Helpful Score: 3
Here is where prose becomes art. The loss at the heart of this novel is profoundly revealed in this text. It's a wonder that so much can be conveyed with mere words on a page. Majestic stuff.
Helpful Score: 2
I tried to get through this book, read a few chapters on a plane ride and couldn't handle the stream of consciousness style. I couldn't tell which character's head I was in! Not my style I guess.
Helpful Score: 2
Classic Virginia Woolf. Michael Cunninham's "The Hours" was a rewrite of this.
Helpful Score: 2
It's Virginia Woolf - if you like her thought provoking, harsh style, you'll love this. She is a wonderful author who lets her true struggles with ordinary life come through in a truly beautiful and poetic nature. I'm bias though - I love her stuff.
William J. (frankenstein) reviewed Mrs. Dalloway (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Really trippy for the 50's. Kind of Naked Lunch and Dickinson. Hard to follow I read it simultaniously with a cliffnotes.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm obviously a complete philistine because after reading this and To the Lighthouse, I've decided that I detest Virginia Woolf. Her stream of consiousness style is extremely hard to read, as is the constant use of "She said" "She said" "She said" attached to every single line of a conversation. Were it not for my challenging myself to actually read the Time 100 Top Novels, I would have set this down unfinished.
Helpful Score: 1
Heralded as Virginia Woolf's greatest novel, this is a vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life.
Helpful Score: 1
One of the hardest books I have ever read!
Spend a day experiencing the innermost thoughts, feelings, elations, and disappointments of a variety of people with intersecting lives. The day begins and ends in the 1920s with Clarissa Dalloway's party, and the people - past & present - that are important to her. It's a chance to experience what Woolf described as "the enormous within the everyday", but be prepared for a meandering journey. Pretty much plot-free, some parts are absolutely riveting, some parts are flat-out boring, but overall it's about delving within and mining the inconsistency of the human psyche for material.
In this vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life, Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party preparation- fresh flower shopping, new dress buying, and festive room decorating- while in her mind she is something much more than a perfect sociaty hostess. As she readies her house for friends and neighbors, she is flooded with remembrances of faraway times- the passionate loves of her carefree youth, her practical decision to marry her conservative, reasonable husband, the approach and retreat fo war's confusion. And, met with the choices that brought her there, hesitantly looking ahead to the unfamiliar work of growing old. This revelatory and experimental novel melts together the past, the present, and visions of the future in each and every moment, revealing th personal and social nuances that give Mrs. Dalloway its memorable richness and depth. From the introspective Clarissa, to the lover who never fully recovered from her rejection, tp a war-ravaged stranger in the park, each character exposes the daily events and the constant interactions that connect them with the rest of humanity. Heralded as Woolf's greatest work of fiction, Mrs. Dalloway is not only a thorough rendering of a vivid human life, it is the outline on paper of human conciousness.
If you were to relate the book to modern times - you would have to relate Mrs. Dalloway to the popular TV show, Desperate Housewives.
Very fine writing. It's style was revolutionary in its time, and has now become a standard fictional technique. A must-read classic.
A classic novel and very interesting reading
Julie L. (lamerehouse) - , reviewed Mrs. Dalloway (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) on + 4 more book reviews
Clarissa Dalloway, a fashionable London hostess, is to give an important party. Through her thoughts on that day and through her memories of the past, her character is gradually revealed. And so are the other personalities who have touched on her life. Their loves and hates, their tragedies and comedies, all are vividly, intimately - and quite uniquely - brought to life.
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf's fourth novel, marked an important stage in her development as a writer. With this book she finally broke from the form of the traditional English novel, establishing herself as a writer of genius.
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf's fourth novel, marked an important stage in her development as a writer. With this book she finally broke from the form of the traditional English novel, establishing herself as a writer of genius.
Karen T. (luvs-chicago) reviewed Mrs. Dalloway (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) on + 65 more book reviews
This book was good, however it has no chapter divisions, so I found it hard to read. Overall, I enjoyed the story, it's very interesting!
Heralded as Virginia Woolf's greatest novel, this is a vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life. When we meet her, Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party preparation while in her mind she is something much more than a perfect society hostess. As she readies her house, she is flooded with remembrances of faraway times. And, met with the realities of the present, Clarissa reexamines the choices that brought her there, hesitantly looking ahead to the unfamiliar work of growing old.
If you've found Virginia Woolf's work challenging to read, try this book. I found it more accessible than any of her works I have tried. Still challenging, but so rewarding.
Thoughts and actions in the day of the life of one woman.
This book is very intense and thought-provoking.
Anne Todd O. (forestguardian) reviewed Mrs. Dalloway (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) on + 88 more book reviews
The novel that inspired "The Hours". Hopefully this book will garner new fans for Virginia Woolf.
Found it difficult to keep my interest, and to care about the characters. Actually did not finish the book, life is too short.
The portrait of a single day in a woman's life in pre-World War London, it's the novel that inspired the book and movie, The Hours.
This book is currently being discussed by the readers of the New York Times Book Review. The book covers one day in the life of a woman preparing an important party. But her thoughts range from the past, through the present to visions the future.
Rosalie P. (rosalie02138) reviewed Mrs. Dalloway (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) on + 28 more book reviews
A Woolf classic. Again, I came to this book from a film, The Hours. All the action takes place in one day while Clarissa Dalloway prepares for and hosts a party. Woolf is the best.
From the publisher.....Heralded as Virginia Woolf's greatest work of fiction, Mrs. Dalloway is not only detailed rendering of a vivid human life, it is the outline on paper of human consciousness.
At first it was hard for me to get the flow but once I did I loved this story very much!
I hate to admit that, although I tried and tried, I couldn't get through it.
It's supposed to be great, though.
It's supposed to be great, though.
This book is lovely. Read it once, come back to it again and again. Every page with a lovely treat.
This is the book on which the movie "The Hours" was based.
One of Virginia Woolf's classics.
Kimberlee E. (kimeriksen) reviewed Mrs. Dalloway (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) on + 24 more book reviews
Virginia Wolfe classic.
For Virginia Woolf fans.
I love anything Woolf. So I'm a poor resource.
