Virginia Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway - 5
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 10:51 pm
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway is not on my list of favorite books. That is not to say that it is poorly written; to the contrary, Woolf does have a writing style worthy of merit. It's just not my cup of tea.
Mrs. Dalloway was written in the beginnings of the modernistic movement in art and Woolf was writing in a style called "state-of-consciousness." This style was revolutionary in it's day, and many readers have embraced it. I however did not. State-of-consciousness takes the reader on a meandering journey through the thoughts of the characters as the story progresses. What we get, for example, are the thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway as she goes down the street to buy flowers. As she walks down the street, we learn about the task at hand, then her mind goes to an interesting sight that she sees, then she sees someone that she knows and her thoughts go to that person. We then jump into the thoughts of that person for a period and get their perspective on things and back to the original person or to someone else.
I found this style to be very confusing at first and it took me a good portion of the novel before I was comfortable with it.
Overall, Mrs. Dalloway felt too abstract and odd to my way of reading. The story itself is not bad, although a bit depressing. The language and amount of detail do an admirable job of creating beautiful images in one's head and is the main reason that I did not rate the novel lower than what I rated it.
Have you read this book? Click here to rate it!
Mrs. Dalloway is not on my list of favorite books. That is not to say that it is poorly written; to the contrary, Woolf does have a writing style worthy of merit. It's just not my cup of tea.
Mrs. Dalloway was written in the beginnings of the modernistic movement in art and Woolf was writing in a style called "state-of-consciousness." This style was revolutionary in it's day, and many readers have embraced it. I however did not. State-of-consciousness takes the reader on a meandering journey through the thoughts of the characters as the story progresses. What we get, for example, are the thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway as she goes down the street to buy flowers. As she walks down the street, we learn about the task at hand, then her mind goes to an interesting sight that she sees, then she sees someone that she knows and her thoughts go to that person. We then jump into the thoughts of that person for a period and get their perspective on things and back to the original person or to someone else.
I found this style to be very confusing at first and it took me a good portion of the novel before I was comfortable with it.
Overall, Mrs. Dalloway felt too abstract and odd to my way of reading. The story itself is not bad, although a bit depressing. The language and amount of detail do an admirable job of creating beautiful images in one's head and is the main reason that I did not rate the novel lower than what I rated it.
Have you read this book? Click here to rate it!