To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf is one of those authors that I have a heard a lot about in the classics community, but have never read myself. This is mainly because she's a famous modernist writer, and I generally find those kinds of novels to be intimidating and unpleasant to read. One only has to go back to my experience with Ulysses to see what I mean. I was still curious about her though, so I ended up putting two of her novels on my Classics Club list. Predictably, I've waited until the last year of the challenge to actually read them. I decided to start with the shorter one of the two first, To the Lighthouse.

The novel follows a period of time in the life of the Ramsey family and some of their friends. In the novel's first section, The Window, the story follows the thoughts of the characters over the course of a single day while the group is vacationing in a home in the Hebrides. Part of the the action centers around Mrs. Ramsey promising her young son John that they will take a trip to the nearby lighthouse the next day. Mr. Ramsey puts a damper on their plans, however, saying that the weather will be too poor to make the journey. John is inwardly furious with his father, and Mrs. Ramsey is annoyed that he was so negative about the idea. From there, the novel floats from character to character, showing their thoughts in stream of consciousness style as they muse over lots of topics including love, marriage, careers, and family. 

The second section of the novel, Time Passes, covers several years and gives some updates about some big events that have happened in the lives of the characters since the day covered in section one. This section is very short and functions to give us the background we need to continue on with the story.

The third and final section of the novel, The Lighthouse, once again covers a single day in the same style as before. The story floats around from character to character giving us a look at their inner thoughts as they join together once more at their holiday home in the Hebrides. This time, the trip to the lighthouse that was stymied years ago occurs and James, now a young adult, thinks about how his negative feelings towards his father both have and haven't changed.  

This is a difficult book for me to review. I didn't hate it, but stream of consciousness writing is just not my thing. I don't enjoy reading the strange, wandering thoughts of people. I much prefer a traditional story with a real plot. Nothing really happens in To the Lighthouse, and of course that was intentional. I'm just not sure what I was supposed to take away from it aside from a meditation on the random and hypocritical nature of one's inner voice. 

That being said, this novel was more understandable than other books using this style that I have tried. There were some lines in it that I really liked, and I especially liked seeing the perspective of the female characters as they mused on marriage, motherhood, and careers. I can understand why this book is important in the literary cannon and why Virginia Woolf is a highly praised author. It's just not my cup of tea. 

Thankfully, this novel was short enough that I was able to make my way through it in a few days without getting too annoyed by it. Part of my reason for doing the Classics Club Challenge is to experience different kinds of literature, so at least I'm accomplishing that here. I also was able to use this for my Back to the Classics Challenge to read a 20th Century Classic, so that's another book checked off the list there too. I'm not exactly looking forward to the other Virginia Woolf novel I have to read before the year's end, Orlando, but who knows? Maybe I'll end up liking that one better.

Challenge Tally

Back to the Classics 2021 (A 20th Century Classic): 6/12

Classics Club (#76 on my list): 88/100 books completed

Total Books Read in 2021: 17