As I start to pull my thoughts together about this beautiful novel I am aware that there are lots of people still reading this book or about to, so I am going to attempt to write without spoilers. This is purely a book review – I don’t write in depth critical pieces – I’m no academic – I have only ever tried to write about my experiences of what I read. So although this novel is one which cries out for a more detailed analysis – I’m not the one to give it to you.
* For those of you dipping your toes into the #Woolfalong pool – I shall be reviewing my reads as I go – but will post a short discussion style post (if I can figure how best to formulate that) at the end of each two month period.*
I did once, years ago, read To the Lighthouse – and while I certainly didn’t hate it – neither did it really take. Oh my – what a difference a couple of decades can make. Last year, reading and really loving, Orlando, The Voyage Out and A Room of One’s Own, I realised that perhaps my relationship with Virginia Woolf might have changed. About eight years ago – I read Mrs Dalloway – I liked it – but I do feel I need to read it again, so I think I will – in the next few weeks.
“The sigh of all the seas breaking in measure round the isles soothed them; the night wrapped them; nothing broke their sleep, until, the birds beginning and the dawn weaving their thin voices in to its whiteness”
To the Lighthouse is fairly simply exquisite. Impressionistic; the pitch and toss of its luminous prose, reminding the reader moment by moment of the ever present sea. While there is little really in terms of plot – there are many images which are imprinted upon the readers mind – and remain far longer than any piece of action possibly can.
Virginia Woolf saw the novel as an elegy to her own parents – and presumably her childhood. The novel itself is about a marriage, childhood, parentage, reminiscence and grief.
To the Lighthouse; – as it begins anyway – is essentially a portrayal of a family holiday in the years before the First World War. Mrs Ramsay is at the centre of everything, a wife, mother to eight children, the hostess to the guests who fill the holiday home in the Hebrides, from where an expedition to the lighthouse – might or might not take place.
“They came to her, naturally, since she was a woman, all day long with this and that; one wanting this, another that; the children were growing up; she often felt she was nothing but a sponge sopped full of human emotions.”
Virginia Woolf’s famous use of stream of consciousness and multiple perspectives in To the Lighthouse give the reader a feeling of being inside the novel themselves – seeing and experiencing so much alongside the characters themselves, that it becomes very intimate. As Hermione Lee explains brilliantly in her introduction – which I have to admit I have only briefly skimmed, Woolf’s inventive and unusual use of parenthesis means we, experience several things at once (just as we do in life I couldn’t help but think). As a character conducts a conversation, we are privy to their thoughts outside of that conversation, wonderings and observations of things around them.
The novel is divided into three sections, The Window, Time Passes, and The Lighthouse. The first section portrays the peculiar tensions of a family holiday; the Ramsays have been joined by a group of friends and colleagues – and an expedition to the lighthouse is anticipated by young James Ramsay – who it seems will be disappointed. James sits cutting pictures from a catalogue, his mother close by recognises how he will be disappointed, and how he will remember it. I loved this simple picture of motherhood and childhood – the feeling of how transitory it is, but how happy.
“She would have liked always to have had a baby. She was happiest carrying one in her arms. Then people might say she was tyrannical, domineering, masterful, if they chose; she did not mind. And, touching his hair with her lips, she thought, he will never be so happy again, but stopped herself, remembering how it angered her husband that she say that. Still, it was true. They were happier now than they would ever be again. A tenpenny tea set made Cam happy for days. She heard them stamping and crowing on the floor above her head the moment they woke. They came bustling along the passage. Then the door sprang open and in they came, fresh as roses, staring, wide awake, as if this coming into the dining- room after breakfast, which they did every day of their lives was a positive event to them; and so on, with one thing after another, all day long, until she went up to say good-night to them and found them netted in their cots like birds among cherries and raspberries still making up stories about some little bits of rubbish – something they had heard, something they had picked up in the garden.”
Painter Lily Briscoe is attempting to paint a picture of Mrs Ramsay and James, but she is unsure of herself as an artist, her confidence in herself further shaken by another guest Charles Tansley – who is heard to declare that women can’t write and can’t paint. Poor Lily is destined to return to that phrase throughout the novel as she struggles to explore her creativity and understand the impressions the Ramsays had on her. A young couple become engaged, a brooch is lost, and as this section draws to a close a dinner party is held. This dinner party serving to show the complexity of the relationships of the people seated around the table.
The second section of the novel was for me particularly poetic. As the title of the section suggests there is a sense of time moving forward – things changing. We learn of what the passage of ten years has done to the Ramsay family. The house in the Hebrides within sight of that lighthouse stands empty – and through the eyes of Mrs Mcnab who has worked for the family throughout their years of ownership we see and feel the changes that time has brought.
The final section, The Lighthouse, some of the Ramsay family and their guests from ten years earlier return to the house – and another expedition to the lighthouse is proposed – and this time undertaken.
I have found it hard to write about this novel coherently – I think perhaps it is a novel which can only be experienced by reading it – a review can’t ever get at its extraordinary essence. I loved so many things about this novel, the depiction of childhood as I’ve already said, the images I am left with certainly – but other things too. I loved how Virginia Woolf explored the nature of a woman’s creativity through the character of Lily Briscoe, the use of language and sense of place.
Hope those of you who will be reading To the Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway in the next few weeks have as positive an experience as I did – and I hope Mrs Dalloway excites me as much as To the Lighthouse has.
Talk about whetting the appetite! Your review really makes me want to Drop Everything and Read Virginia Woolf…. excited to enter this world very soon…
Oh good, hope you find you like it.
I haven’t read any Virginia Woolf but you are certainly making her sound very tempting.
Well I’d love to tempt you to join us 😉
I’m very interested to read your thoughts on this novel, but as it’s in my ‘to read’ pile I’m going to save your review. I’ll drop back and comment after I’ve finished the book. 🙂
Fair enough – hope you enjoy it.
I’m just finishing Mrs Dalloway and your response to To the Lighthouse mirrors my experience with the former novel. It’s wonderful, but very hard to describe.
Yes I found describing the novel for others difficult.
Great review Ali. Woolf’s greatness is often so hard to put into words (I know I struggle) but you’ve done a great job and I’m so glad you’re finding reading her work exciting!
Thank you – I am excited and now feel that even if I don’t end up loving everything, I have started to get to grips with her and enjoy her work especially knowing my experiences of those 3 books last year was so positive.
I’ve always been wary of classic novels, as the ones I’ve read never seemed to grasp me—or, if they did, it wasn’t in a good way. I want to try more, to broaden my reading, get some new experiences. As a part of my degree, I had to look at some of Woolf’s work, only her short stories, but I could see why people took to her stories. I’d love to try one of her novels, and this looks like a good place to start. Great review.
I think it would be a good place to start – although The Voyage Out has a more conventional structure.
I had to read this in college and it baffled me completely. I’m glad to have read it again now, so I can better appreciate Woolf’s achievement, but somehow I connected more with Mrs Dalloway — I found the language more lively and exuberant. That’s just a personal preference, not a general criticism. Anyway, bring on more Woolf! I’ll be interested to read others’ thoughts.
I am now wondering whether this or Mrs Dalloway will be my preferred novel of the two – at the moment I can’t see this one being beaten 😊
I’m like you…I read this in college, remembered it vaguely positively (it might be significant that I especially remember the boeuf en daube :)) but when I re-read it last year I fell in love. I think ‘exquisite’ is the best possible word to describe it. Thank you again for coming up with the #woolfalong… I’m hoping (and expecting) to have the same re-reading experience with Mrs. Dalloway.
Oh good really hope you love Mrs Dalloway all over again.
I’ve only just started To the Lighthouse, so I will wait to read your review until I am done. But I can already say that I like it even more now than I did way back in high school.
Oh good I’m delighted you’re enjoying it so much.
Beautiful review. This book. Oh my goodness. It was the first Woolf I read, which I confess, was only last year. But, as I expressed in my review, it took me 45 years to prepare myself 🙂 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1139176492?book_show_action=false
I was thinking to read Mrs. Dalloway for this first #Woolfalong, but I’ve got The Voyage Out and A Haunted House already in my stacks. This weekend I’ll decide. . .
Well of course Mrs Dalloway would fit into this first two month period. The Voyage Out fits in with March/April and short stories May/June – so it seems to me you’re set for most of the year.
I have my copy of this book ready to start for the #Woolfalong in the next few days, so I’m pleased to hear you found so much to love about it. 🙂
Oh great, so glad you’ll be reading this too. Looking forward to your thoughts.
[…] Source: To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf (1927) […]
I’m hoping to read Mrs. Dalloway this month (or next), but now I feel like I want to read this one instead! I think, though, that I will stick to my plan and perhaps read this one next. I own one other of her books, and this one might be it. I’ll have to check.
I’m glad you enjoyed it so much!
Oh yes read both 😉
This was such a lovely review, with just the right information. I have not begun, yet, but your post was delightful enough.
P.S. I don’t give academic reviews either; they are purely emotional experiences. : )
Thank you. Really hope you enjoy the book when you get to it.
I shall be starting Mrs Dalloway twoards the end of this week, and am hoping that, as you found, my tastes have changed enough so that I can appreciate Woolf better than when I last tried her way back in my youth.
Good luck reading Mrs Dalloway 😊
I read this years ago and now feel quite inclined to revisit it, if the tbr pile allows, especially after a so-so experience with Between the Acts. As I live in Cornwall I still get a buzz from seeing Godrevy lighthouse, the real object of the novel, near where the family used to stay in St Ives. Went there last week before return to work to see the huge groups of seals that bask on the cove beaches around it…wonderful sight. Not sure she ever mentions seals in any of her novels. More interested in birds, I think. Lovely review, thanks.
Thank you. Ooh would so love to visit that lighthouse – it sounds idyllic.
Having read Mrs Dalloway, I’m really looking forward to To the Lighthouse – I certainly recognise some similarities to your experience. I’ll probably read your review again after I’ve read the novel.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 😊
Ali! What a lovely review, which really captures what makes Woolf’s writing so beautiful. “To the Lighthouse is fairly simply exquisite. Impressionistic; the pitch and toss of its luminous prose, reminding the reader moment by moment of the ever present sea.” – I love this; so beautifully expressed.
My copies of Woolf are in Oxford and I’m not, but I’m definitely hoping to re-read TTL if possible this month.
Thank you Simon. The novel appears to be still very much in my head even though I have finished one book and started another since. Really hope you get chance to re-read it.
A lovely review of this book! I remember that after the first time I read it, I liked it so much that I turned to the first page and read it over again. It’s my favourite Woolf so far. It definitely has a whimsical quality to it.
Like you, Mrs. Dalloway left me feeling that I needed to read it again ….. like somehow I’d missed something.
I’m really sad that I couldn’t participate in this event but I’m looking forward to reading the reviews and listening in on the conversation!
Thanks Cleo – I can completely understand your reaction.
Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse are my favorites of her novels. Closely followed by The Voyage Out. Lovely review. It’s definitely a book that is worth re-reading.
Yes, it is a book I shall almost certainly read for a third time – one day.
Your post has made me want to reread this novel! Mrs Dalloway is my favourite, but To the Lighthouse is a close second. I completely agree with what you say about this being a novel you experience. I’ll be picking up Mrs Dalloway to read soon, and I can’t wait! Looking forward to reading your thoughts on it.
I am looking forward to seeing if Mrs Dalloway is a similarly positive experience. I hope so.
I had held on to reading your review until i finished the book. But now that I have, I had to come back and read your review. I must say I loved the book and thanks to you finally got around to reading it. The prose simply took my breathe away! Posting a review soon! Thank you again for hosting this grand event!
My pleasure 😊 delighted you loved it.
[…] Heavenali’s post on To The Lighthouse, part of the #Woolfalong project on her blog, for which many thanks. […]
I have now posted my comments on To The Lighthouse on Bookword blog. I loved my slow read, and also enjoyed those things you point out on your review.
I looked at the experience of writing, reflected in VW’s diaries. How to write such amazing prose.
I’m moving on to The Voyage Out for the next phase of #Woolfalong.
Thank you so much for joining in #Woolfalong. I just read your blog post about To the Lighthouse I loved how you’d linked it back to VW’s diaries showing the process of writing this novel. I really enjoyed The Voyage Out last year when I read it.
[…] intention of starting #Woolfalong with To the Lighthouse and/or Mrs Dalloway was to explore two of Virginia Woolf’s best known, possibly best loved […]
[…] To the Lighthouse Mrs Dalloway Night and Day Between the Acts Monday or Tuesday Mrs Dalloway’s Party Flush Three Guineas A Writer’s Diary Jacob’s Room The Waves Virginia Woolf – Nigel Nicolson Virginia Woolf; a critical memoir by Winifred Holtby Recollections of Virginia Woolf -ed Joan Russell […]
[…] and definitely think it deserves a reread because it definitely doesn’t feel 90 years old. This post by Ali has also inspired me to reread (along with all her amazing #WoolfAlong […]