Andrea’s Comments (group member since Aug 22, 2008)

Andrea’s comments from the The Virginia Woolf Reading Group group.

Okay, I've just finished this book, yes it took me that long, but not because I'm that slow, just overworked and a bit slow.

Ended up really enjoying it, but I was frustrated in the beginning. I couldn't get a fix on who I was supposed to care about, and just as soon as something interesting would happen, or I'd start to feel like I knew a character, the focus would change.

The most frustrating moment was after Rachel and Helen were peeping at the hotel people, and were spotted. I finally felt like we were getting somewhere, then I get a chapter describing every person in the room at the hotel, and nothing on the two women.

So, fortunately, I hung in there, and finally the threads all came together.

There are moments of perfect descriptions of mental states which bear writing down as quotes. I read to my husband the scene where Rachel and Terence are frustrated by their inability to keep each other happy, yet unable to live without each other. When Raches says "Let's break it off then," and they come more closely together than ever. So true.

I was confused at places, though. When they first declared their love, and were walking ahead of the others, I couldn't figure out what on earth happened when Rachel suddenly found herself on the ground. It turned out to be just congrats by Helen, I think, but even after I reread it several times, I was confused.

Even when Rachel died, my husband came in the room to ask if I was okay, I said, "yeah, I think Rachel just died, but I'm not sure." Of course, it becomes very clear pretty quickly, but VW is so inside of a characters head (which I love) that just because Terence describes her hand as going cold, you can't be 100% sure that it means she's dead.

Okay, I'm sure there are many themes to be discussed, but I'll wait and see if anyone replies to my post.

I've never seen any yasujiro films, I'll put some in my queue at netflix. Thanks for the tip. Am enjoying the voyage out so far, but slow going as I teach middle schoolers (a 12 hour a day plus weekends affair) and have two little ones of my own. Hope I don't miss he whole discussion.

Philip,

I totally agree with you on the film front, as one of my coworkers once put it, "The difference between you and me is --- you call them films." He was into action stuff. I like a slow paced film, could watch them over and over.

Also, I realize you said you'd like to meet Dostoevsky, not Tolstoy, but have you heard the great song about Tolstoy from the Songs Inspired By Literature series. I think it really describes that feeling you get about an author who touches you in that way. The singer is named Bob Hillman.

As for VW, still trying to fit the book into my busy teacher schedule now that school has started. But the first few pages really drew me in, so no problem with accessability there. I'm a newbie to VW.

The Voyage Out sounds like a great place to start, as I am a Woolf novice.

Where did Women and Writing fit into the reading list? I am about to start a new school year (I teach middle school creative writing and journalism) and my reading time is quite limited after that starts, between my precious middle-schoolers and my own kids, so I need to decide where to jump in.

It's been a year or two since I read Mrs. Dalloway, and I admit to it being a bit muddled (definitely a re-reader). I was confused about his presence in the book, he wasn't altogether related to her, but his story is clearly related.

It certainly speaks to her interest, however intellectual, in suicide as an option out. Who can say how long she struggled (not having read any memoirs or bio's anyhow).

It certainly did seem like, in The Hours, that the suicide happened right away after writing the book, but perhaps that was a way of linking the idea of suicide that she explored in Mrs. Dalloway to her eventual decision to do so.

As a peroson who doesn't know much about her yet, I don't think it was a bad decision.

As to separating characters, I think you certainly can separate characters from their author's, it isn't really a given that the author thinks like their characters do, rather try to put themselves in another state of mind to tell someone elses story.

Wow, I'm in way over my head here. I thought I'd joined because I loved the hours (haven't read the book) and back in college, read A Room of One's Own and thought it was fabulous. I've also seen but not read Orlando.

I did read Mrs. Dalloway after watching the Hours, and was intrigued. It seemed to me to have a plot, I was most interested in her past experiences, and, I will admit, found it hard to keep my attention on the wandering nature of the story.

So, Perhaps I'll pick up the Hours, or I'll read whatever's next on the list, and try to keep up with those of you who are clearly well-versed in Woolf.