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Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway. (1966, Penguin Books)

215 pages

English language

Published Aug. 9, 1966 by Penguin Books.

OCLC Number:
34455710

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (85 reviews)

Virginia Woolf’s novel chronicles a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a politician’s wife in 1920s London, as she prepares to host a party that evening. The narrative follows Clarissa’s thoughts (and sometimes those of people she meets) as she goes about her errands, and events in the day remind her of her youth and friendships from the past. As the book progresses characters from the past emerge, igniting old feelings and making Clarissa question the life she has created for herself.

Mrs. Dalloway became the inspiration for Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel The Hours.

132 editions

Un clásico complejo

3 stars

Tenía muchísimas ganas de leer a Virginia Woolf y creo que ha sido un error comenzar con 'La señora Dalloway'. Me ha parecido un libro muy complejo en la forma -la narración es una especie de flujo constante de pensamiento, solo interrumpido por algunos diálogos, que salta con mucha frecuencia de unos personajes a otros inadvertidamente- y excesivamente críptico en el contenido. Ojo, estos problemas tienen que ver con una falta de comprensión por mi parte, en ningún caso lo achaco a que se trate de una mala novela; de hecho, me parece todo lo contrario. Y así, en muchas ocasiones sin terminar de entender lo que estaba leyendo, me apetecía seguir avanzando en esta narración que describe, con una prosa repleta de lirismo, la burguesía inglesa de los años veinte.

Mrs Dalloway

4 stars

Le livre se déroule le long d’une journée du mois de juin 1923, à Londres. Il est centré sur le personnage de Mrs Dalloway, une bourgeoise londonienne qui organise une soirée chez elle, avec toute une galerie de personnages qui gravitent autour d’elle.

Ce qui retient surtout l’attention, c’est le style : l’essentiel du livre se passe dans la tête des personnages. Le récit suit le fil de leurs pensées, et nous révèle leur vie intérieure et leur vision des choses. L’écriture laisse une impression de fluidité : le texte coule sans discontinuer d’une idée à une autre au gré des pensées des personnages, (d’ailleurs il n’y a pas de chapitres : les 300 pages s’enchaînent quasiment en continu), et parfois il saute d’un personnage à un autre, lesquels se jugent les uns les autres, ou bien partagent une même expérience mais l’appréhendent différemment. C’est vraiment une écriture de l’intériorité. …

Review of 'Mrs. Dalloway' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Maybe I'll feel different at another point in my life, but I simply cannot recommend this book right now.

I had to go to third party sources to understand the whole thing due to its chaotic writing, and even after all that... turns out there was no story to follow, really.

I could certainly enjoy some descriptions, but it was overall a lot of effort to not prefer doing something else.

It was also the first book I read in a while so hopefully I'll come back in 20 years and find out how wrong I was.

Review of 'La Senora Dalloway/ Mrs. Dalloway (Biblioteca De Autor)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Definitivamente, puedo decir ya lo que intuía desde hace bastante tiempo: el modernismo literario de principios del siglo XX que incorporó la técnica del monólogo interior no es lo mío. Soy consciente de su inmensa calidad y de su influencia decisiva en escritores que admiro, pero no consigo disfrutarlo de manera completa a pesar de que creo que la lectura, en ocasiones, no debe ser sólo puro entretenimiento, sino un reto intelectual.

Es imposible poner una nota negativa a un libro con tanta calidad. Sus párrafos resuenan, se sienten profundos y aquí y allá descubres revelaciones bellas y hondas sobre la experiencia humana (me quedo con los pasajes de la señora Kilman y de Septimus). Además, la mirada femenina en un ambiente cultural dominado por los hombres hace que tenga un interés extra.

Sin embargo, a pesar de todo lo anterior, la lectura se convierte en un reto extenuante. La …

Review of 'La Senora Dalloway/ Mrs. Dalloway (Biblioteca De Autor)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Definitivamente, puedo decir ya lo que intuía desde hace bastante tiempo: el modernismo literario de principios del siglo XX que incorporó la técnica del monólogo interior no es lo mío. Soy consciente de su inmensa calidad y de su influencia decisiva en escritores que admiro, pero no consigo disfrutarlo de manera completa a pesar de que creo que la lectura, en ocasiones, no debe ser sólo puro entretenimiento, sino un reto intelectual.

Es imposible poner una nota negativa a un libro con tanta calidad. Sus párrafos resuenan, se sienten profundos y aquí y allá descubres revelaciones bellas y hondas sobre la experiencia humana (me quedo con los pasajes de la señora Kilman y de Septimus). Además, la mirada femenina en un ambiente cultural dominado por los hombres hace que tenga un interés extra.

Sin embargo, a pesar de todo lo anterior, la lectura se convierte en un reto extenuante. La …

Review of 'Mrs. Dalloway' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

 Well, let's just say it's not for me. Which makes me disappointed in myself because the reason it's not for me is that I'm too stupid to understand much of it.
 I should have majored in English in college. If I had, I'd have learned to read more deeply than I do now and gotten more out of the books I've read since. Good literature reflects life, so I'd have gotten more out of life, too. As it is, I'm a shallow moron who skims only the surface of things.
 If you agree with Kurt Vonnegut on the following, avoid this book: “Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”
 By the way, you can access Cliff notes on it online for free and reading them has helped me …

reviewed Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Films for the Humanities & Sciences DVD collection)

Review of "Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

"Mrs Dalloway" rightfully holds its place in literary history - form and structure, "stream of consciousness", female voice, depiction of mental illness. While I was reading, I had the impression of witnessing something vast and new (for the time) - maybe I had just read too much about it before. This portrayal of a day in 1923 London is remarkable, and after a bit the "stream of consciousness" becomes easier to follow.

I did struggle, though, as the fact that it took me nearly a week to finish this short book illustrates. Often I found myself re-reading paragraphs or pages because I felt I had missed something. The mix of peculiar form (of the quickly shifting perspective) and unusual vocabulary (everyday life & the most personal thoughts of the 1920s British upper-middle class) had my head spinning more than once.

What struck me most while I was reading was the …

Review of 'La Senora Dalloway/ Mrs. Dalloway (Biblioteca De Autor)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Una novela diferente, hay momentos en los que es difícil llevarle el ritmo y reconocer en la mente de cuál personaje te encuentras, pero luego se le va tomando el gusto y se empieza a especular sobre la trama.

Refleja los sentimientos propios de cada uno de los actores, cómo se sienten en relación a su contexto y relación con los demás. La mayoría de ellos piensan como si fueran el centro del mundo, al menos esa es la percepción que me dejan. Además, se identifica los pensamientos alrededor del saberse presa del paso del tiempo, de lo que pudo ser y no fue, de lo que se ha logrado y aún se añora o se espera.

Una interesante forma de narrar y llevarnos por la ciudad, mirando desde dentro de las personas lo que sucede alrededor, sintiendo el amor, el miedo, la vergüenza, la culpa, y tantos otros que …

Review of 'Mrs. Dalloway' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Zaista sam željela da mi se svidi, ali nekako baš nije išlo. Malo me pogubio način pisanja koji jeste dobrim dijelom poetičan ali kroz njega se ili gubi smisao ili ja jednostavno didn't GET IT. Ne mogu da ulazim u književnu kritiku jer nisam kadar, ali likovi koji su najviše opisivani su mi bili dosadni a oni koji su me najviše interesovali su ostali nedorečeni. Takođe ljubavni plot izeđu Klarise i Pitera mi nema smisla, ako je bio toliko zaljubljen u nju i još uvjek je, zašto je stalno kritikovao kako je površna i njen životni stil njemu nema smisla? Pa okej, mislim ima smisla ako shvatimo da niko nije u pravu i da su svi likovi čudni, nesretni, i manje ili više gej, a sve je to obavijeno opisom visokog londonskog društva koje je izrazito monontono (sem naravno silnog i cijenjenog cvijeća koje često ima svoje istaknute momente).

Review of 'Mrs.Dalloway' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Zaista sam željela da mi se svidi, ali nekako baš nije išlo. Malo me pogubio način pisanja koji jeste dobrim dijelom poetičan ali kroz njega se ili gubi smisao ili ja jednostavno didn't GET IT. Ne mogu da ulazim u književnu kritiku jer nisam kadar, ali likovi koji su najviše opisani su mi bili dosadni a oni koji su me najviše interesovali su ostali nedorečeni. Takođe ljubavni plot izeđu Klarise i Pitera mi nema smisla, ako je bio toliko zaljubljen u nju i još uvijek je, zašto je stalno kritikovao kako je površna i njen životni stil njemu nema smisla? Pa okej, mislim ima smisla ako shvatimo da niko nije u pravu i da su svi likovi čudni, nesretni, i manje ili više gej, a sve je to obavijeno opisom visokog londonskog društva koje je izrazito monontono (sem naravno silnog i cijenjenog cvijeća koje često ima svoje istaknute momente).

Review of 'Mrs. Dalloway' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

“A whole lifetime was too short to bring out, now that one had acquired the power, the full flavor; to extract every ounce of pleasure, every shade of pleasure.” - Peter Walsh

So Virginia Woolf has a principle character in Mrs. Dalloway remark midway through this novel. Mrs. Dalloway is considered the crowning achievement of Virginia Woolf’s fictional oeuvre. Written in the stream-of-consciousness style, Woolf tries to help us focus in on the self-absorption of Mrs. Dalloway and other characters. Throughout the novel there are abrupt transitions between past, present, and future as Woolf gracefully switches between the introspective musings of her characters and the omniscience of the narrator.

Mrs. Dalloway’s constant reflections about her past and the unknowns of her future are representative of how we, as ordinary people, go about our days using much of our mental bandwidth to reflect on the contingencies of the past or our …

Review of 'Mrs. Dalloway' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf since December 2004. I read The Voyage Out in July 2004, according to my old "books I've read" spreadsheet. Please go read that review. It was an awful experience to read/listen to that book. I couldn't finish the print edition and probably got through the audiobook because I had an hour commute each way. The best thing I could say was having gotten through it, I felt like a more literate person for having done so.

Clearly, it took 15 years and the promise of my copy of Mrs. Dalloway to another Bookcrosser via the USA & Canada Wishlist Tag Game 2019 for me to pick it up and read it.

I have really only two poor things to say of it: 1. It took 20% of the book before it caught a stride and was truly readable and engaging. That's …

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