Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay bring their eight children to their summer home in the Hebrides (a group of islands west of Scotland). Across the bay from their house stands a large lighthouse. Six-year-old James Ramsay wants desperately to go to the lighthouse, and Mrs. Ramsay tells him that they will go the next day if the weather permits. James reacts gleefully, but Mr. Ramsay tells him coldly that the weather looks to be foul. James resents his father and believes that he enjoys being cruel to James and his siblings.

Looking forward to this group read! Already have my copy, but probably won't be able to start reading within the next couple of weeks.

Eva wrote: "Looking forward to this group read! Already have my copy, but probably won't be able to start reading within the next couple of weeks."

Me too! on both accounts!
I read this one a long long long time ago! So anxious to get started!

I'm excited to read this with everyone.

My plan is to start reading this in a week or so. I read it decades ago and what most struck me then was her beautiful description of the moon.

Just downloaded this on my ereader...looking forward to getting into this one!

I have just started the book and already dislike Mr. Ramsay, who believes in always telling the truth.

I'm in chapter 4, and it took me a little while to get used to her writing style. She writes wonderfully but at times I'm not sure about the different characters that aren't part of the family. There are a lot of them and I don't always know which is which, at least not yet.
I did like her description of Lily's artistic problems as a painter--she knows what she wants to paint but the result is not always what she wanted. That generally happens in most artists-- no matter which method of self-expression. They strive for a goal and don't always attain it-- in their opinions, not in those who enjoy their work.

I am at about the same spot as you, Rosemarie...and I feel the same way, I find myself rereading the same passage over and over...I wound up making a character list for myself :). I'm not always sure who she is referring to. I read the passage about Lily's artistic problems last night and enjoyed that as well.
Who is Lily, anyway? Is she related to the Ramsays? I think I missed something.

She is painting a picture of Mrs. Ramsay, and is I believe she is staying in the pub in the village instead of with the Ramsays.

I am using these posts to help myself keep track of the characters. If I make any mistakes please let me know.
In ch. 4, Charles Bankes has been a friend of Mr. Ramsay since before either was married. He is a widower with no children.
Mr. Ramsay is a father of eight and makes his living as a philosopher!

I have just finished the first six chapters and nothing much has happened yet, mostly descriptions of the characters and the summer house. I am finding it hard to get involved with the book, even though Woolf writes beautifully. I have read this book before many years ago, and more recently Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway. I'm hoping that something will happen soon.

Well, I've just finished chapter 11 and still not much is going on. Although I do love Mrs. Ramsay's description of the time after the children have gone to bed. "For now she need not think about anybody. She could be herself, by herself."

Kathy, I can relate to your last statement. I only had two daughters, but my husband would be away for a week at a time, and what a relief when they were finally in bed. They were 2 and 5 years old at the time. And Mrs. Ramsay is the mother of eight!

After reading 8 chapters I am getting more familiar with the characters. I like the relationship between Mrs. Ramsay and her youngest son James--she helps find pictures to cut out and reads him stories. He loves his mother, but he hates his father. Mr. Ramsay is not a likeable man. He is needy for praise from his wife and others but I don't if he reciprocates. As a professor of philosophy he spends a lot of time thinking and then writing and teaching. Is he in touch with the real world?
Mrs. Ramsay is a more sympathetic character, but I am getting really tired of hearing about her physical beauty. She is so much more than physically beautiful.

Struggling. I find it very challenging to follow the what who how where when of everything. I have been going back often but not sure if I should push through the whole thing and then go back. Any suggestions?

I have finished nine chapters and I am pretty sure it is day in September, many people are staying with the Ramsays or just visiting their house. James, the youngest child wants to go to the lighthouse island the next day,but his father says it's probably not going to happen because of the weather. Lily is a friend and is trying to paint a picture of Mrs. Ramsay and James.
I have read the book before and couldn't remember what happened in it. After 52 pages not much has happened, but there has been a lot of description of what is going on in their minds and some back-story.

I'm at chapter 7 and will not be reading any further. I feel no interest or engagement with any of the characters. I revisited many sentences and found them to be disjointed run on sentences. To me a book that only pompous pretentious book readers love. One reader mentioned the emperor's new clothes when wondering about all the gushing reviews. I completely agree with his reference.

Dena, I agree with you about being unable to engage with the characters. So far, my favourite character is the little boy.

I tried reading Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce and it was the strangest book I've ever tries to read. I read a couple of pages a day and have absolutely no idea what I was reading so I quit.
There are so many books to read and so little time. I hope that you will enjoy the next book you read, Dena.
The other group read is Alice in Wonderland. It is a much easier read.

Here is a quote concerning Mrs. Ramsay, who is married to professor/philosopher:

she did in her own heart infinitely prefer boobies to clever men who wrote dissertations.

I am over halfway and am still slogging along. I wish the book had more dialogue and less description of what the characters are thinking about. At the beginning of the book I liked Mrs. Ramsay but I am liking her less and less as the book goes on.

I just got my copy from the library (I know starting late!) but I'll race to get it done by the end of the challenge!

Part 2, End of chapter 3: Seriously?
If you have read this far you will know what I mean.
I am going to finish this book, but so far it has been a big disappointment considering how famous it is. Beautiful language does not make up for a lack of plot and relatable characters.
I am really interested in learning other readers' comments on this book.

Hi Rosemarie, I am also disappointed in this book, but am determined to finish it. I don't find the characters very likeable. The writing is lovely, but it doesn't go anywhere. It reminds me of the show Seinfeld (a show about nothing...). I am in the middle of chapter 17. Maybe Lily and William will get together?

Thanks for the review Rosemarie, I will skip this group Read :-)

I am planning on finishing this book tonight. I am part 3 now and I still find Mr. Ramsay hasn't changed much. So far, Lily (the painter) is the most sympathetic character.

I have finished the book and am disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. I liked part 3 the best, mainly because it focussed more on Lily Briscoe, the painter. Anyone who has tried to create a work of art can relate to what Lily is experiencing: how do you translate what you see in your mind into a physical work of art?
In part 1 we are introduced to a bewildering array of characters, but if you make an effort, you can sort them out. For a writer of her calibre, that effort should not have been necessary. There is a difference between an intricate style and a confusing one.
Part 2 was the most disturbing part of the novel with a great deal of description.
If you have read it, you know what I mean.
I enjoyed the other two Virginia Woolf novels which I have read, Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway, much more than this. She writes so well but I didn't like her choice of topic. It had too much description and not enough substance for me.

I'm not that far in (chapter 3) so I'm not that frustrated with the text just yet :). Just wondered - does anybody read this copy here as well?To the Lighthouse
Because there's a detailed introduction by Hermione Lee as well as additional notes to the novel which help shed some light on a few remarks or allusions in the text itself.
I have only started reading the introduction and plan on continuing it after I finished the novel (too many references to what happens in the actual text).
But I thought it was quite interesting that Ms Lee explains how Virginia Woolfe tried to break with the Victorian idea of a novel and this resulted in quite an avantgarde form of text. Similar to a painting or a film, Woolfe tried to show several things at once. Woolfe is quoted here from one of her lectures when she compared the chapters of a novel to "an attempt to make something as formal and controlled as a building: but words are more impalpable than bricks". Try, she suggests, to write on "some event that has left a distinct impression on you, when a whole vision, an entire conception, seemed contained in that moment. As soon as you attempt to reconstruct it in words, you will find that it breaks into a thousand conflicting impressions".
To the Lighthouse is one of her attempts to overcome this incongruity.
Well, I'll see how I get on! :-)

Rosemarie wrote: "I have finished the book and am disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. I liked part 3 the best, mainly because it focussed more on Lily Briscoe, the painter. Anyone who has trie..."

Lily is definitely the most interesting character and the only one who has anything about her. Mr Ramsay was right to worry about everyone forgetting him as he is so forgettable.

I completed it yesterday evening. Luckily I was Grandkidless! haha!

Here is a link to my review if interested:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Interesting to read your take on it. I wouldn't say that it is beautifully crafted, only that it has some beautiful writing in it.

Rosemary wrote: "Interesting to read your take on it. I wouldn't say that it is beautifully crafted, only that it has some beautiful writing in it."

I just thought the part of Lily and her expression of self was a different approach on the subject of women being treated differently in the Victorian age. Again, just my thought.

Different perspectives is was makes the discussions interesting! :)

I agree with you on that and I do agree that the best character is Lily. But perhaps it is because Virginia had personal insight into her thoughts and issues that she comes over the best whereas Mrs Ramsay is to my mind a cardboard cut-out. I think it is right to say that she was trying to set up a stereotypical female role model to contrast with Lily. But that's why I don't think it is particularly well crafted as Mrs Ramsay doesn't really live. She's the idea of a woman.

I must admit I agree on your discription of Mrs Ramsay! She held no interest to me at all.

Actually your 'Cardboard cut-out' made me snicker! Thanks!

Regarding Mrs. Ramsay, sometimes she comes across as a matchmaker and "Lady Bountiful"(a do-gooder who helps the villagers) in one.

Yes, but that was all part of the stereotype of Virginia's class.

That's it! Most of the characters are stereotypes. Their surroundings are described in much more detail, especially in Part 2.

I think that's why we all like Lily best as she is the only one who comes over as real. I have always thought it very strange that it is a valid criticism of fiction that it is not real.

Even though I didn't enjoy this novel very much, on a intellectual level I can appreciate what Woolf was striving at. The second section, which I foun somewhat offputting, had the house as the central character. Major milestones of humans were put in square brackets. Perhaps she was saying that compared to nature and the sea, we humans are puny creatures. The reference to the shawl made me think immediately of Mrs. Ramsay. I appreciate the novel on an artistic level, but it lacks something. Something that would make it a satisfying read.

Rosemarie wrote: "Even though I didn't enjoy this novel very much, on a intellectual level I can appreciate what Woolf was striving at. The second section, which I foun somewhat offputting, had the house as the cent..."

Agreed - although seeking to be a stream of consciousness, it was all a bit inhuman, wasn't it.

I have read Ulysses by James Joyce(it took me a long time) and even though I don't comsider it as great as some others would have it, it is a very human novel. The characters have substance--you may not necessarily like all of them, but they are "real".

Rosemarie wrote: "I have read Ulysses by James Joyce(it took me a long time) and even though I don't comsider it as great as some others would have it, it is a very human novel. The characters have substance--you ma..."

Once again, we agree! It is really strange how we seek this quality of reality in the medium of fiction!

I am struggling through Lighthouse and made a discovery yesterday... I began reading aloud, and the beauty of the language, as well as the meaning, came alive for me. I still am not invested in any of the characters (Lily is the most sympathetic), but I am finding it more enjoyable. Maybe this can help someone else.

Kathy wrote: "I am struggling through Lighthouse and made a discovery yesterday... I began reading aloud, and the beauty of the language, as well as the meaning, came alive for me. I still am not invested in any..."

Thank you so much for sharing...might even work for other Classics that we struggle with!

I often have read sections of books aloud, but now that my husband is retired
I am going to do it when he's not nearby.

Rosemarie wrote: "I often have read sections of books aloud, but now that my husband is retired
I am going to do it when he's not nearby."

What is up with husband? Does he not like being read to?

I don't think he does. I tried it a long time ago and it didn't go well. He used to read me some comics and I didn't like it so we each do our own thing.

Rosemarie wrote: "I don't think he does. I tried it a long time ago and it didn't go well. He used to read me some comics and I didn't like it so we each do our own thing."

Gotcha! So what is he taking for the flight?

He has an ereader so he can choose. He also watches the movies on the plane sometimes. We also like some of the same books, which is good.