Jesse’s Reviews > The Voyage Out > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 300 of 381
taking long book breaks sucks, lol. This section finishes up the river expedition, during which Rachel and Terence declare their love for each other, and then explores how they can be in love in distinctly separate ways while still consoling each other, in spite of not being “in sync”, because what two human beings could possibly be in such a harmony given Woolf’s outlook on us as utter individuals?
— Jul 17, 2026 09:56AM
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Jesse’s Previous Updates
Jesse
is on page 363 of 381
The end of this novel isn’t exactly what I expected based on the intro. We are given the POVs of the hotel folk who are pretty far from grieving, the closest we get to catharsis being Hirst’s return from the villa, and even he is looking to merely disengage with the emotional drain of the past fortnight. We are spared the intensity of Helen’s and Terence’s grief.
— Jul 27, 2026 05:26PM
Jesse
is on page 350 of 381
This section encompasses the entirety of Rachel’s illness. It is not lost on me that Woolf authored a novel where she imagines the death of her semi-autobiographical female protagonist and then examines how all of the characters react to her death. Somewhere in here is an acknowledgment that existence did not begin nor end with Rachel, which is echoed in Terence’s heartbreak once the shock of her passing ends.
— Jul 27, 2026 01:11PM
Jesse
is on page 250 of 381
difficulties in establishing relationships. Hewet is so absorbed in Rachel to the point of depression; he is clearly in love for the first time. Rachel is meanwhile very interested in all people, not just Hewet, and this section has her calling and meditating on a variety of people, including some lesbian undertones with Mrs. Flushing, and a so far stilted conversation with Miss Allan.
— Jun 29, 2026 06:44AM
Jesse
is on page 200 of 381
this section covers the other part of the dance and its aftermath, with Hewet and Rachel obviously in the process of falling in love, and featuring a lovely romantic passage where Hewet returns the favor of the women spying on him, going to the Ambrose villa, and hearing and seeing Helen and Rachel talk, and while he is fond of Helen it is Rachel who he is focused on.
— Jun 23, 2026 09:39AM
Jesse
is on page 150 of 381
this span covers the two main young men of the piece, Hewet and Hirst, arranging first an expedition to the top of a local mountain for a picnic and then a dance to celebrate the engagement of two of the visiting English. I’m stoked to see how the self-styled intellectual young men perceive Helen and Rachel but Woolf is playing it naturally as they interact more with the hotel patrons they are familiar with.
— Jun 22, 2026 08:27AM
Jesse
is on page 100 of 381
what’s beautiful here: Rachel, never having conversated with men before, is enthralled by Mr. Dalloway, and at one point he impulsively kisses her. Woolf’s description of Rachel’s feelings—so intense that they’re painful, trying to steady her nerves, thoroughly having enjoyed the kiss but still terrified at the universe of gender relations that has opened before her, and her aunt Helen shepherding her.
— Jun 11, 2026 02:04PM
Jesse
is on page 50 of 381
Woolf delivers one of the main points of the novel early on in a beautiful passage that describes the ship as a character, alone but free, as a metaphor for Rachel’s imminent metamorphosis. I am enjoying how each of the characters on the boat seems fully-envisioned, including the Dalloways, who have just stepped aboard. I am aware that the Missus will be followed up on in her own novel of mental dissolution.
— Jun 01, 2026 01:37PM
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Jul 17, 2026 10:02AM
this includes Rachel dealing with the formalities of her engagement announcement, a questioned lesbian aside with Helen, and intrigue regarding prostitution at the hotel, recalling a story someone told in an earlier episode. The crux of what Woolf has to say about prostitution appears to be that, idk, it would be preferable if our world were not set up so that women have to resort to prostitution in order to feed their families, but if they must, then they shouldn’t be stigmatized for it. As Helen points out in her POV of moral superiority, the dude high society drip who got the prostitute kicked out
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…has to be AT LEAST twice as immoral as the prostitute
I love the earnestness in how Woolf describes how Rachel and Terence are making and missing interpersonal connections but being honest with each other and themselves, like, it’s not a love built on fiction, they recognize its imperfection, but they are okay with that