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thegreekmoon's review against another edition
5.0
i am still in shock of how much of a mastermind this woman was.
sandra_buckwell's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
r0sem4rie's review against another edition
5.0
I have no words, no beautiful phrases of Bernard’s, to describe how this book made me feel and how special it is to me. I’ve never read anything this beautiful. I love love love Virginia and this book
luciamf's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
justyna_esz's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jcasey's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sidharthvardhan's review
4.0
Can't say you can know a lot about members of Bloomsbury group on whom the characters are based. The "he says" "she says" thingy to dkstinguish between thoughts of dedifferentiation characters was also a bit awkward. But prose is beautiful and lyrical as always with Woolf. And the best thing is characterisation. It is amazing how Woolf tells so much about her characters without giving any material facts about their life that normally form part of biographies - birth, family, spouse , children etc. Woolf looks past all that and only talks about individuals and what made the essence of their personality more than those material facts.
emmaisnotavampire's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Have you ever looked at someone and wondered, what is going on inside their head? Well, it seems like Virginia Woolf tries to answer that very same question with this book.
Being the Pirandello nerd that I am, this felt like Woolf’s version of Sei Personaggi in Cerca di Autore, but if Pirandello’s characters look for someone to tell their story so that they can live, these live without the need for a story, telling themselves only through their thoughts. From innocence and infancy to old age and death, a bildungsroman of the brain.
The book is a beautiful exploration of the mechanisms of the mind, split into different sensibilities and mindsets with one thing in common: dissatisfaction. Bernard looks for sense, Neville for beauty, Louis for perfection, Susan for peace, Jinny for fun, Rhoda for self. They are all after a goal, a purpose, happiness and contempt, but they fail: what Woolf seems to say is that ultimately we are all doomed to succumb to the innate melancholy of the human conscience, whatever we do to try and escape it.
As always, the author’s prose is mesmerisingly poetic, and I especially appreciated the parallels she built between the characters’ inner worlds and the outside one, through highly metaphorical natural descriptions. However, it is precisely the lyrical quality of the soliloquies which makes it difficult to follow the narrative, and though it surely fascinates the reader its abstract elements also leave them lost.
I love Virginia Woolf, but I will never cease to believe it takes a lot of brains to fully understand her work.
Being the Pirandello nerd that I am, this felt like Woolf’s version of Sei Personaggi in Cerca di Autore, but if Pirandello’s characters look for someone to tell their story so that they can live, these live without the need for a story, telling themselves only through their thoughts. From innocence and infancy to old age and death, a bildungsroman of the brain.
The book is a beautiful exploration of the mechanisms of the mind, split into different sensibilities and mindsets with one thing in common: dissatisfaction. Bernard looks for sense, Neville for beauty, Louis for perfection, Susan for peace, Jinny for fun, Rhoda for self. They are all after a goal, a purpose, happiness and contempt, but they fail: what Woolf seems to say is that ultimately we are all doomed to succumb to the innate melancholy of the human conscience, whatever we do to try and escape it.
As always, the author’s prose is mesmerisingly poetic, and I especially appreciated the parallels she built between the characters’ inner worlds and the outside one, through highly metaphorical natural descriptions. However, it is precisely the lyrical quality of the soliloquies which makes it difficult to follow the narrative, and though it surely fascinates the reader its abstract elements also leave them lost.
I love Virginia Woolf, but I will never cease to believe it takes a lot of brains to fully understand her work.