"So much depends, she thought, upon distance; whether people are near to us or far from us"
"So much depends, she thought, upon distance; whether people are near to us or far from us". So writes Virginia Woolf of the forlorn, but love struck Lily Briscoe in To the Lighthouse. There are so many adjectives one can use to describe how truly great this novel is. To sum the action would be rather easy. It's about the Ramsay family vacationing at a Scottish beach house in the early nineteen hundreds. From the outside the action seems minimal, but Woolf constructs this novel from the inside. We glimpse the workings of the characters on this little island. We see there thoughts, weaknesses, loves, and losses. As Woolf writes so much of the novel deals with distance. Distance to time, to each other, and the perceptions we conjure in our minds. This book on the one hand is about perceptions and how we perceive each other in life. The whole novel is set as if it were in slow motion. Very few words are spoken, but the ones that are take on important meaning in the story. As I was reading I felt much the same way as Mr. Ramsay, James, and Cam thought as they journeyed to the lighthouse. I allowed Virginia Woolf's beautiful prose wash over me. Her words moved much the same as a wave does; seemingly innocent at first, but packed with a punch that could not you on your feet. There are so many beautiful characters in this story from the elegant and motherly Mrs. Ramsay to the conflicted and sexist Mr. Tansley. Perhaps my favorite part of the whole novel was the dinner scene. So many sorrowful and joyous things culminating at once. There were many times in this novel that I was almost moved to tears reading the descriptive sentences that Woolf weaves together. I will admit that this was no easy read. It may be only 200 pages, but each page lingers with the reader and begs to be slowed down; allowing the words to wash over. A modernist classic To the Lighthouse implements Woolf's stream of consciousness technique that many may find difficult or confusing to read. My advice is to slow down. You may get confused trying to decipher who's mind you are in. but after a while you begin to flow. To the Lighthouse is true classic, and highly recommend it!
Superb
Each time I read this book, I find something new. I still don't understand half of it. But Woolf's language is beautiful. The story has made me examine my own life. Few books have moved me as much as this one.
Haunting
In what is perhaps one of the most well-known novels of the 20th century, Virginia paints the portrait of the Ramsey family living in their summer home on an island off the coast of Scotland at three pivotal moments. It's a simple story, but painfully beautiful in the telling.
Written entirely in stream of conciousness, Woolf takes it one-step further than most and jumps from the thoughts of one person to the next with little to no warning. This can make it difficult to follow for many, but I only lost myself once and quickly figured it out. This is a storytelling device that has always greatly appealled to me and Woolf did not disappoint. The prose itself was more poetry than anything and many of the passages the words are strung together so beautifully that I can only describe it as hearbreaking. I am not a rereader of novels, but I could easily see myself reading this book once a year.
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