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To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf

Start date: March 15, 2016

Finish date: April 14, 2016

Why we're reading this: A 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsays and their visits to the Isle of Skye in …more
[close] A 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsays and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.

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Apr 23, 2009 Dan | The Ancient Reader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, philosophical-literature

Some of the sentences Woolf puts together make Cervantes and Pynchon look like Dr. Seuss. Parenthetical phrases and bits of stream of consciousness nested three or four deep make for a few incomprehensible sentences. Although her stream of consciousness has a tendency to ramble, it relates to the story much better than those of other practitioners of the form. Reading Woolf requires a greater degree of focus than do other authors, but the rewards are worth the effort. Her lyrical style leads to Some of the sentences Woolf puts together make Cervantes and Pynchon look like Dr. Seuss. Parenthetical phrases and bits of stream of consciousness nested three or four deep make for a few incomprehensible sentences. Although her stream of consciousness has a tendency to ramble, it relates to the story much better than those of other practitioners of the form. Reading Woolf requires a greater degree of focus than do other authors, but the rewards are worth the effort. Her lyrical style leads to a certain understanding of those convoluted sentences and frames some amazing insights into human nature.

The first thing to note about To the Lighthouse is that it's more a character study than a story. The story is about two days – separated by ten years – in the life of the Ramsay family. The ten years account for about 10% of the story, and the two days that make up the other 90% are somewhat boring from a plot perspective. The two days on either end of the story take place at the summer home of the Ramsays on the Isle of Skye. The house overlooks a beach and an offshore lighthouse.

From the perspective of human nature, individual personality, relationships, and social interaction, this is an exceptional book. Given their seemingly incompatible personalities, the symbiotic relationship Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay share is both beautiful and frustratingly painful...the “how-did-they-end-up-together” syndrome. Mr. Ramsay's personality desperately needs attention and affirmation. Despite her personal strength, Mrs. Ramsay's personality needs to provide that to others. The most interesting thing about the relationship is the way she selectively withholds attention to keep him from being a whiny little child all the time. Also interesting is the similarity of Mr. Ramsay's behavior to that of six-year-old James. The depiction of the ways a strong personality, such as Mrs. Ramsay's, can impact others is striking.

A recurring theme of the book is Mrs. Ramsay's beauty. She retains the beauty of a 50-year-old woman who has always been physically beautiful, but the true beauty seen by others, is the outward manifestation of her strong, yet gracious, character. She instinctively relates to others in the way they most need at each moment.

The "dinner" chapter is gratifying for the fun it pokes at the inane conversation to which we subject ourselves in the name of being sociable. The ways family and guests deal with that is quite amusing.

In the second section of the book, the Ramsays suffer the loss of family members through war and natural causes. The metaphor of the decline and restoration of the empty house for the effect of the loss of Mrs. Ramsay on the others is brilliant. It’s a perfect bridge for the two decade-separated days that anchor the story.

The final section, centers on a trip to the offshore lighthouse; a trip originally planned on the Ramsays’ last stay at the house ten years earlier, but aborted due to Mr. Ramsay’s concerns over the weather. The children, now teens, are reluctant to make the trip, but accede to their father’s urging. In the course of the day, father and children discover in each other the family connection they need to finally begin recovering from their loss. While the Ramsays journey to the lighthouse, Lily Briscoe completes a painting she began during the last stay at the house. The way she does so, reveals the importance to each of us of finding our own "self" – whether through the influence of others in our lives, or in spite of it.

To the Lighthouse is must reading for anyone who has ever wondered about the collective sanity of that group of people they call their family. ...more

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Jul 26, 2013 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: relationships, scotland, audible-us, great-britain, 2014-read, classics, herbrides

I have finished this one and am completely stumped by the ending, and by that I mean Part Three. I adored Part One. The empty house of Part Two was very atmospheric.

What is going on? All I know is that Mrs. Ramsay seems to be the force that held this family together and without her there is nothing. I loved Virginia Woolf's writing. I loved the stream of consciousness when I was in Mrs. Ramsay's head, but with her gone the book fizzles totally, at least for me. What I thought was going to be a ...more

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Apr 23, 2017 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, classics

Earlier this year I read A Room of One's Own which was so unbelievably good that I was blown away. I was shocked by Ms Woolf's smart and intuitive view of the roles of gender. She took problems that I have seen in American society over the last 50 years, and explored the causes and the solutions. She was opining on the problems for women who lived a century and a half ago -- and yet it felt completely modern. That book could have been written in 2017. I will recommend it to every woman I meet fo ...more

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Feb 25, 2010 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gutenberg, read-2014, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, novellas, british-literature, e-books, fiction-20th-century, mtbr-challenge-2014

Free download available at eBooks@Adelaide.

Opening lines:
“Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow,” said Mrs. Ramsay. “But you’ll have to be up with the lark,” she added.
To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night’s darkness and a day’s sail, within touch. ...more

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Jul 13, 2017 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001

Finally, I read this book at the right time. It is so much more than I expected. I know that I will need to read it again.

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Jan 10, 2011 Douglas Beagley rated it it was amazing

I picked this up when I was fifteen, curious what my brother was reading for honor's English. It had never occurred to me that books could have so much, say so much. And yet, not much ever happens. The book is poetry about the layered awareness of the individuals present, with particular focus on the interplay of what is said and unsaid.

I think I read it all the way through in college, and loved it. But I don’t remember for certain. Should probably re-read. ...more

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