Reading 1001 discussion

Rating: 3.75 stars


This is the lowest rating I have given a Woolf book so far. While still a beautifully written book, I felt it paled in comparison to her other works I have read.

The premise is an original one. The book follows a man's life from early childhood until death. It is definitely more of a character study than a plot-driven book. Despite this, I always felt kept at arm's length from the main character. Perhaps this was the idea. I did appreciate, however, how Woolf focused less on what Jacob did and more on how he responded to things.

Overall, incredibly beautiful writing, but a tad more experimental than some of her other works.

My rating - 2 stars on Goodreads.
This was a very tedious short read. Jacob turns out to be a rather stuck up, boring person, the sort who somehow still disappoints several women by not wishing to marry them. I liked Woolf's writing style well enough, but with no characters I liked, no story to really follow, and disliking the main character, I was just annoyed after a while at all the poetic detail. I was not so annoyed as to avoid the rest of Woolf's books, but this was not a favorite for sure. I liked the idea of visiting the main character's room periodically as a device to see the character develop, but I wished the character was more likeable so that I'd care about how he developed.

I am not a fan of Virginia Woolf's writing style, and this book was no exception to that. I can appreciate the beauty of individual passages, but the lack of plot left me bored. Additionally, I just did not care enough about any of the characters to become invested.