fiainros reviewed Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
Review of 'Voyage Out' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
If I had tried reading this book in print, I do not believe I would have ever finished it. Is it considered classic, good literature because the author was so obviously depressed? I know Virginia Woolf suffered terribly from depression, and eventually committed suicide. I knew this before the introduction which gave a brief overview of the author at the beginning. However, I would not have needed that information prior to listening to this book to know that the person who wrote it was severly depressed.
I did not like a single character in this novel. They all were condescending, and sometimes sounded quite mad. The tone of the author is rather disapproving and disdainful, or is just that the narrator used that tone throughout her entire reading.
The story progresses quite slowly. I knew that the main character was supposed to be Rachel, but it was hard to differentiate …
If I had tried reading this book in print, I do not believe I would have ever finished it. Is it considered classic, good literature because the author was so obviously depressed? I know Virginia Woolf suffered terribly from depression, and eventually committed suicide. I knew this before the introduction which gave a brief overview of the author at the beginning. However, I would not have needed that information prior to listening to this book to know that the person who wrote it was severly depressed.
I did not like a single character in this novel. They all were condescending, and sometimes sounded quite mad. The tone of the author is rather disapproving and disdainful, or is just that the narrator used that tone throughout her entire reading.
The story progresses quite slowly. I knew that the main character was supposed to be Rachel, but it was hard to differentiate her from the rest. I knew she was supposed to fall in love, and I thought perhaps it was going to be an illicit love affair with Mr. Dalloway, but it was not. It was more than half way through the novel before Ms. Woolf seemed to decide to have Rachel fall in love with Huit. For quite awhile, I could not determine if the love interest was going to be Huit or Hurst.
Much of the novel discusses the differences between men and women. Perhaps I am naive in the thought that I do not believe the general thoughts of the genders have changed radically over time, but I can understand why there was so much animosity between men and women in the past if communication was truly how it was reflected in this book. If women, and men, really thought the way they did in this book, I'm surprised the human race continued.
As for Ms. Woolf's presentation of a couple in love, all I could think was it sounded like extreme infatuation, and not love at all. I had to remind myself that the author did know if her characters were in love. Mostly, I wanted to tell the characters to give it some time because they had terrible crushes that either would bear out into love or dissolve. The characters were terribly nuerotic, and I don't believe they really knew how they felt, or at least could not communicate to themselves in a way another person could understand.
I also wondered if Ms. Woolf realized Hurst had a crush on Helen. It seemed for awhile as if it would be reciprocated. There was no reason in the novel given for why they would not act on it, unless it is a given of the British morals of the early 1900s as reason. I do not like stories where marriage is tossed aside to a new crush, so it wasn't that I was disappointed that this crush never progressed, more that the reason it did not was never given, and therefore rang as a false presentation.
Overall, I did not like the characters, I did not like the story, or the pace of the story. I do feel more well-rounded, as a literate person, for having listened to this novel.
