Somebody help me out with Virginia Woolf!
March 2nd, 2007I am stalled about halfway through ‘Night and Day’. I’ve been painfully trudging along for a month now, and I still have not found anything special to keep me going except the beautiful language and my stubborn pride. To start with, I was under the impression that the first pages had been torn, or that I was reading a second episode before having read the first one. I was missing context for every sentence. This meant I had to store each bit of information, not knowing whether the color of the teacups, the mood of the weather, or the shape of the gas light on the pavement would be of any use for further understanding as the plot and characters slowly gathered more flesh. This requires considerable effort, all the more so because I also need context to help me with vocabulary.
After fifteen chapters, there is still no manner of plot apart from Katharine wondering whether she should marry William, Ralph wondering whether he loves Katharine, Mary and Katharine wondering what they should think of Ralph. The only one with a clear mind is poor William. I could do without a plot. After all, Proust’s Swann’s Way does not have a plot until very late in the book. But here I can hardly understand the characters themselves. Here are four people spending most of their time fantasizing and speculating about what the other will think or say, and then when they meet, they seem to muster all their skills to convey a message exactly opposite of what they are burning to say. I would understand such catastrophic clumsiness from teenagers, but come on, these ones are thirty!
So here I am, with a wonderfuly written book without a plot, and with four characters I want to shout at whatever they do. It is getting any better? Are there wonderful surprises ahead?
You see, I do not want to end my relationship with Virginia Woolf on such bad terms. My big issue is that I have already given up on Jacob’s Room. I picked Night and Day because I had seen The Hours and was afraid my reading of Mrs Dalloway would be spoilt by the movie. What should I do?
Am I a bad reader? Am I being pickier and pickier? So far this year, I have given up on:
- Jacob’s Room (Virgina Woolf)
- Thief of Time (Terry Pratchett)
- Tales of the City (Armistead Maupin)
- Watership Down (Richard Adams)
- A Christmas Carol (in fact, I finished this one, but I almost gave up after the second ghost)
Until someone gives me the answer, I will leave the (e)book lying open face-down on my hard drive and pick up Lady Susan by Jane Austen (on which I apparently have an assignment this month).
Read on
What is it with me and litbloggers?
Multitask reading
Reading Proust
On p-books
Oh, pick up Watership Down again! Do! It’s so worth it!
I’ve never read any Virginia Woolf, so I can’t comment on that. I do sometimes find that the more pressure I feel to finish or enjoy a book, the less inclined I am to like it. I felt that way with Lord of the Rings.
Same for me with Watership Down. After five or six chapters, it felt as if I had read them all. Maybe I’ll read it to my kid(s), but I could not pick it up right now. Sorry. Thanks.
Sorry about Night and Day — while I love Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse and Orlando, and Woolf’s nonfiction, I haven’t had the best of luck with her other novels (so far). I tried Jacob’s Room and didn’t do that well with it, and the same with The Waves. I haven’t yet attempted Night and Day. Perhaps you’re best off reading one of the better-known, more mainstream Woolf novels? I suspect Mrs. Dalloway wouldn’t be spoiled by having seen The Hours.
Thanks Dorothy. I’ll be reading Mrs Dalloway, then (but after Lady Susan).
I haven’t read Night and Day, but I do like The Years, To The Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway. There’s nothing wrong with starting books and then putting them down because they aren’t hitting the spot for you. It’s called being sensible. Life is short, the number of good books out there astronomical. You can always return to the abandoned ones later if you want to.
I usually have no problem with picking up three books from the shelves and putting two back the next day. I felt helpless this time because of what looked like a sudden curse (to which Virginia Woolf fell a victim) but that I will probably write off as a streak of bad luck.
Just bad luck. To The Lighthouse kept me going all the way through, in my suggestible youth, but no other Woolf since has interested me much beyond a few pages of gawking. Armistead Maupin can’t write, Richard Adams’ book was intended for undergraduates or high school students, and you have better things to do with your time than punish yourself reading anything that doesn’t demand your attention. Here’s an off-the-wall suggestion. Dip into Mark Twain and see if he grabs you. Sounds like you need a good yarn, and he’s a writer who will enrich and reward you at the same time.
That’s an idea. I had always associated Twain with children’s books (although I could not manage to read Tom Sawyer as a kid). I guess I’ll give it a try.
Night and Day was tough slogging for me, but Mrs. Dalloway & To the Lighthouse were both brilliant. I have read both of them several times … I thoroughly loved the writing in To the Waves too. I have just finished reading a collection of VW’s short stories and some of them are great reads.
I have to say that I especially love the Diaries and the Letters of V. Woolf and most of her essays. Her biography of Roger Fry, a noted art critic is a wonderful read.
Thanks Kate. I now have ample proof that I may as well stow away Night and Day, and pick up Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse instead.
Oh good. I think you should try Mrs. Dalloway. And I second davidbdale — Huck Finn is a wonderful book.
Thank you bloglily (I was somehow waiting for your advice before I’d settle my mind). Then this is how it is going to be: unless someone comes to the rescue of Night and Day in the next few days, I believe I’ll move on to Huckleberry Finn, then Mrs Dalloway.
I’m curious to know how you enjoy Mrs Dalloway …
Be sure I will let you know.