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Julie G's Reviews > Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway
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Julie G's review
bookshelves: war-is-hell, the-british-invasion, favorite-books, love-and-marriage, you-ll-need-an-antidepressant, you-ll-need-a-hankie, what-a-character, mommie-dearest, i-ll-never-be-the-same, 20-from-the-1920s
Jan 11, 2024
bookshelves: war-is-hell, the-british-invasion, favorite-books, love-and-marriage, you-ll-need-an-antidepressant, you-ll-need-a-hankie, what-a-character, mommie-dearest, i-ll-never-be-the-same, 20-from-the-1920s
Please, consider me down on my knees in small shards of glass, hair shirt on my bare back, pounding my exposed chest, over and over again, with this small novel. May this be the proper supplication offered, like a prayer, in the direction of the dead Virginia Woolf and the living Michael Cunningham.
For the love of all that is Holy! Why did I make the same mistake, over and over again, wasting my time trying to read Virginia Woolf's TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, instead of discovering this novel of hers instead? Why on earth didn't I read this before now? How could I have ignored an author like Virginia Woolf who was badass enough to put rocks in her pockets, head out into the water, and call it a day? How could I have ignored the enthusiasm of an author as hot and talented as Michael Cunningham? The brilliant Meryl Streep as the modern day Clarissa Dalloway?!!
I am penitent! I am penitent! Forgive me! Forgive me! How could I have been such a fool??
Of course this book. . . about unhappiness, about the act of being unhappy would go on to inspire Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Hours, an Oscar winning movie and a soul-crushing soundtrack by Philip Glass (I'm listening to it, right now, as I write this).
From the famous first line of the book (Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself), you know you are in it. You are in it; you're in the water with Ms. Woolf, stuffing your own pockets with heavy stones (Human nature is remorseless), then you're in London with Clarissa Dalloway and the jet set crew that surrounds her, post WWI (the streets whose growl came up to her lying on the sofa), and then you're in the middle of your own quest for existence, somewhere between sanity and madness (She was about to split asunder, she felt. The agony was so terrific).
This exquisite, terrifying novel was published almost exactly 100 years ago, as the citizens of England blinked back up at the sun, looking around at their broken, post-war world, and yet here we are again, 100 years later, remembering how awful, how wonderful, it has always been to be human. How devastatingly lonely, cruel and unfair life can be, and yet no one in the whole world would know how she had loved it all; how, every instant. . .
(I can not express enough gratitude to my dear friend, Musa, who gifted me a copy of MRS. DALLOWAY for Christmas, in the hopes that I would review it. Thank you for seeing the Clarissa in me).
For the love of all that is Holy! Why did I make the same mistake, over and over again, wasting my time trying to read Virginia Woolf's TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, instead of discovering this novel of hers instead? Why on earth didn't I read this before now? How could I have ignored an author like Virginia Woolf who was badass enough to put rocks in her pockets, head out into the water, and call it a day? How could I have ignored the enthusiasm of an author as hot and talented as Michael Cunningham? The brilliant Meryl Streep as the modern day Clarissa Dalloway?!!
I am penitent! I am penitent! Forgive me! Forgive me! How could I have been such a fool??
Of course this book. . . about unhappiness, about the act of being unhappy would go on to inspire Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Hours, an Oscar winning movie and a soul-crushing soundtrack by Philip Glass (I'm listening to it, right now, as I write this).
From the famous first line of the book (Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself), you know you are in it. You are in it; you're in the water with Ms. Woolf, stuffing your own pockets with heavy stones (Human nature is remorseless), then you're in London with Clarissa Dalloway and the jet set crew that surrounds her, post WWI (the streets whose growl came up to her lying on the sofa), and then you're in the middle of your own quest for existence, somewhere between sanity and madness (She was about to split asunder, she felt. The agony was so terrific).
This exquisite, terrifying novel was published almost exactly 100 years ago, as the citizens of England blinked back up at the sun, looking around at their broken, post-war world, and yet here we are again, 100 years later, remembering how awful, how wonderful, it has always been to be human. How devastatingly lonely, cruel and unfair life can be, and yet no one in the whole world would know how she had loved it all; how, every instant. . .
(I can not express enough gratitude to my dear friend, Musa, who gifted me a copy of MRS. DALLOWAY for Christmas, in the hopes that I would review it. Thank you for seeing the Clarissa in me).
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Reading Progress
December 30, 2023
–
Started Reading
December 30, 2023
– Shelved
December 30, 2023
–
3.72%
"She always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day."
page
11
December 30, 2023
–
5.74%
"It rasped her, though, to have stirring about in her this brutal monster!"
page
17
December 30, 2023
–
13.18%
". . . it seemed to her better to be a little stout, a little slack, a little moderate in one's expectations."
page
39
January 4, 2024
–
18.24%
"She was not old yet. She had just broken into her fifty-second year. Months and months of it were still untouched."
page
54
January 4, 2024
–
18.92%
"Strange, she thought, pausing on the landing, and assembling that diamond shape, that single person, strange how a mistress knows the very moment, the very temper of her house!"
page
56
January 4, 2024
–
20.61%
". . . there's nothing in the world so bad for some women as marriage, he thought; and politics; and having a Conservative husband."
page
61
January 7, 2024
–
37.16%
"He was a perfect specimen of the public school type, she said. No country but England could have produced him."
page
110
January 10, 2024
–
47.3%
"The whole world was clamouring: Kill yourself, kill yourself, for our sakes. But why should he kill himself for their sakes? Food was pleasant; the sun hot; and this killing oneself, how does one set about it, with a table knife. . . floods of blood. . . by sucking a gaspipe. . . Besides, now that he was quite alone, condemned, deserted, as those who are about to die are alone, there was a luxury in it. . ."
page
140
January 10, 2024
–
52.03%
"Shredding and slicing, diving and subdividing, the clocks of Harley Street nibbled at the June day. . ."
page
154
January 10, 2024
–
54.73%
""Yes; Peter Walsh has come back," said Lady Bruton. It was vaguely flattering to them all. He had come back, battered, unsuccessful, to their secure shores. But to help him, they reflected, was impossible; there was some flaw in his character."
page
162
January 10, 2024
–
62.16%
"But who was Peter to make out that life was all plain sailing? Peter always in love, always in love with the wrong woman? What's your love? she might say to him."
page
184
January 11, 2024
–
66.55%
"When people are happy, they have a reserve, she had told Elizabeth, upon which to draw, whereas she was like a wheel without a tire, jolted by every pebble. . ."
page
197
January 11, 2024
–
67.23%
"She was about to split asunder, she felt. The agony was so terrific."
page
199
January 11, 2024
–
67.91%
"Right away to the end of the field the dumb creature galloped in terror."
page
201
January 11, 2024
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 85 (85 new)
What an exquisitely written review, dear friend. I remember being floored by this.
Fabulous review! Thank you for the shout-out!
Love, love love your enthusiasm for this wonderful book, Julie! I thought it was a reread for you when I saw your update in my feed, because I believe it's your review of The Hours that led me to that wonderful book. I have this on my list of books I want to read this year. I adore it. I did love To the LIghthouse also but this is my favorite of hers so far.
Great review Julie!
Bonnie,Thank you, my sweet friend. I would love it if I could find the way to have pebbles versus rocks in my pockets these days, and I thank you for that wish on my behalf, but I'm not entirely certain that I'd want less of Clarissa Dalloway in my system.
What a brilliant character. . . she's iconic, of course. And how about Richard Dalloway, Miss Kilman (!!), Lady Bruton, and of course, the tortured Septimus.
Heart breaking, gut wrenching, tortured, sublime writing!!
Great, passionate review, Jules! And kudos to Musa for the bang on gift! I'm reading this as I'm about to leave for work at 5.30am so looks like I'll have bit of Philip Glass on the playlist today, thanks for the inspo! :)
Maam - what a review... I have read To the Lighthouse and was wondering why I did so ( then felt maybe I did not know enough to appreciate it). This is a shot in the arm to give Virginia Woolf another attempt.
Well, now I need to re-read it! �
You are such an adorable drama queen...love it !
I love your review—and I absolutely adore this book. It’s some of the best prose I’ve ever encountered.
Spectacular review! A favorite of mine as well.
I think I read a different book than you, Julie, and you make me want to revisit Virginia Woolf, at least this one. I don't even remember it and it seems to have had such a profound effect on you! Definitely will re-read it....
Karen,I can only tell you that I tried and I tried and I tried to read Virginia Woolf, and it was NOT successful. . . until now. And now she has broken me, I think!
xoxo
Kimber,Thank you!! As usual, I regret that it took me this long to get here. . . but I can only assume that the perfect time to read this novel was NOW.
(This read struck me right in my brow chakra, and you know me, Kimber. . . I don't make a claim like that lightly!).
xoxo
Musa,My beautiful, man-cub bestie!! Remember when I barked at you for giving me a book about a woman my age who was struggling with invisibility?? You ignored my complaints and encouraged me to carry on. Well played, sir!
Sue,It is encouraging to know that you enjoyed TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. I'm curious; now that I have "decoded" this one and love it, would THE LIGHTHOUSE finally make sense to me??
Any chance you watch "Doc Martin?" There's a scene in Season 9 when Mrs. Tishell complains, right in the middle of a medical emergency, about how her book club selected TO THE LIGHTHOUSE and how bored she was, by it. It's pretty damned funny.
A reader's lament. Haven't we all been there? Enjoyed your review, Julie.
Your reviews are so expressive! Love it :)
Thanks, John Anthony. It's a sincere pleasure to be able to discuss this book on here, especially with others who already know it and love it.
Aww, Jonathan. Thank you! Guess what I found today on Youtube? Almost an hour's worth of Philip Glass playing his soundtrack of The Hours by himself, solo, on piano. I was listening to it while I was exercising, and at various parts I had to stop what I was doing, just to watch his fingers! Wowza, wow, wow. What a genius!
Julie - so glad it worked for you! I'm so bummed I couldn't get hooked. I really wanted to! I didn't even realize she was sad in it! It was just too complicated for me. I didn't know where she was, who she was talking to, or what was happening.
Julie wrote: "Karen,I can only tell you that I tried and I tried and I tried to read Virginia Woolf, and it was NOT successful. . . until now. And now she has broken me, I think!
xoxo"
Julie wrote: "Karen,
I can only tell you that I tried and I tried and I tried to read Virginia Woolf, and it was NOT successful. . . until now. And now she has broken me, I think!
xoxo"
I will definitely read it soon., I don’t know a whole lot about her life.. except how she died� do you know how many years before she died that she wrote this?
Do you think that I should read THE HOURS first?
Julie wrote: "Musa,My beautiful, man-cub bestie!! Remember when I barked at you for giving me a book about a woman my age who was struggling with invisibility?? You ignored my complaints and encouraged me to ca..."
Julie, yes! I remember. I'm glad you didn't give up on it!
Another brilliant review, my friend. I remember reading this in the 70s. It was tough going but it took me to this strange, cool place; I felt like I had taken acid! I think now I’ve killed off too many brain cells to appreciate it. But your ode to this book and author really touches me. We get to see you in your reviews—raw, honest, passionate. Don’t get any ideas about rocks in your pockets young lady!!! I must check out The Hours, both book and movie, and the soundtrack�
Wonderful review (I love Glass’s soundtracks too)� my memory of reading this book in my younger years is fuzzy hence the three stars� but I have no doubt the old me may appreciate this more than the college me did. You’ve convinced me to (someday) re-read this!! 😎
Julie, your unique tribute to my favourite Woolf novel had me laughing and applauding and cheering you all at the same time, so glad Ginny won you over �.
Awesome review, Julie! I haven't read anything by this writer yet. I have a copy of this but I keep setting it aside.
Shankar,Thank you! I'm excited that I "summoned" another reader with talk of Virginia Woolf and another pianist with talk of Philip Glass! But it looks like you've read this one and loved it? Is that accurate, or yet another GRs error (like how GRs decides who I'm friends with and who I'm not?).
Gabrielle,I have learned something really interesting (to me) in the past week. . . some authors speak a foreign language that we may (or may not) be able to read or speak. I can not tell you how many times I have attempted Virginia Woolf's work before now. . . with ZERO success. It was like I was looking at Sanskrit, with no ability to comprehend it. And then: Voilà! I feel like Indian Jones now, before the doorway, laughing because I finally understand how to get in to the temple!!
Jaidee!But really. . . I'm not. Because. . . like 30% of the time, I'm quietly rolling my eyes at some book here at home, and plunking it down into the giveaway box. I never even review most of the duds, because I don't wish to be rude to the authors who have worked harder than I have to get a book published.
I WISH I felt this way about more books, but then I guess I'd probably knock myself unconscious now, wouldn't I?
Julie wrote: "Gabrielle,I have learned something really interesting (to me) in the past week. . . some authors speak a foreign language that we may (or may not) be able to read or speak. I can not tell you how ..."
I know what you mean: I re-read "Orlando" a couple of years ago, and it felt like it clicked in my head in a way it really hadn't the first time I read it. I think I cracked it!
Well, you convinced me, Julie. I never could get through the Lighthouse book, so I never went near this one. I hope I feel the same way you do when eventually I read it. Thanks.
Just like you, I thought The Hours was fabulous without ever having read Mrs. Dalloway. Grateful for your impressions on this one. You may have just inspired me, there. :)
Julie wrote: "Sue,It is encouraging to know that you enjoyed TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. I'm curious; now that I have "decoded" this one and love it, would THE LIGHTHOUSE finally make sense to me??
Any chance you watch..."
Julie, I listened to audio of To the Lighthouse with Juliet Stevenson as the narrator. I have no doubt that she enhanced the experience. I also used Kindle for when I thought I missed something. If you give it another try, try it on audio with J. Stevenson. It was more confusing than Mrs. Dalloway with more points of view, but I still loved it. Of course, as always nothing is for everyone.
I love your enthusiasm for this one, Julie! I read this one around the time of The Hours. I loved The Hours more as so much easier to fall into. But I was impressed by Mrs. Dalloway as well- I’d love to have a professor guide me through the works of Virginia Woolf!
Julie, I love how passionate you are in your response to books. I've only read Woolf's short story "The Legacy." It's good to know there's so much brilliance ahead of me.
What a great review! I started reading Woolf last summer, including a fantastic biography about her. I completely agree with you -- she was a total badass!! I was trying to decide which one of her books to tackle next, and I was leaning toward Lighthouse, but you may have changed my mind with this review!
great, I'll have to check it out, thanks! :)I picture Glass solo piano a good companion for possibly pilates or yoga but maybe not so much for anything high intensity! 😁 I tried listening to some chill Richter on my Assault bike one day and chill just wasn't what I required. I rarely go to Classical music, for workouts infact, but if anyone has the energy required, I would say Beethoven does! Try not to get pumped listening to Eroica! 😆
Sue,I suspect your brain must be working more efficiently than mine is right now if you listened to LIGHTHOUSE as an audio book. Consider me very impressed!! I can't even imagine keeping up with those incredibly subtle shifts in perspective.
Jonathan,Your comment made me laugh. It was a vigorous hike, so appropriate enough. . . HOWEVER, the problem is that Glass's music puts me in a bit of a funk sometimes. Like, demotivating rather than moving faster!! I must carefully pace myself with his pieces, or I wind up on the floor in the fetal position, sucking my thumb. (It was, however, rather awe inspiring to watch his fingers).
That great poet John Prine had a line about rocks in my pockets and dirt in my shoes. His melody is on loop for me. Such an exceedingly raw review, I can only say thanks for unleashing it for us.
Derek,Thank you! (And I apologize in advance for having just sent you a rather long PM about the ending!! I can only say *sorry* but you just recently finished it and some things needed to be discussed! I really miss my old book club when these moments occur).
Julie, the Clarissa in you comes to all the right conclusions about life, this book and how ‘awful� and ‘wonderful� the whole deal is. Fabulous review!
Thank you, S. Your review of this novel shows an incredible amount of thoughtfulness and respect. I think this classic deserves either the highest accolades or ridiculous amounts of enthusiasm, as I have attempted here!
Jenna,Until this December, I wasn't able to get anywhere with Virginia Woolf's work. And, to clarify: thus far, I have only successfully *decoded* this one, not any others! The jury's still out on that.
For what it's worth. . . I think that a reader is either able to translate her or not, and I *suspect* that just about any rating under 4 stars for this classic means "I didn't get it." I don't mean that judgmentally; I was that person until a month ago.
In short: try again, if the spirit moves you. I think it is an outstanding, and almost unparalleled work of fiction.
Exquisite review of an exquisite book, Julie. Perhaps the key to Virginia is timing. I adored To the Lighthouse in college, but when I tried again recently, it was beyond me. I had the opposite reaction with this one, and loved it this last time. Maybe her writing is just so personal? Anyway, please stay with her! I would selfishly love to see you review her other books!
Hi Barbara,Thank you! Will you share with me a novel that you wished you'd read earlier? (Another one for me is The Grapes of Wrath).
I hope the new year takes the rocks out of your pockets and makes smaller the Clarissa in you.