Author: Virginia Woolf
Host: Linda
The Set-up
Forgive me for plagiarizing from Wikipedia, but this seemed a good summary, so I purloined it:First published in 1931, The Waves is Virginia Woolf's most experimental novel. It consists of soliloquies spoken by the books' six characters: Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jimmy, and Louis. Also important is Percival, the seventh character, though readers never hear him speak in his own voice. The soliloquies that span the characters' lives are broken up by nine brief third-person interludes detailing a coastal scene at varying stages in a day from sunrise to sunset.
As the six characters speak, Woolf explores concepts of individuality, self and community. Each character is distinct, yet together they compose…a gestalt about a silent central consciousness.
Insights and Opinions
+ This is no easy book to read. Linda, a Virginia Woolf scholar, admitted to having tried twice before. Book club was the goad to finish it on this ultimate read. Joanne started it, couldn't keep the characters straight, decided that it didn't matter if she finished it, and just as she was about to bail out, said "all of a sudden it grabbed me, and I absolutely loved it. It's one long poem." Liz read it slowly at first for meaning, but felt judged by her Kindle app with it's little "learning speed" note in the lower corner, than tried to read it in a rush in case that would make a difference, then settled back into "learning speed," which was the right speed. You must read this book in a new way, and finally, you will catch on and ride with it. |
| Linda's impressive V. Woolf collection |
+ The book's structure is intricate, with the only indication that the reader is moving into a different character being the addition of "…Bernard said" at the close of a sentence. As the title suggests, it is a series of continuous waves, and the reader best not fight against it but must just be carried along.
+ Shirley wasn't convinced, finishing it, but never being caught up in it. "I kept thinking there must be more to this than I'm getting, so I went to read Phyllis Rose, and found my own attitude….'takes one's breath away…but the overall effect is tedious…." Works like this one, and like those by Joyce and Faulkner, require a lot of effort -- an effort she's not willing to take anymore.
+ What kept Faith reading was Woolf's tenderness toward her characters, whatever their frailties.
+ Woolf is so sensitive to input and sensation, her descriptions are so poetic and odd, her metaphors and similes so strange, that Liz wondered how Woolf could get through her day. Both Liz and Faith agreed that the effort to write those sentences, each one so fully packed, would be exhausting. Intoxication and rapture seem to be how she writes, almost as if she wrote this in a fugue state.
+ While the characters merge and separate and merge again, they eventually emerge as distinct characters. Some felt they were distinct beings. Others felt they were all aspects of a single consciousness.
+ Percival stands out as the one character who never speaks for himself. Does he even exist outside of the perceptions of others?
+ Both Leonard Woolf and E. M. Forster considered this to be Virginia Woolf's masterpiece. We all agreed that, in writing this, she was well ahead of her time.
Oddments from our non-book-related conversation
More than other months, our pre- and post-book discussion was quite random, including expected and unexpected topics, including:
+ Grandchildren and how swell they are
+ Whether we should all get hearing aids prophylactically
+ Tattoos as a good strategy for covering up wrinkles
+ If stress tests to measure your heart health can actually kill you
+ Whether growing weed in the basement can make your house blow up
Next up
For our April book, we will read Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar. Just to keep the whole Virginia Woolf thing going for awhile. Liz will host.
