To the Lighthouse (Modern Classics)

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Summary: An astonishing experience of English family life.
Review: "To The Lighthouse" doesn't tell a story--it allows the reader to experience it through the consciousness of its various characters. Woolf gets inside their heads and writes down what they're thinking from moment to moment, creating an intimacy between reader and character I've experienced with no other writer. The largest portion of the novel concerns a day at the Ramsay's summer house by the sea. Mr. Ramsay, a once-famous philosopher whose reputation is beginning to wane, entertains two or three of his students, while Mrs. Ramsay, the novel's central character, manages her family and the other guests. As Mr. Ramsay devotes his energy to philisophical obscurities, Mrs. Ramsay devotes hers to stroking her husband's ego when he needs it, consoling her youngest son James who wants to go to the lighthouse across the bay, and creating a serene, safe space for her guests. Gradually, a portrait of English family life emerges, and more importantly, an understanding of a woman's place within it--Mrs. Ramsay has essentially sacrificed herself for her family and husband, and has done so willingly. Woolf reveals these flawed but beautiful people to the reader in a work of art that seems less like reading prose than listening to music or experiencing a painting. To the Lighthouse is one of the masterpieces of 20th-century English literature

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Summary: Unbelievable.
Review: 'To the Lighthouse' explores the deepest workings of the human spirit and the world we live in, with such subtle power that defies the imagination for words to express it. To read it is not only to read a book, but to experience a revelation. The themes of human interaction are interwoven with the themes of mortality and destiny, questioning whether the decree of fate is arbitrary, or the workings of a higher plan. Are people motes of dust scattered here and there by wind, or is there some purpose to their sorrows beyond human understanding? Woolf offers no answers, rather she leads the reader a step beyond reality and allows them to judge for themselves.

Every character is a world unto himself, with his own distinctive thought patterns and perspectives, and by showing how those worlds connect Woolf also investigates the glory and the tragedy of love and relationships, the connection and the inevitable isolation.

There is very little plot, so those looking for a fast-paced storyline should look elsewhere. Woolf is more interested in the *internal* structure of her plot rather than the external; much of the highest points of drama occur within the characters. If you have any interest in the human soul, read it.

Unfortunately, I can't claim to understand even a third of it, and will be sure to reread this book many times over the years. A revelation it is, but with the complexity of vision Woolf possessed, it is ultimately a mystery.

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Summary: An Elegy to the Moment
Review: I just reread what I think of as Virginia Woolf's finest book and my personal favorite. Even if one isn't too fond of Woolf, I don't know how any serious reader or lover of great literature could fail to be impressed with the sheer beauty and timelessness of this radiant novel.

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE is a portrait of the Ramsay family; a portrait "taken" as they are vacationing at their summer house on the rugged coast of Scotland. This is a very interior portrait, though, the most interior I've ever encountered in any book to date. For me, at least, this book transcends the barriers of time, culture and all else and speaks straight to the soul, from the soul, something few authors have ever been able to do.

This is also the most profoundly human novel I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The Ramsays face tremendous challenges in TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, but the book's focus isn't on the challenges per se, but on how the Ramsays react to those challenges and how they are affected by them.

There are probably as many interpretations of this novel as there are readers, and I think that's a great tribute to Woolf. One of the novelist's main jobs is to touch the heart of her readers and TO THE LIGHTHOUSE certainly does that. What makes this book a masterpiece, however, at least in my opinion, is the fact that the Ramsay family act as a microcosm of all humanity; in the Ramsay's we can find something of all families. In the Ramsay's we can find something of ourselves.

Some people have told me they found the inclusion of Lily Briscoe extraneous. I don't think there's one extraneous thing in this book and certainly not Lily. She loves the Ramsay family yet she isn't a member. She's the one character who's able to step back a little and see the family as a whole, with love, yet without becoming overwhelmed. I think Lily is as essential to this book as is the Boeuf en Daube or even the lighthouse, itself.

And why the focus on the lighthouse? Will the journey to it really change anything? Will it really add to or subtract from the life of the Ramsays, especially when so many other factors threaten to disrupt and tear them apart? For me, the lighthouse represents constancy in a world of change. A point of reference to which the Ramsays can cling. The journey out to the lighthouse, for me, at least, represents the promise that one can go home again, even if that home has greatly changed. If the journey to the lighthouse is made, and the promise is fulfilled, then life can go on, even if it is as storm-tossed as the rocky Scottish coast.

I remember feeling awed the first time I read this book and subsequent readings have only increased that feeling a hundredfold. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE is Virginia Woolf ar her very finest. This book is one of the greatest masterpieces of 20th century fiction. It's radiant; it's miraculous; it's triumphant. It's a book no serious reader, or lover of life, can afford to miss.

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Summary: Here and now
Review: So here we have Mrs Woolf masterpiece, her great achievement at grasping time. This is a book for those that like a challenge in reading. It is not passive reading, Virginia needs your whole attention throughout the novel, and if you are lucky and get inside you will hace a wonderfull experience, you will be there with her and the characters, reading with a dim light, saling towards the lighthouse, painting, the air will brush your face and you will smell salt and sea and be dizzy after lunch. I do not Know if what she tells really interested me because it was jus something you experiment. Good chance

Rating:
Summary: Bold experiment, yes - timeless classic, no
Review: To The Lighthouse was an ambitious, brave experiment in literature, a bold venture into stream-of-consciousness techniques and profound themes relating to the fundamental differences between the sexes. It deserves to be recognized as an important contribution to 20th century fiction. Alas, that does not mean that it deserves to be read. It was far too tedious, and relied to a great extent on style and literary technique to drive it forward. And while I rarely go searching for "an easy read," nor do I seek out plot-driven novels, this book was simply too far towards the opposite extremes to be enjoyable.

The most highly regarded of Virginia Woolf's many books, To The Lighthouse focuses on the Ramseys, a British family in the 1910s and their interactions with family friends at their vacation home in Scotland. I wish I could say more about the plot, but frankly, not much happens. Oh, sorry, they keep talking about sailing out to the Lighthouse (and eventually they do, even). But this book is not about plot. It is about the emotional and philosophical ruminations of Woolf's characters, none of whom is particularly sympathetic or engrossing. Woolf juxtaposes the rational, abrasive Mr. Ramsay with the pleasant, introspective Mrs. Ramsay in an attempt to make profound statements about the differences between men and women. Woven into this central issue are the themes of love and art. Perhaps this book was revolutionary when it was first written, but can it appropriately be considered timeless? Given its limited appeal to even the most avid, intelligent readers of today, I think the answer is 'no.'