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Available
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Publication
Melville House (2011), Paperback, 144 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member dmsteyn
This novel, published in 1922, the same year as Joyce's Ulysses and Eliot's The Waste Land, is acknowledged as a landmark Modernist text. Having previously read Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway during my undergraduate years, and having enjoyed those novels, I came to Jacob’s Room with
More on that later. First, let me expound on the technique of the book. Whereas Woolf’s first two novels were, according to what I have read, fairly straightforward, in this novel, Woolf takes a much more impressionistic approach to novel-writing. Jacob’s Room has barely any plot. Ostensibly being about the life of Jacob Flanders (supposedly based on Woolf's brother, Thoby), the book presents snatches from many different points of view on Jacob, and, sometimes, from Jacob’s point of view. Despite being presented in chronological order, these impressions are disjointed, and it often takes some effort to make sense of what is going on. This creates a collage effect, very different from most novels that one might encounter.
I liked Woolf’s attention to detail and her way of turning a phrase. She creates an intense emotional portrait of Jacob, even though he is not really the protagonist of the novel; no-one is. To get an idea of what Woolf is endeavouring to do, here is a short passage from the novel:
It is thus that we live, they say, driven by an unseizable force. They say that the novelists never catch it; that it goes hurtling through their nets and leaves them torn to ribbons. This, they say, is what we live by – this unseizable force.
Although Woolf displays some scepticism in this extract – all those ‘they say’s – it is still evident throughout the quasi-novel of Jacob’s Room that it is exactly this ‘unseizable force’ that she is trying to grasp. It is the ineffable quality of life that Woolf tries to represent, precisely by going against the supposed realism of the Realist writers, such as Arnold Bennett.
Her characterisation is fluid to the point of flowing down the drain, at least at times. That is one problem I had with her writing. Despite beautifully lyrical and elegiac passages, the book sometimes felt insubstantial – ‘flimsy’, maybe. Perhaps this is because of its lack of plot and other anchoring points, such as relatable characters and substantial events. Woolf sacrifices these on purposes, but it sometimes felt like the book was an experiment that either went too far, or did not go far enough. To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway seemed comparably more successful attempts at marrying traditional novelistic techniques to Modernist experiments in narration. Ulysses, which uses similar techniques, also seems more successful, as it goes the whole hog in rejecting Realism. That said, I read Jacob’s Room without any guide, so I might have missed out on some of Woolf’s intentions with the novel.
On the whole, an interesting, if flawed, attempt at presenting a life as it is really experienced, and not as it is usually channelised into easily digested fiction.
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certain expectations. For one, I expected it to be challenging, and challenging it was. But it is also very short (around a 120 pages) and therefore more manageable than Joyce’s magnum opus. It also illustrates some of the problems I have with Modernist fiction in general, and Woolf specifically.More on that later. First, let me expound on the technique of the book. Whereas Woolf’s first two novels were, according to what I have read, fairly straightforward, in this novel, Woolf takes a much more impressionistic approach to novel-writing. Jacob’s Room has barely any plot. Ostensibly being about the life of Jacob Flanders (supposedly based on Woolf's brother, Thoby), the book presents snatches from many different points of view on Jacob, and, sometimes, from Jacob’s point of view. Despite being presented in chronological order, these impressions are disjointed, and it often takes some effort to make sense of what is going on. This creates a collage effect, very different from most novels that one might encounter.
I liked Woolf’s attention to detail and her way of turning a phrase. She creates an intense emotional portrait of Jacob, even though he is not really the protagonist of the novel; no-one is. To get an idea of what Woolf is endeavouring to do, here is a short passage from the novel:
It is thus that we live, they say, driven by an unseizable force. They say that the novelists never catch it; that it goes hurtling through their nets and leaves them torn to ribbons. This, they say, is what we live by – this unseizable force.
Although Woolf displays some scepticism in this extract – all those ‘they say’s – it is still evident throughout the quasi-novel of Jacob’s Room that it is exactly this ‘unseizable force’ that she is trying to grasp. It is the ineffable quality of life that Woolf tries to represent, precisely by going against the supposed realism of the Realist writers, such as Arnold Bennett.
Her characterisation is fluid to the point of flowing down the drain, at least at times. That is one problem I had with her writing. Despite beautifully lyrical and elegiac passages, the book sometimes felt insubstantial – ‘flimsy’, maybe. Perhaps this is because of its lack of plot and other anchoring points, such as relatable characters and substantial events. Woolf sacrifices these on purposes, but it sometimes felt like the book was an experiment that either went too far, or did not go far enough. To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway seemed comparably more successful attempts at marrying traditional novelistic techniques to Modernist experiments in narration. Ulysses, which uses similar techniques, also seems more successful, as it goes the whole hog in rejecting Realism. That said, I read Jacob’s Room without any guide, so I might have missed out on some of Woolf’s intentions with the novel.
On the whole, an interesting, if flawed, attempt at presenting a life as it is really experienced, and not as it is usually channelised into easily digested fiction.
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LibraryThing member VirginiaWoolfIsGod
Jacob’s Room may be my favorite of Virginia Woolf’s works. I immediately feel the need to qualify that because so much of what she’s written impresses me so highly – but this book is personal.
In Jacob’s Room I see the result of Woolf’s exploration of a dimension of human relationship
It’s common to point out that the character of Jacob is based upon that of Woolf’s brother Thoby, with whom she was close and who died untimely; those who say so always seem to think the book is then “really” about Thoby. If what I’ve said is right, it isn’t; it is about biography, about capturing a real, moving, changing life in a rather ephemeral, verbal granite. It’s worth adding that when Woolf came to do a real biography, after the death of her good friend Roger Fry, she indulged in no such theoretical gymnastics; that work is absolutely conventional. Cold though she was, still she was trapped in the amber of existing relationships.
I suppose it’s no great spoiler to admit here that he dies in the end; Jacob does; World War I takes his life, and (perhaps only for that reason) the book is commonly called an anti-war book, although if he had died of the flu it would hardly be called an anti-flu book. Woolf’s diaries are remarkably free of thoughts on World War I, and I doubt she had any real opinions on it at all, although I’m sure her letters express socially acceptable sentiments to her friends from time to time. In all of recorded and unrecorded history there may never have been a less sentimental person than Woolf, and for her to jump ahead in time and tell us, a quarter of the way through Jacob’s Room, that one of the more sympathetic and better-known characters of the book now happens to be “feeding crows in Flanders” illustrates her occasionally icy humor pretty well, and perhaps also her real thoughts on war at that time. Crow-feeder, I thought, reading it for the first time; there’s an interesting occupation. Ah… no.
Half the book is actually fairly dull. I did not discover this until my second reading, due to the lingering spell the first half of the book places one under. Wikipedia refers to Woolf first as “one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century,” and later as “arguably the major lyrical novelist in the English language;” no doubt Shakespeare was then in the top rank of 16th century English dramatists, and Einstein a talented Swiss physicist. But lyricism describes very well one of her primary powers (whether in essay, biography, diary, criticism, A Room of One’s Own, or the writing of novels, short stories or letters): description. Her descriptions of what we all can see shed such painterly light on the scene, and at the same time such clear and accurate light, as to make us wonder what we are using for eyes, that we missed for so long what she showed us; or perhaps what she was using. No doubt a hundred years from now, some enterprising young scientist will dig up her bones and discover that the shape of her eye sockets gives evidence of an extra two or three sets of optic nerves, beyond the usual allotment.
One of the most trenchant criticisms of the book is to ask what it is really about. It is entirely possible to, and intelligent friends of hers did, come away from the book praising her lyricism the the skies but believing she actually had nothing to say. It was often maintained, while she lived, that she had no notion of plot or character, as though her unconventional approach was really incapacity. But I feel certain her life and life’s work show clearly that having seen what other writers had to offer, towards plot and character, she felt those particular aspects of the novel needed rethinking and a new approach; of which Jacob’s Room was her first (and, with apologies to To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway, possibly her best) essay.
In Jacob’s Room I see the result of Woolf’s exploration of a dimension of human relationship
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that is always present but rarely alluded to – the silent dimension, it could be called. She began pointing towards it in her first novel, The Voyage Out, as her hero’s projected novel is to be about our silences, silences that can express so much. Yet I can’t say that’s what Jacob’s Room is actually about. Perhaps she, as the explorer, formed an opinion of what she was going to see before she got there and then, on seeing the actual terrain, modified her reportage accordingly. From the map Jacob’s Room provides, it might better be called the reflected dimension; the impressions unrelated or scarcely related others form of us in brief encounters, the sum of these going to form the whole of what might be called a character. She may also be saying that a picture of a society and of a culture is more descriptive of a person than a picture of their ear or of their nose, or a catalog of their acts. She was very interested in the theory of biography, and discussed it with her friends at great length; Jacob’s Room is a statement in that discourse, a medical practice, as it were, upon a corpse, before daring the procedure with one who lives.It’s common to point out that the character of Jacob is based upon that of Woolf’s brother Thoby, with whom she was close and who died untimely; those who say so always seem to think the book is then “really” about Thoby. If what I’ve said is right, it isn’t; it is about biography, about capturing a real, moving, changing life in a rather ephemeral, verbal granite. It’s worth adding that when Woolf came to do a real biography, after the death of her good friend Roger Fry, she indulged in no such theoretical gymnastics; that work is absolutely conventional. Cold though she was, still she was trapped in the amber of existing relationships.
I suppose it’s no great spoiler to admit here that he dies in the end; Jacob does; World War I takes his life, and (perhaps only for that reason) the book is commonly called an anti-war book, although if he had died of the flu it would hardly be called an anti-flu book. Woolf’s diaries are remarkably free of thoughts on World War I, and I doubt she had any real opinions on it at all, although I’m sure her letters express socially acceptable sentiments to her friends from time to time. In all of recorded and unrecorded history there may never have been a less sentimental person than Woolf, and for her to jump ahead in time and tell us, a quarter of the way through Jacob’s Room, that one of the more sympathetic and better-known characters of the book now happens to be “feeding crows in Flanders” illustrates her occasionally icy humor pretty well, and perhaps also her real thoughts on war at that time. Crow-feeder, I thought, reading it for the first time; there’s an interesting occupation. Ah… no.
Half the book is actually fairly dull. I did not discover this until my second reading, due to the lingering spell the first half of the book places one under. Wikipedia refers to Woolf first as “one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century,” and later as “arguably the major lyrical novelist in the English language;” no doubt Shakespeare was then in the top rank of 16th century English dramatists, and Einstein a talented Swiss physicist. But lyricism describes very well one of her primary powers (whether in essay, biography, diary, criticism, A Room of One’s Own, or the writing of novels, short stories or letters): description. Her descriptions of what we all can see shed such painterly light on the scene, and at the same time such clear and accurate light, as to make us wonder what we are using for eyes, that we missed for so long what she showed us; or perhaps what she was using. No doubt a hundred years from now, some enterprising young scientist will dig up her bones and discover that the shape of her eye sockets gives evidence of an extra two or three sets of optic nerves, beyond the usual allotment.
One of the most trenchant criticisms of the book is to ask what it is really about. It is entirely possible to, and intelligent friends of hers did, come away from the book praising her lyricism the the skies but believing she actually had nothing to say. It was often maintained, while she lived, that she had no notion of plot or character, as though her unconventional approach was really incapacity. But I feel certain her life and life’s work show clearly that having seen what other writers had to offer, towards plot and character, she felt those particular aspects of the novel needed rethinking and a new approach; of which Jacob’s Room was her first (and, with apologies to To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway, possibly her best) essay.
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LibraryThing member posthumose
Jacob's Room was an experimental book for Woolf in 1922 but it certainly stands the test of time for good literature, and is generally an easy read. I lost my way once or twice about who was speaking or how much time has passed but not as much as I thought I might and quickly picked up the thread
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again. The story follows a young man through his life in the early part of the twentieth century leading up to the first World War. I enjoyed it and though the ending seemed abrupt, I believe that was the point about life in general. I can certainly recommend it . I have enjoyed Woolf's non fiction, essays, and A Room of One's Own tremendously but never got around to her fiction, except for Orlando, which is very interesting. I will be reading more of Woolf's fiction very soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member dczapka
Jacob's Room feels like the troubled adolescent of Virginia Woolf's novel, a feeling that is appropriate given the novel's subject matter. It is famously Woolf's first attempt at the stream-of-consciousness style she would perfect in her later works, a brief but interesting book that teases and
The novel, as its title implies, tells the life of Jacob Flanders, who starts as a young boy preparing to leave for school and, eventually, to the world beyond. Although Jacob is a speaking character in the novel, and is present in most scenes, Woolf resists describing him in within the scene, choosing instead to have the other characters who interact with him offer their insight into his personality. The result is a character study of a young man who seems simultaneously in the middle and at the edge of the action.
In terms of the novel's larger goals, the form matches the function in a surprisingly sophisticated way. To continue with my somewhat pained adolescence analogy, we never really get a very good sense of Jacob outside of what others think--we see him as a quiet, brooding young man, but never quite know what causes him to remain so quiet. It feels as if Woolf wants us to understand that, no matter how many people know a character, that character will always be enigmatic. It's a telling statement, and one that resonates throughout the text.
Nevertheless, a novel is far more than its mere construction, and the beauty of the language is what gives Jacob's Room its forward progression. Within seemingly simple scenes of vacations and affairs with young women, Woolf drops wonderful sentiments and ideas that resonate outside of the plot. The reader gets the sense throughout that Woolf is concerned not only with the truth of the story she is creating, but with the truth of humanity, and that adds to the feeling of nostalgia that permeates the text.
In the end, the novel resembles its closing scene: a collection of fine moments and meaningful exchanges that add up to a varied but interesting portrait of the fictional Jacob Flanders. But, like the eponymous room, something is missing. Perhaps that's what Woolf intended, but something--like, perhaps, a touch more elucidation--feels missing. Despite its imperfections, though, Jacob's Room is a well-wrought and entertaining read, and deserves to be thought of as more than just a precursor to Mrs. Dalloway and the brilliance that would follow it.
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alludes until the very end but nevertheless feels ultimately satisfying.The novel, as its title implies, tells the life of Jacob Flanders, who starts as a young boy preparing to leave for school and, eventually, to the world beyond. Although Jacob is a speaking character in the novel, and is present in most scenes, Woolf resists describing him in within the scene, choosing instead to have the other characters who interact with him offer their insight into his personality. The result is a character study of a young man who seems simultaneously in the middle and at the edge of the action.
In terms of the novel's larger goals, the form matches the function in a surprisingly sophisticated way. To continue with my somewhat pained adolescence analogy, we never really get a very good sense of Jacob outside of what others think--we see him as a quiet, brooding young man, but never quite know what causes him to remain so quiet. It feels as if Woolf wants us to understand that, no matter how many people know a character, that character will always be enigmatic. It's a telling statement, and one that resonates throughout the text.
Nevertheless, a novel is far more than its mere construction, and the beauty of the language is what gives Jacob's Room its forward progression. Within seemingly simple scenes of vacations and affairs with young women, Woolf drops wonderful sentiments and ideas that resonate outside of the plot. The reader gets the sense throughout that Woolf is concerned not only with the truth of the story she is creating, but with the truth of humanity, and that adds to the feeling of nostalgia that permeates the text.
In the end, the novel resembles its closing scene: a collection of fine moments and meaningful exchanges that add up to a varied but interesting portrait of the fictional Jacob Flanders. But, like the eponymous room, something is missing. Perhaps that's what Woolf intended, but something--like, perhaps, a touch more elucidation--feels missing. Despite its imperfections, though, Jacob's Room is a well-wrought and entertaining read, and deserves to be thought of as more than just a precursor to Mrs. Dalloway and the brilliance that would follow it.
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LibraryThing member janetf8
How have I missed this before? Could it have been something as trivial as not liking the previous copies I've started, which were scruffy hardbacks? I mean, I've read The years and The waves, for goodness sake!
Anyway this is superb. Woolf at her finest. Great descriptions of London and nature and
Anyway this is superb. Woolf at her finest. Great descriptions of London and nature and
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scenery. Hinting at characters, capturing the sense of life as I experience it, puzzling me and then revealing more to satisfy and keep me alert. I want to re-read it at once - but of course I won't as there is too much else waiting to be read. But I will come back to this. The personal associations (connections with her brother Thoby), her femininism, her revelations of what life was like at that time are all fascinating. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
I suspect that I chose the wrong Virginia Woolf book for my first read. Jacob’s Room was beautifully written, full of descriptive passages, original in both outlook and style but for most of the book I had not clue as to what was happening. The author after giving us glimpses and hints, leaves it
Jacob’s Room appears to be the life story of a young man and it unfolds in a series of scenes from his childhood, his time at Cambridge, his love affairs, his travels and on to his apparent death in World War I. The author’s intention in showing fragments of his life and leaving the whole picture elusive and incomplete is perhaps her way of making Jacob a symbol for an entire generation.
This was a poetic, layered, confusing and intriguing read. For much of the book I felt the author was immersed in her own nostalgia and sadness, but I was never totally drawn in and didn’t feel any sense of connection to the story. I fully intend to read more of Virginia Woolf’s writing and perhaps I can learn to appreciate an author who makes her readers work to understand the whys and wherefores of her writing.
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up to her reader to put the pieces together. The words “stream of consciousness” come to mind and I admit I was put off by the disjointedness and lack of plot.Jacob’s Room appears to be the life story of a young man and it unfolds in a series of scenes from his childhood, his time at Cambridge, his love affairs, his travels and on to his apparent death in World War I. The author’s intention in showing fragments of his life and leaving the whole picture elusive and incomplete is perhaps her way of making Jacob a symbol for an entire generation.
This was a poetic, layered, confusing and intriguing read. For much of the book I felt the author was immersed in her own nostalgia and sadness, but I was never totally drawn in and didn’t feel any sense of connection to the story. I fully intend to read more of Virginia Woolf’s writing and perhaps I can learn to appreciate an author who makes her readers work to understand the whys and wherefores of her writing.
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LibraryThing member kristykay22
I read this one in college, but that was over 20 years ago so I didn't retain much beyond a generally positive feeling. Reading it now in the context of my very serious Virginia Woolf bookclub (reading everything she published in chronological order) really highlights how Woolf expands into herself
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with this novel. It has some of the Britishness and relationship stuff of Night and Day, the experimentation of Kew Gardens, the travelogue nature of the Voyage Out, and the playfulness with authorial perspective that weaves in and out of Monday or Tuesday. Jacob is an unknowable cipher, even though we stick with him till the end. But, in trying to know him, we end up knowing a lot about everything else. Which is kind of the way life works. Which is why I love Virginia Woolf. Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
[Jacob's Room] is Virginia Woolf's third novel and her first experimental novel. I didn't connect to it the same way I did to her later novels, but in the end I find myself intrigued by it.
Woolf chooses Jacob as her central character, a young man who you expect from the beginning will be the
But Woolf's beautiful writing is expressive enough to carry the book. I love how she can capture the most mundane moment and make it seem unique. This book in particular is very visual. It does however, lack the structure that her later books have that keep things moving forward.
This is definitely a book to ponder and reread. Despite not having a satisfying connection to it the whole time I was reading it, I'm interested enough to count it as an enjoyable reading experience.
Woolf chooses Jacob as her central character, a young man who you expect from the beginning will be the
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perfect age to die in WWI. Instead of letting the reader into his growth from childhood to young adulthood, Woolf holds the reader at arms length in favor of showing brief exterior experiences. Characters flit in and out of the book and Jacob goes through a string of women love interests. He starts the book as a young child, goes to school, and travels, but everything is shown in brief vignettes. There isn't much interior development of Jacob's feelings. But Woolf's beautiful writing is expressive enough to carry the book. I love how she can capture the most mundane moment and make it seem unique. This book in particular is very visual. It does however, lack the structure that her later books have that keep things moving forward.
This is definitely a book to ponder and reread. Despite not having a satisfying connection to it the whole time I was reading it, I'm interested enough to count it as an enjoyable reading experience.
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LibraryThing member Chris_V
The first of Virginia Woolf's novels that sought a new way of writing fiction tells the story of a young man who is to be killed on the battlefields of WWI. This edition includes a forward by her nephew Quentin Bell.
LibraryThing member Myhi
Seemed boring to me; maybe it was just a bad chosen moment to read it. Or maybe... I just don't really like VW's books focusing on men ?!
Worth reading again, sometime.
Worth reading again, sometime.
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
This novel is about a boy named Jacob as he grows into adulthood, mostly from the perceptions of those around him. I think the writing style has been precisely calibrated to stop me reading it quickly: its habit of skipping from person to person with little-to-no scene-setting means that I was
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frequently lost as I couldn't afford to slow down my reading pace. I enjoyed all the bits set in Greece, though, as I think they really drove home Jacob's alienation. Show Less
LibraryThing member ofstoneandice
Although I understand that the style is experimental, I found it too rough. The constant leaps from one POV to another is bewildering and much of the information we receive consists of useless filler material. The true bulk of the content lies in the loosely strung together metaphors, some of which
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appear almost as half-finished thoughts. Show Less
LibraryThing member ursula
Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf - I approached it with no trepidation at all, because I read Mrs. Dalloway a number of years ago and really enjoyed it, even with the page-long sentences. With that, and the fact that this is really a novella, I settled in for a quick read. How wrong I was on all
My impressions of this impressionistic book: There's Jacob, and he's a kid and he's up on a giant rock by the ocean. I think he's going to fall off. Oh, I guess not. Okay now we're at a dinner party and Jacob's in college. He hates dinner parties. In fact, as we find out from the seemingly endless dinner parties we'll have to attend with him, he's like the Holden Caulfield of the 1920s and really doesn't think much of society. Now he's on a boat with a friend and they're talking endlessly about the Greeks and is this friend in love with him or what? Now we're in Italy and Jacob's on his way to Greece and talking philosophy and he doesn't like French women and oh dear god how many more pages of this are left? Oh good, I'm done.
Then I went and read up a bit on the book to see if I missed something grand (it's been known to happen) and the answer is: well, if you like experimental literature and important milestones in postmodernism and books without a real protagonist or any plot to speak of, this book's for you. Otherwise, read Mrs. Dalloway.
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counts. I had not thought about the fact that Woolf was a member of the Bloomsbury Group and envelope-pusher in literature until I got about 30 pages into this book and I really had no idea what was going on.My impressions of this impressionistic book: There's Jacob, and he's a kid and he's up on a giant rock by the ocean. I think he's going to fall off. Oh, I guess not. Okay now we're at a dinner party and Jacob's in college. He hates dinner parties. In fact, as we find out from the seemingly endless dinner parties we'll have to attend with him, he's like the Holden Caulfield of the 1920s and really doesn't think much of society. Now he's on a boat with a friend and they're talking endlessly about the Greeks and is this friend in love with him or what? Now we're in Italy and Jacob's on his way to Greece and talking philosophy and he doesn't like French women and oh dear god how many more pages of this are left? Oh good, I'm done.
Then I went and read up a bit on the book to see if I missed something grand (it's been known to happen) and the answer is: well, if you like experimental literature and important milestones in postmodernism and books without a real protagonist or any plot to speak of, this book's for you. Otherwise, read Mrs. Dalloway.
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LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
This short novel was my first experience of Virginia Woolf's writings. It is quickly read and not difficult at all to enjoy, like a walk through a park on a sunny day with interesting companions and only the weight of a picnic on your shoulders.
Though there is not much plot to this, it doesn't
What we do not learn about the characters is compensated by what we learn about how the world is variously perceived, or can be perceived. This is a novel of impressions of the world, recorded for their aesthetic qualities and largely indifferent to their moral or practical consequences for the characters. Hence it provides relief from the heavy novel.
What it did more than anything was inspire me to get up and just experience the world outside, anything, just to receive impressions of things for their own sake. This was perhaps not solely due to aesthetic stimulation, but also due to the ennui that seems contagious among the characters.
I would recommend this work and will read more Woolf in the future.
Though there is not much plot to this, it doesn't
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seem to matter; it is a literary novel.What we do not learn about the characters is compensated by what we learn about how the world is variously perceived, or can be perceived. This is a novel of impressions of the world, recorded for their aesthetic qualities and largely indifferent to their moral or practical consequences for the characters. Hence it provides relief from the heavy novel.
What it did more than anything was inspire me to get up and just experience the world outside, anything, just to receive impressions of things for their own sake. This was perhaps not solely due to aesthetic stimulation, but also due to the ennui that seems contagious among the characters.
I would recommend this work and will read more Woolf in the future.
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LibraryThing member .Monkey.
I didn't really care for this. Not surprisingly, the writing is good, there were a few lines I especially liked; but the (very loose) story... just not for me. I didn't mind the odd style of telling it, I don't think, though it's hard to say so clearly when you're not very fond of what's being
I am curious to read other Woolf and see what I think of the more hyped titles.
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told. But, the kind of vaguely sad, ambling, not much plot... I just didn't care much for it. And for me I think it's less the plotless/ambling aspect than the fact that I'm just really not keen on the kind of, sad look back on life sort of thing. The "feel" (so to speak) of the novel is just not the kind of thing I enjoy. I'd put it in the same kind of class as Age of Innocence or Brideshead Revisited, Crome Yellow perhaps. It's just not my thing. But it was a short quick read, so eh.I am curious to read other Woolf and see what I think of the more hyped titles.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1922
Physical description
144 p.; 7.09 inches
ISBN
1935554360 / 9781935554363