Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This thread is for discussion of specific content of our March 2015 New School group read, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Spoilers are allowed in this thread.

My initial impressions:

At first I didn't think I was going to like this book. The stream of consciousness style and lack of any chapter breaks made it feel sort of like a marathon to me. But as I read further, I began to think that this added to the experience of the book as a commentary on the inner thoughts that are constantly swirling within us, and around us unnoticed in others. I began to really appreciate that theme in this book, the expression of the tremendous impact our thoughts have on our experience of life and how many important "events" might be going on in the minds of the people around us while we are totally unaware.

Septimus was certainly a tragic character. Knowing that Virginia Woolf herself struggled with mental illness, the expression of the experience of mental illness reminded me a bit of our read of The Bell Jar from a few months ago.

Ms. Woolf's writing itself is amazing. I am always astonished at how some authors can create such beauty in the way they group words together on a page!

I still don't understand why Septimus was even put into the novel. Except the fact that one of his doctors attended the party he has no connection to anyone. I thought Clarissa was at the center and all the other perspectives served to characterize her. I'm not sure if that's true, though. What do you think? But then, without her as an anchor, I would see no sense at all in this story.

The style was really confusing at first, but then I got used to it and found it interesting, much like Christine.

Phil wrote: "I still don't understand why Septimus was even put into the novel. Except the fact that one of his doctors attended the party he has no connection to anyone. I thought Clarissa was at the center an..."

In reading some analysis of this book, it seems that Ms. Woolf intended Septimus to serve as a "double" to Clarissa. (I don't completely understand this - I'm still reading the analysis!) Apparently when she first conceived of the novel her intention was to have Clarissa commit suicide at the party, but later she created the character of Septimus instead.

Thank you, Christine! This helps a lot. Is there anything else of interest in the analysis?

That's about all I had time to read so far! When I go back to it I will try to post some links. I just googled "Mrs. Dalloway" and clicked on a few things that came up in the search, so you could try that if you're interested in reading more too.

In the forward to my copy of the book it does state Septimus was intended to be the double of Mrs. Dalloway. I myself only connected this at the end of the book when his death is brought up at Mrs. Dalloway's party. An interesting topic to research other places in the book it is prominent.
It also was difficult for me to read at first with no chapters until I realized the semblance of the clocks striking. It gave you a reference to the time of day throughout the novel....a breaking point so to speak.

This was my second and last book written by Virginia Woolf. I think it’s time we break up. We’re just not compatible. She’s an intellectual and I’m just too blue collar. My first involvement with Ms. Woolf was a trip To the Lighthouse. The experience was a little strained but I held out hope for our future. After our second experience with that malicious woman Mrs. Dalloway I realized we were doomed to be parted. I'm just not up to her writing style and life is too short for trying a third time. Farewell and good bye my dear Virginia.

Bob wrote: "This was my second and last book written by Virginia Woolf. I think it’s time we break up. We’re just not compatible. She’s an intellectual and I’m just too blue collar. My first involvement wi..."

LOL, Bob! At least you gave her a fair shot. ;-)

Interesting to read your thoughts. I came here because I have some difficulties to read this. I´m kind of in the same mindset Bob is, not my cup of tea.
But since Christine warmed up to this later on, I´m going to give it a fair shot and try to read further.

Bob, you're not alone!

I got about 2 pages into To the Lighthouse when it was selected in another group last year. I managed to make it about 20 pages into this one before giving up.

Stream of consciousness writing is just NOT my thing. Well, SOME stream-of-consciousness writers aren't my thing. I've found a couple that I can tolerate. Maybe it's a matter of degree? Or maybe it's fair to say that the other books I've liked despite the stream-of-consciousness style rather than because of it.

I definitely appreciated what Woolf was trying to achieve in the book but to me it was just mediocre. I didn't feel connected to, or particularly like any of the characters apart from Elizabeth. However, I really did like the mirroring of Clarissa and Sally with Elizabeth and Miss Kilman. I felt it really reflected women pre/mid suffragists and post suffragists.Overall, I loved the themes and messages within the novel I just couldn't love the novel itself as much as I wanted to!

I read this book in university. Though the writing style was unusual, I was not a fan of this book. I found it extremely difficult to get through, and abandoned it about halfway in.

Finished this book a few weeks ago and I totally love it! I read VW's "The Waves" first (and that was experimental), and 2% into it, realized I should read "Mrs. Dalloway" first--which I then found to be very accessible by comparison, LOL.

I read "A Room of One's Own," and even that, I felt, was too meandering for my taste in the beginning. But then I got into it, and the rest was just love. It was life-changing. And so was Mrs. Dalloway. And now I'm halfway through The Waves.

It can be a matter of taste, but for some who think it's not their cup of tea, maybe if you persevere a little, you'll get over the bump, and get to appreciate and enjoy it. Just maybe. Of course breakups are allowed!

Anyway, I was amazed by its lyricism, by the way it shifted perspective from one consciousness to another (I really think "waves of consciousness" is a better term), and its unconventional treatment of time. Especially in the beginning, everyone--everything--is a character, and there are no main characters, it seems. Everyone's consciousness is just one part of a whole, and their thoughts are simultaneous, and even go back and forth in time, which is how human beings experience life anyway!

And she is funny! Towards the end, I love how she pokes fun at the various characters.

I feel like there's a lot about internal vs. external in this novel. Even in terms of characters, Clarissa has lived a life of appearances, of not really being true to herself. We see how the characters act and think, and sometimes, these are not with agreement with each other. I can't wait to read more VW, and to learn more about her life and craft!

Finally finished this and it was kind of a battle. It had its moments where I could almost feel the moment or idea in me and then it was gone. Woolf describes greatly of human mind. But these little great peaces were muddled with too much stuff so I lost tract and my mind started to wander and I didn't find myself back anymore.

The most outstanding feature of the book is describing thoughts..while going through i actually started thinking like the characters and got into their shoes without an effort..

Just finished reading this. Not sure how I feel about it. I didn't love it, but I did want to keep reading to find out what happened to the characters. The lack of any chapter breaks and stream of consciousness style made me feel like I was reading a 200 page run on sentence.

I'm about a third of the way through the audio narration and agree I'm not quite sure what to think. This kind of writing is completely new to me so I'm happy to have taken on the challenge. I think I'm enjoying most of it...so far!

This was my first book from her. I thought that it is not translated in my language, but I found it by excedent in my friends apartment. A neglected little book with yellow pages.
I don`t really remember the whole story, but I remember that it made me feel special. Woolf had this brainstorm of ideas, and spontaneously I started thinking the same way for some time. Everything I did seemed a bit aesthetic and meaningful.
I love the way she writes, on top of everything her analysis on human psyche is unique.

Hi Katerina, glad to see that you enjoy Virginia Woolf. This was my first book by her as well and I found the stream of consciousness style tough. Since then I've read A room of one's own and To the lighthouse and I still have mixed feelings about her writing. Have you read The Waves, or Orlando? They are both on my tbr for this year, but I'm a bit hesitant about them!

Pink wrote: "Hi Katerina, glad to see that you enjoy Virginia Woolf. This was my first book by her as well and I found the stream of consciousness style tough. Since then I've read A room of one's own and To th..."

I haven`t, but I will when I`m in that mood. I don`t want to sound pretentious, but I found out that for me it takes a melancholy mood to understand her best.

Not pretentious at all, I think Woolf needs a particular mood to read, or at least quiet for me. Some books are easy and I can read anytime or place, but others like this, need more dedication.

I think I have Orlando in my TBR. There's some reason I put it off.

I enjoyed this book. I struggled with it at first and I found the shifts in POV confusing at times. But around the midpoint I really hit my stride and I really liked it. I do wish that I had read it within just a day or two. I stretched it out over a week and I think this made a difference in my rating. I think I would have liked it better if I had read it more quickly.

I think the most interesting thing was that as each POV shifted, you could see that what one person thought everybody else was thinking was not, in fact, what they were thinking. It did a brilliant job of showing how we exist alone in our own heads trying to interpret and understand everyone around us. I really want to reread this one in the future.

I finished the audiobook today and can safely say I've never read a book like this!
In the end I really enjoyed it. There were times I struggled with keeping things straight and relistened to some parts more than once, but I'm glad I stayed with it. I liked this style of writing (I think) and look forward to reading another VW since this was my first!
I loved how VW wrote...someone described her writing as lyrical and that descibes it perfectly for me. I enjoyed the storylines and how she painted a snapshot picture of one day in the complicated lives of these seemingly random people. What starts out as a rather light read and perspective with the trip to the flower shop ends with sadness, regret and tragic news at the party. Yes, I was sucked in! I may have more to add after I have additional time to reflect... 4 out of 5 stars for me.

Glad you enjoyed it Susie, it is very different to other books isn't it. Certainly takes some getting into, but I think Mrs Dalloway is a great place to start with Woolf. I'm still unsure whether or not I love or hate her, a bit of both perhaps!

This was my first VW read and I loved it! I had also never read a book in this style before but unlike others I found it very easy to go with the flow of the writing. I liked how all the characters were connected yet we read their thoughts and maybe they are not so connected? At least as far as their varying opinions and ideas on the same subject or past memories they shared. I do look forward to reading more VW and researching her life and writing.

This was my first VW read and I loved it! I had also never read a book in this style before but unlike others I found it very easy to go with the flow of the writing. I liked how all the characters were connected yet we read their thoughts and maybe they are not so connected? At least as far as their varying opinions and ideas on the same subject or past memories they shared. I do look forward to reading more VW and researching her life and writing.

Glad to hear about people appreciating this book! I highly recommend The Waves, which will make Mrs D light reading by comparison, but can provide a new aesthetic perspective on character and story. I also think that the book "Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life" is an excellent resource for those who want to learn more about her--it talks about her life as related to the various books she's written.

I know that I'm coming into this conversation late, but regard to the earlier questions about Septimus ......... He was my favourite character in the novel. If you examine him, while he appears mentally disturbed, and certainly is by any modern standards, actually his thoughts and wishes are completely sane.

Septimus meditates on:
~ human nature
~ the truth
~ Evans
~ aloneness
~ meaning
~ the beauty of words

He appeared to me perhaps the "sanest" one of the bunch. He meditated on the things that should be fundamentally important while the thoughts of the others often bordered on being rather shallow.

Thanks for those insights...gives me more to think about as I continue to reflect on this great book... :)

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is the Group Revisit the Shelf Selection for January 2019. This is the Spoiler Thread

I'm a little thrilled to be the first to post to this thread in nearly four years :=)
I've just finished Mrs. Dalloway, having taken a month with the audiobook. I think it's better to read this one a little at a time- take at least two weeks is my advice.
Though it is a rather short book at 194 pages, Dalloway is a challenging read. Though written in third person, it focuses primarily on the thoughts of its' characters, particularly the title character. This varies from most novels, in which only the thoughts of the main protagonist are revealed. One of the characters suffers severely from what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder (he commits suicide), certainly a very unusual subject for a woman novelist of the early twentieth century. As Ms Woolf was a suicide herself, we certainly think of this connection.
The very rambling nature of the book, which jumps from one thought to another in the mind of the characters and from one character to another, requires a lot of attentiveness. I found it wasn't suitable for listening to the audiobook while driving, which I can usually do without difficulty.
Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway herself is gradually revealed to be a "very charming" but rather shallow person. I thought we might get some thoughts about her from her husband Richard, and was a little surprised we didn't.
Because of it's great creativity for its' time, and the impressive exploration of 'human nature', I'm giving it a four-star rating. BTW, if the style of this books drives you to distraction, I advise you to avoid Gabriel Garcia Marquez's The Autumn of the Patriarch.
I particularly liked message 23 in this thread from Sarah (whose advice to read it quickly I contradicted :)

I've started the book and am enjoying it so far. I do agree that trying to rush through this book is not going to work for me. I have found it better to read a little bit several times a day rather than sit down for a long reading day. However, it is hard to figure out where to stop for the moment; as so far there are no good rest areas between paragraphs. It seems I always stop in the middle of some new thought.

I'm reading it slowly as well but only because the language is so beautiful, I want to savor it. I find it very meditative and soothing, like lovely poetry. :)

I agree that it takes a while, and that slow reading is necessary. Like others have said, slow reading becomes a really beautiful practice... It has definitely been some times since I sat with a sentence and really savored it before moving on.

The descriptions of nature that bleed into thoughts on death and the passage of time are absolutely lush. For me, it made it even harder to deal with Septimus’ sadness and deterioration. The way Woolf describes his thoughts and turmoil is so vivid.

The ending came so quickly though! It worked for the novel, but definitely left me wanting so much more!

Trying to wrap my head around this one. I am loving the writing, but feel at a loss as to what is happening -- if anything. I just finished where we are initially introduced to Septimus.

And then I read this online:
"Mrs. Dalloway, novel by Virginia Woolf published in 1925. It examines one day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class Londoner married to a member of Parliament. Mrs. Dalloway is essentially plotless;"

I feel better -- I am not missing a plot because there is not one.

I am loving it too.

I don't know if I am loving it. I have read for what seems like hours at several different sittings. Then I looked and I am only on page 32!

Not in that sense ,it is a slow read for me too.,but the way she weaves the thoughts...

siriusedward wrote: "Not in that sense ,it is a slow read for me too.,but the way she weaves the thoughts..."

That I understand. I'm trying to put my head around why this works for me. It doesn't seem disjointed at all as we follow the thoughts throughout the day; even when we switch the POV.

And I'm not bored at all while I read; I am just surprised that I am reading that slowly without realizing it.

I just finished this (it took me 10 days to read it), and I am wavering somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. If I had read this many years ago, maybe I wouldn’t have liked it so much. But today, I clearly see that each character’s up-to-the-second inner monologue is very much like our current social media culture. The excitement of life is in the little details of the moment: the old friend you pass on the street, the necklace in the shop window, trying and failing to remain “just friends” with someone you love.... if it were written today, I could totally see Clarissa being that person cheerfully posting pictures of each meal on Instagram during the day, and then drunk posting some vague and depressing status update on Facebook late at night.

What an interesting way to think of the book. Instagram. I can see her posts now.

What role/s do you see Sally Seton playing in Clarissa's life?

Katy wrote: "What role/s do you see Sally Seton playing in Clarissa's life?"

Sally was the rebel bad girl to Clarissa. I think Clarissa loved her for those wild qualities, seeing something that she wanted in herself but couldn't do because she knew where she wanted to end up in society. Interestingly enough, Sally ended up just fine and on an equal social status as Clarissa. Sally, though, still has a bit of that wild streak and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Peter Walsh tells us that Clarissa lost a lot of her identity and has become "fake", but Sally doesn't seem to have done that.

Paula W wrote: "I just finished this (it took me 10 days to read it), and I am wavering somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. If I had read this many years ago, maybe I wouldn’t have liked it so much. But today, I clea..."

Love this .
I can easily imagine it too.

I am only 1/3 into this book. I find that after my work and parenting duties are complete, I don't have a lot of energy left for Woolf.

I have a question:

On page 56, Peter Walsh falls asleep on a bench near a nurse. He wakes up on page 58. In between, there is a reverie about how the world beyond his perceptions can barely be said to exist. Whose point of view is that? Is it the nurse thinking that? Is it a dream sequence? Did we just slide over to 3rd person omniscient?

I know the part that you are talking about. It does seem to be in 3rd person, but from the nurses perspective I think. I don't remember it exactly.

The book is written in a bit of a "dreamy" style with the stream of consciousness stuff that I have a hard time paying attention to what is happening or who is thinking sometimes.

Katy wrote: "I know the part that you are talking about. It does seem to be in 3rd person, but from the nurses perspective I think. I don't remember it exactly.

The book is written in a bit of a "dreamy" styl..."

Thanks, Katy. It seems like a weird thing for the nurse to be thinking, so it threw me.

I feel sad for Mrs.Dalloway...she feels like a quiet ,conventional and reserved person and maybe a bit detached?..not cold ,I think..just not as expressive, keeping everything held inside...
Peter Walsh seems flighty,histrionic and flimsy with a delusion of adventurousness.. or at least with a big ego..
I feel for Lucrezia and her husband..both are stuck in a hard situation .

I liked how a car (with the queen?) led us through london..through the minds of different people,as the car passed..
And then ..the same thing with the aeroplane..

I am thinking of starting As I lay dying after I cross ,60% of this book..let us see..