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 Time Passes September 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Stylistically midway between her more traditionally structured novels like The Voyage Out, and experimental, modernist works like The Waves, To the Lighthouse melds elements of both experiment and tradition, making a balanced, well-organized, richly textured novel. Woolf is very adept at re-creating the passage of time in bold, unexpected ways. The brilliant middle interlude in this novel, Time Passes, is perhaps a case study in this. The reader is treated to an omniscient overview of the weathering of the Ramsay House. All this takes place under the watchful light of the Lighthouse of the title, sending out its beam to a world which is destroying itself only to be reconstituted as something wholly different, completely other. In Woolf's body of work To the Light House captures the very best of her prose skills and conceptual genius in one novel.
Brilliant Experimental Novel June 3, 2008
I almost put this book down after the first 100 pages. The writing was difficult to get into and I kept thinking to myself, "is it worth the bother?"
I am SO glad that I did persist through the book, because it certainly was worth it. Woolf's writing is very lyrical and flows so freely (and so scattered!) that I sometimes had to re-read sentences multiple times to make sure I'd understood things correctly. It was slow going compared to my usual reading; but it was so beautiful! There's a passage in the book where Mr. Ramsey is reading, and it explains my approach to the book rather well:
"He read...as if he were guiding something, or wheedling a large flock of sheep, or pushing his way up and up a single narrow path; and sometimes he went fast and straight, and broke his way through the bramble, and sometimes it seemed a branch struck at him, a bramble blinded him, but he was not going to let himself be beaten by that; on he went, tossing over page after page."
Woolf's brier patch of words is thick and convoluted, but it was completely worthwhile picking it apart in spite of the slow start.
To The LighthouseA beautif May 26, 2008
A beautifully and thoughtfully written novel examining and comparing life and art during the WWI era in Great Britain and contrasting those who experience life primarily through deeds and action (Mrs. Ramsay) and those who primarily experience life through thought and reflection (Mr. Carmichael)--and the underlying contempt and misunderstanding each has for the other.
An insightful, sensitive reading. February 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The idea of Virginia Woolf's fiction being read aloud effectively has struck me as an impossibility. The very interiority of Woolf's style seemed to suggest that readers hear the narrative voice within themselves. This reading proves me dead wrong. Virginia Leishman's reading--and interpretation--added much to my passion for a novel I have always loved. Readers--and listeners--new to Virigina Woolf need to be able to listen for long stretches of time in order to follow the stream of consciousness that propels the story. This commitment will be amply rewarded.
I am glad I purchased this. I will listen to it many, many times.
 Did not find it interesting January 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse" is about the inner psyche of the Ramsay family and friends as they progress over a ten year period. It is written in an stream-of-consciousness style except for an interlude between the two major time periods. I did not find this book very interesting. Although there is a lot of prose on the pages, I found that in the end I knew very little about the major characters. This book just wasn't worth the read for me.
For those of you who don't like "spoilers" (there is one shocker at the end of the first time period), don't read the introduction by Eudora Welty found in this version. It reads like a book report and essentially summarizes the entire plot.
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