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Originally Posted by Sybarite
It's a brilliant book.
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...and this is a brilliant review, Sybarite. You've made me want to re-read the book.
It's been 10+ years since I read it the first time, and it's about time for another perusal. Virginia Woolf's world of prose can be a bit of a revelation for the "uninitiated." I recall starting
Mrs. Dalloway two times before I actually read it from beginning to end. Like you, I had a bit of difficulty "getting into" it. I had a copy from the library and returned it, re-thought my choice, checked it out again, and eventually read it. After finishing
Mrs. Dalloway, I went on to read
To The Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves, and
Night and Day.
It's interesting to reflect upon what Virginia Woolf said as she was writing
Mrs. Dalloway, when speaking of her unique method of "characterization": "I dig out caves behind my characters" (from her diary). These "caves" disclose the past while simultaneously conveying her characters' reactions to current events. While so many writers' books are action-driven, the "action" in
Mrs. Dalloway takes place within the minds of her characters.
It's tragic that mental illness was so misunderstood in Woolf's day. We can only speculate about how many more masterpieces she might have created had it not been for her suicide.
~Titania
"Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book
known to him by heart and his friends can only read
the title."
~Virginia Woolf