Total Page : 80
Publisher : SparkNotes
Publication Date : 2002 07 15
>> 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
>> Illumination
Virginia Woolf s To The Lighthouse can be a difficult read with its highly stylized stream of consciousness prose but it is a rewarding one in the end even if it seems that nothing much has happened over the course of the novel Despite taking place within a set period of time from 1910 1920 the conflicts and themes presented transcend far beyond the scope of the novel To The Lighthouse is a unique standard bearer for early modern literature
To say that To The Lighthouse is a tale about the Ramsay family would be selling the book short While this family and their experiences are the core of the novel Woolf delves into some heavy examination of the roles that males and females are meant to play in society Mrs Ramsay is beloved by all for her extraordinary beauty still evident in her fifties but she is tied down by a demanding husband eight very different children and her own need to oversee every facet of people s lives Mr Ramsay a selfish philosopher depends upon his wife to build his ego no matter the expense or the damage caused to his children This examination of their lives takes place at their summer home on the Isle of Skye in Scotland with their various guests Woolf begins by painting a loving and generous portrait of the Ramsays modeled upon her own parents before moving the action of the novel ten years into the future after the family has experienced a few catastrophes that they struggle to get over The novel ends with the perspective of the outsiders trying to make sense of what has been lost and what it means to life as a whole
Virgina Woolf was an exceptionally talented writer able to make mundane details vivid and able to capture the intricacies of family life and marriage without seeming sentimental Her prose is poetic following tangential thoughts to complete her circuitous paragraphs Woolf allows her readers insight into not only one family but into situations that concern everyone mortality love family and one s legacy To The Lighthouse is a wonderful testament to Woolf s legacy as one of the premier authors of modern literature
>> This review is for the edition as published not the content
The book is great but this edition by Classic House Books is unacceptable It looks home published from cover to cover including the ridiculous blurb on the back and the junior high graphics The real problem though is that I am now up to page 26 and the typos have been so numerous it s really almost unreadable after just encountering the word furtile I had to stop and write this review What s the point of this edition Buy a different version reader
