Book Review
Jul. 23rd, 2009 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariTo the Lighthouse
by Virginia Woolf
This is one of Woolf's most highly-regarded novels. The book centers around the lives of the Ramsays, a large late-Victorian family and their associates at a summer cottage on the Scottish coast. It's very similar to Mrs. Dalloway - it has the same style of stream-of-consciousness, the same focus on female characters, and the same use of mundane events as a framework. However, the structure is somewhat different. To the Lighthouse is in three distinct sections: the first covers an ordinary day in the life of the Ramsays during a summer of the early 20th century, the second is an interlude about the passage of time and its effect on the house and the family, and the third takes place just after WWI when the much altered family returns to their summer cottage. I thought the final section was the weakest - too taught, too dry. The first section, though, is a wonderful exploration of the inner lives of the main characters treated with a warm soft-focus reminiscent of Impressionist paintings. The second section gorgeously describes the tragedy and entropy that befalls the Ramsays and their house.
by Virginia Woolf
This is one of Woolf's most highly-regarded novels. The book centers around the lives of the Ramsays, a large late-Victorian family and their associates at a summer cottage on the Scottish coast. It's very similar to Mrs. Dalloway - it has the same style of stream-of-consciousness, the same focus on female characters, and the same use of mundane events as a framework. However, the structure is somewhat different. To the Lighthouse is in three distinct sections: the first covers an ordinary day in the life of the Ramsays during a summer of the early 20th century, the second is an interlude about the passage of time and its effect on the house and the family, and the third takes place just after WWI when the much altered family returns to their summer cottage. I thought the final section was the weakest - too taught, too dry. The first section, though, is a wonderful exploration of the inner lives of the main characters treated with a warm soft-focus reminiscent of Impressionist paintings. The second section gorgeously describes the tragedy and entropy that befalls the Ramsays and their house.
