost in the monologues, lost track of narrator and/or if we were currently in the past or the present (blame the audio-book for making multitasking possible). But Woolf's melodic, very British, simple yet dazzling prose creates a tapestry of the complexities of human feelings and human relations, and you just go with the flow, get pulled into the life of characters that at the beginning may have seemed dull.

Had a beautiful morning finishing this book with a steamy cup of tea (the only way to read it, of course). This book is a classic for a reason so reviewing it seems trite. Instead I will just say, if you haven't experienced Virginia Woolf, you must. I love how it dips in and out of various lives, how they connect–and disconnect. I love the style. I could go on rapturously and talk about all the ideas and thoughts this book inspired, but instead I will say: read it. I am glad I did.

I struggled to get into the book but I greatly enjoyed the middle then lost interest towards the end. Virginia Woolf has a lot more compelling books.

¡Finally read my first Virginia Woolf book! Now I am quite afraid of her! The prose is divine, so it certainly was a pleasure to read, despite having that clear stream of consciousness style. However, I could not follow the story at all! There are not any chapters or even paragraph breaks. When the point of view changes, it goes largely unnoticed (¿Who is Septimus?). Compound that ambiguity with the loosely structured story, abrupt ending, and gibberish is all that is left. This sums up to a pleasant bit of nonsense, unrecommendable.
If this really is Woolf's most famous work, I will not be visiting her again...

I struggled all the way through with the blending of stream of conciousness and third-person omniscience. It jumps back and forth between characters, to a guy walking down the street, to someone who never even makes an appearance aside from her one random thought. Additionally, each character's thoughts were identical to the next–they were merely the thoughts of Virginia Woolf. The opening scenes were the most interesting and least confusing of the book; after that, it all went downhill for me.