Conquering the Classics: Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
on 1925
Genres/Lists: Classics, Fiction, 1001 Books
Pages: 194
Read synopsis on Goodreads
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links)

Reading Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf reminded me of why many of these books I have pledged to read are considered challenges. I was really looking forward to reading this book because I was under the impression that other people liked it. As I found out later, this is not necessarily the case and I can understand why. It’s not that Mrs. Dalloway is a bad book and, in fact, it gets better as it goes along and even has some profound quotes, such as, “Nothing exists outside us except a state of mind.”

The book is incredibly detailed and vivid in its descriptions, and Woolf does a great job of really getting inside of the heads of various characters. The problem is the stream of consciousness writing made it difficult to recognize transitions from one person to the next. No matter what page I was on, I felt like I was having aha moments about two pages before. I was always reading a few pages of my comprehension. The result is that I can look back on the book with some fondness, but I remember the difficulties I encountered. My favorite parts were those pertaining to Septimus and Rezia (even more so than Mrs. Dalloway herself). Theirs was a palpable and tragic story that I could have read an entire book about.

To be fair to the book, I skipped the Introduction. It was more or less a play-by-play of the entire book and I thought that reading it would ruin the story for me. Instead, I read it after I finished the book and it put things into better context for me. If I were to do it over again, though, I still don’t think I would have read the Introduction first. I don’t like knowing everything that’s going to happen in a book, even if it makes it “easier” to get through. The book has a great quote that says, “It is a thousand pities never to say what one feels,” and so, I will be honest….. I could have just read the Introduction and skipped reading the book altogether and come away with the same amount of comprehension. But that’s neither here nor there and I am left feeling ambiguous about the book. I enjoyed it after the fact, but not as much while reading it.

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Sarah Reads Too Much
I’m so with you. In fact, when I started this last summer, I sent out a plea for help because my head was becoming so befuddled with the stream of consciousness thoughts and changing of narrators and such. I made my way through it, my head hurt, and even though I didn’t like the experience – I’m glad I stuck it through as it was certainly memorable. I plan on one for for the Club , but good chance that will be all. Forever.
- The Book Wheel
  I am so happy to hear that I am not alone! Thank you for sharing because I feel MUCH better now 🙂
Leah
It seems most people either love Virginia Woolf or have a really hard time with her writing. I read To the Lighthouse for my high school AP English class and really struggled with it. I’m trying to gear myself up to read her again, hoping that my reading taste has evolved enough over the last five years that I’ll be able to comprehend her writing.
- The Book Wheel
  I look back on it with more fondness than I felt while reading it, so maybe that’s something to look forward to?
Jennifer
I have had a hard time with Ms. Woolf. I think I’m just not a fan of the whole stream of consciousness thing? Then again, it’s been YEARS since I’ve tried anything of hers and perhaps I should give her another try.
- The Book Wheel
  I’m definitely not a fan of that style of writing. If I had known that it was written that way before I had read it, I may have found another book for the club!
Rebecca @ Love at First Book
I’m the same as you. I would not have read the introduction to the book first. In fact, I just finished Fight Club, and there was an intro there summarizing the book that I skipped, too, and I’ve seen the movie! I don’t like spoilers!
I also was not a fan of this book. I did have to read it for a Women in Lit class in college but I still didn’t enjoy it. Good job for finishing!
- The Book Wheel
  I still need to read Fight Club (but I will make sure to skip the introduction). I don’t think I’ll be recommending this book to anyone.
Isi
Well, I think it sometimes classics are a little bit difficult, or it’s just that we need other sort of reading in a certain moment.
I haven’t read this book, but I have others by Virginia Woolf in my list.
About some introductions and some summaries (of the back covers) that tell too much, I can’t understand how they are allowed to write everything about the plot BEFORE the story, and not after!! I read an introduction like yours in my copy of Madame Bovary, and I stopped reading it, of course!!
- The Book Wheel
  I know! It helped me to make sense of the book after I finished it, but I don’t want it to be ruined! It’s like watching too many previews and then the movie is not a surprise.

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