Book Review - "To the Lighthouse"

"To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf

My grade: didn't finish

For some reason, I simply can't read Virginia Woolf, although I've tried again and again. I think more than anything it is her style of writing that puts me off. I wish she did more showing, and less telling. She loses me in her tales. I'm also not too keen on the fact that she skips around from one character to the next, leaving the reader with a jumble of partially-developed people in their heads.

Book Review

"Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf

My grade: didn't finish

I cannot grade this book, as I feel that would be an unfair thing to do, seeing as how I didn't finish it. It should say something, however, that I couldn't force myself to continue through the 141 pages. There is definitely talent there; I certainly won't be the one to argue otherwise. But, it's simply boring and doesn't draw one in. This is the kind of book that hasn't outlived its time, figuratively speaking. It also forces one to draw comparisons to other English family sagas from the 19th and 20th centuries, which I believe do a better job at being able to entertain today. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I believe it doesn't hold up to par in its genre.