Mrs. Dalloway

Rating:
Summary: A not all together awful stream of consciousness book
Review: Mrs. Dalloway is a book very much like James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" which I can say makes it a hard recommendation. The point of view flows from one character to the next without any warning and many readers may be easily lost. I would not reccmond this as a first venture into the horridly confusing technique of Stream of Consciousness. Frankly, a knowing book editor would have helped this book a lot. On the upside, there are some very serious Sapphic undertones to the rambling of the book which make it more interesting than James Joyce whining about how he got beaten by the other boys in boarding school. But there are similiar themes of repression in the two books. The side plot involving Septimus Warren Smith and his wife Rezia was more interesting than Clarissa Dalloway and her silly party and repressed lesbian leanings

Rating:
Summary: Novel vindicated at the end
Review: My initial response of hostility, sustained through much of the book, mellowed some at the end. It is a sensitive story of love and madness, apparent mostly on afterthought. Still, I thought more of Faulkner than of this.

Rating:
Summary: Poetic Prose
Review: Rich fare indeed; affective writing at it's modernist best. Like gagging on good porter when near-beer's been your habitual tipple for far too long. Best taken before or after having your kisser linguistically smacked by James Ellroy, Elmore Leonard et al. Could not have been written before ULYSSES, but had to be written before John O'Hara could come up with BUTTERFIELD 8 - and I reckon F Scott Fitzgerald suckled at this muse too (aficionados, check out Jordan Baker's curtains flying "like pale flags"in GATSBY: they're "dragons" in MRS DALLOWAY). A literary gem to be cherished: eat your heart out, Peter Ackroyd: never was the city of London more effectively visualised.


Rating:
Summary: Maybe some people are afraid to admit they don't like it
Review: I really like 20th Century literature, particularly Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Proost, and Joyce. It seems that everyone loves Virginia Woolf at my school and Mrs. Dalloway was assigned reading in one of our classes. I really enjoyed some of Woolf's use of language and imagery, but a lot of her writing also seems forced, contrived, and boring -- all of which negate the point of reading it in the first place (other than avoiding an 'F' on the test). I guess what I'm trying to say is, you'll love Woolf if she's your style, and you'll probably hate her writing if you can't (or don't want to) follow her extended, cumbersome metaphors. I suppose she's a groundbreaking writer, but I also think I've turned into one of those people who secretly find Woolf a total bore but don't express this opinion aloud because a lot of supposedly smart people will tell you something is wrong with you. The same sort, I suppose, who are self-proclaimed writers/poets/intellectuals and like to call dead authors by their first name as if they knew them in another life (i.e., "What I like best about Walt is ...")

Blech...

Rating:
Summary: Difficult, but Wonderful Novel!
Review: Admittedly, many will find Woolf's dense prose difficult to comprehend, and honestly, I was initially no exception. I had attempted Woolf's greatest work twice before I picked it up yet again just two days ago. On previous attempts I became lost in the language, and entirely lost as to any discernable plot. Perhaps I'm just bull headed, but if so many people considered this work a classic, I must simply be missing something, so on this attempt, I came in prepared. Some may consider it cheating, but on this reading, I prepared by perusing a summery of the work before beginning to gain a basic knowledge of the work's plot, and I have to say, it did the trick for me.
Being well aware of the bare structure of the novel, I was left to concentrate on the sheer poetry that is Woolf's language. I found once I got my foot in the door (that is once I read the first 15 pages or so and adjusted to Woolf's prose and use of long running sentences) I simply loved it, and could not get enough of Clarissa and the rest of her world!
I suppose another road block for many readers may be the clear depth of Woolf's observations within the novel. One must realize, Woolf is less concerned with the present action of the novel than what that action causes in the mind of her characters, and this is simply an arrangement I believe many readers have not previously encountered, and therefore condemn the novel, not seeing the genius of the tome, and Virginia Woolf herself.
Despite the confusion some readers may find in Woolf and Mrs. Dalloway subsequently, the novel given its due is worth every moment of effort, and the reader I find will be well rewarded, I know I was!


Rating:
Summary: More Effort Required
Review: This book certainly requires more effort on the reader's side than many books, but it is well worth the effort. Woolf keeps up her half of the bargain by making effective use of the diffucult style; leading the reader with a purpose rather than pointless meandering. She explores the stream-of-conciousness style effectively, without going to the silly extreme that some other Modernist authors did. Her portrayal of mental illness strikes me as eerily realistic, especially when you take into account her own personal history.
The way I attacked it was like this: I read it once as quick as I could, without stopping to figure it out, then read it again taking my time. In the end, I was rewarded with a cathartic experience.

Rating:
Summary: I wish Mrs. Dalloway had sent out for those flowers.
Review: I approached this book truly wanting to love it. I recently read a biography of Virginia Woolf and I admire everything about her---she was creative, driven, daring, dedicated and way ahead of her time. Unfortunately I didn't find those qualities in "Mrs. Dalloway." For me, the novel was nothing but dull. For all of Woolf's skillful writing, she never delighted me. Never drew me in. I tried. Oh lord I tried, but after many hours I gave up and had to leave this classic to its admirers. I'm one of these readers who feels that you shouldn't have to trudge through a book in order to "get it" at the end. Call me a non-intellectual, but I feel a book should be enjoyable and appreciated from the beginning. Still, I rejoice in the fact that the novel exists because, to this day, it inspires so many writers, most notably Michael Cunningham. Mrs. Dalloway set his imagination on fire and he honorably paid homage to Virginia Woolf by writing a modern day masterpiece "The Hours," and brought her challenging prose to a new generation of readers

Rating:
Summary: Cumbersome Yet Delightful
Review: This modern classic novel is not an easy read but it hides a multitude of reasons to keep reading between its cumbersome lines.

Mrs. Dalloway leaves her upper crust English home one bright morning to buy flowers for her party. In the day that opens up Mrs. Dalloway crosses paths and encounters old friends to the point that she spends her day in contemplation, something it appears she hasn't done for quite some time. Against the backdrop of a ticking Big Ben Clarissa Dalloway remembers her youth, her exuberance and her dislike for societies norms but interestingly finds herself to be all that she distasted as a vibrant young woman filled with a sense of freedom. In her world is the ever moody, Peter Walsh, a man who never quite left his love behind as he watched Clarissa walk away with Richard Dalloway so many years ago and Sally (her long lost best friend) who once contributed to Clarissa's immature whims. Unknowingly Septimus Warren Smith lurks behind the day in his war-torn madness and he becomes a factor in Mrs. Dalloway's delightful day.

Virginia Woolf wrote this novel in 1925 many years prior to her own mental illness and suicide, but within the lines of this novel I sensed a tortured soul and a scattered but calculated mind at work. I admit I struggled with Woolf's writing style and never quite found a fit that felt right. She writes with such stops and starts that one must almost be a literary professor to keep up with her thoughts as they are strung out into extraordinarily long sentences laced with a multitude of punctuations. I found that I was often lost on what character she was delving into and had to go back and re-read entire paragraphs to figure out where I had lost her thought. She is certainly demanding of one's attention! Interestingly enough there are many references to water in this novel and I felt the beginnings of a connection between Woolf's characters and her own suicide method. Don't expect simplicity in Woolf she believed that her style of calculated impressionism would open up the art of the novel. Certainly in one day Mrs. Dalloway experiences what most people search a lifetime for and I found Woolf's explanation of aging quite moving, "But age had brushed her; even as a mermaid might behold in her glass the setting sun on some very clear evening over the waves. There was a breath of tenderness; her severity, her prudery, her woodenness were all warmed through now...."

I recommend watching the film, "Mrs. Dalloway," with Vanessa Redgrave after reading this book once or twice because somehow bringing Woolf's characters to life gives them a less elite meaning and allows for a bit of commonness and intimacy. But to grasp the meaning wrapped in Woolf's prose this novel must be read over and over again. For so fragile a creature as Woolf ended up being she is by far one of the strongest writers to have graced this world and her work is something to spend hours pondering over.


Rating:
Summary: Challenging Book to Read
Review: I watched "The Hours" on video which is based on the Virginia Woolf novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The book I am assigned to read in English class and write a paper on modernism. Mrs. Dalloway is at first a slow read but each day of reading the book helps the reader to know what events and thoughts are taking place among each character. England was breaking slowing from Victorian morals creating a society that would not be based on a person's rank in class and gender. It also is recouperating from World War One. The climate was changing and not everyone could keep up the pace. Septimus suffered a nervous breakdown after witnessing the death of his friend Evans. Miss Kilman, a German patriot and born-again Christian, disdainfully looked down on Clarissa for putting on a show. And Elizabeth, Mrs. Dalloway's daughter, was her own person rather than a copy of her mother. Just to name a few supporting characters that intricately make the book a good read.
I did find the book tedious to read but it was a very interesting and insightful story of how the upper class lead daily lives giving them human characteristics rather than a shallow appearance of diamonds and pearls.

Rating:
Summary: Almost a story without a story ...
Review: "Mrs. Dalloway" is almost a story without a story. At first sight the plot of this book seems almost banal. After all, who wants to know how Clarissa Dalloway spends her day?. Isn't she merely a shallow woman who leds a boring life?.

Of course, we should remember that first impressions are often misleading... and in this case, they certainly are. "Mrs. Dalloway" is nothing less that a ground-breaking novel in which Virginia Woolf pioneers a style that would later be called "stream of consciousness". Thanks to that style the reader can, literally, read the thoughts of the characters without any kind of censorship. Even though that makes the book somewhat unclear at times, it is nonetheless strangely attractive, and compelling.

"Mrs. Dalloway" is the story of a day in Clarissa's life, but it is at the same time the story of the people who know her, or that are somehow connected to her, and the story of her/their dreams and thoughts. Virginia Woolf's goal in this book was ambitious, but she managed to achive it: she allows the reader to look right into the mind of the different characters...

As I previously mentioned, the story of Mrs. Dalloway is at the same time the story of many more, as the story of each of us is also the story of the people we know/love/hate/like/dislike. There are many people who help us to understand Clarissa, thanks to their interactions with her. However, we also see her under a different light thanks to characters that don't know her, or are merely distantly connected to her through one of her many acquaintances. For example, Septimus Warren Smith, an ex-soldier who battles madness, and whose gloomy life provides a stark contrast to the artificial cheerfulness of Clarissa's own life. The two never meet, but it is impossible to try to understand one without the other...

On the whole, I think you will enjoy this book. It is quite original, and gives the reader food for thought. It makes us realize that there is often more to people than what meets the eye. For that, I highly recommend "Mrs. Dalloway" to you.

Belen Alcat