The Imagined Lives of Virginia Woolf and Her Sister Vanessa Bell

Title: Vanessa and Her Sister
Author: Priya Parmar
Host: Liz

Just to keep the whole "Virginia Woolf thing" going, we chose this book as a follow-up to last month's reading of Woolf's The Waves. Having read, but perhaps not entirely mastered, that difficult book, we were in the mood for this fictionalized telling of the unusual relationship between Woolf and her sister, artist Vanessa Bell. In this glittering novel, author Priya Parmar imagines that Bell kept a diary, into which she committed her most intimate thoughts, including the abject betrayal resulting from Virginia's real-life "affair" with Bell's husband, Clive Bell.

Accustomed to the undivided attention of her sister Vanessa, Virginia is driven wild with jealousy after Vanessa gives birth to a child. To win back Vanessa's full attention, Virginia begins a flirtation with Vanessa's husband, which he takes seriously but which she never acts upon, but the damage between the sisters is done and irreparable.

Insights and Opinions

+ Steve found Parmar's book "breathtakingly beautiful," both for the prose and her insights into human nature. Lois agreed, observing that Parmar gives Vanessa Bell the "voice of a painter," a stunning achievement without actual access to real diaries from which to quote.

+ The work does include many letters from the real-life players in this story, taken from the historical record. Parmar skillfully uses those letters as the platform from which to leap into what might have happened.

+ Because this is a book about artists, and the self-absorption that can come with that package, the conversation turned to a rhetorical question: of the many members of the Bloomsbury Group and the many characters in this book, which two characters would you characterize as the most decent (since decency seemed in short supply)? Most everyone agreed they would be painter and critic Roger Fry and Lytton Strachey, the writer who is said to be the inspiration for Neville in Woolf's The Waves. (Strachey is also known for saying, at the moment of death, "If this is death, then I don't think much of it.") Fry was chosen by us for the decency award because he stands by his mentally ill wife, and Strachey because he is funny, but cares about everyone.

+ Liz thought the story paints Bell in a very positive light and Woolf in a very negative light. Per Liz: "No matter how thin you pour the pancake, there are still two sides." Margy noted that, throughout the story, Vanessa tells the reader frequently how Virginia can make people love her. Yet we never see this on the page. Ultimately, we end up disliking Virginia and feeling sorry for Vanessa.

+ Early in life, Vanessa is put in the position of caretaker to Virginia because she is special. This focus on her specialness makes her more ill.

+ Shirley suggested that perhaps this book would be a fun companion read for students who are studying Woolf.

+ We all agreed this is a fine work, bringing together fascinating characters, an important era in literary history, and elegant prose it is a pleasure to read.

In Lieu of the Actual Food

Not what we ate at book club

Since no pictures were taken of the actual book club food (and of course, we need that for the public record), we are using this picture of beignets and chicory coffee, taken at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, at a time just before our book club session. Photo credit goes to yours truly, who discovered that you can't talk while eating beignets because you can die from inhaling powdered sugar.