Book review: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Book review of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is considered a classic by many. It’s also one of the books on the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge list. Finishing that is one of my long term reading goals.

Mrs Dalloway and her flowers

All it says on the back of my edition of the book is “Still, life had a way of adding day to day.” Which is actually super fitting for the book. I remember watching the movie based on the book, “The Hours” with Meryl Streep. It begins by Mrs Dalloway saying “I’ll do the flowers myself”. Just as the book. But from there, it feels like two different stories. Also because the movie is set in a more current time. Whereas the book by Woolf is definitely of the past.

Mrs Dalloway is a socialite, giving parties and she cares about being a good hostess too. I have no idea of Woolfs intentions or feelings toward women like Mrs Dalloway, but it seems that the latter enjoys being where she is at. It’s refreshing with a character who simply enjoys the work that is keeping a good home and setting up great parties.

Life, day by day

If Mrs Dalloway by Viriginia Woolf actually has a grand plot, it escapes me. I got so caught up in exactly those day-to-day details, scenery descriptions and the different characters. There were lives, deaths, parties, lost loves and more. But it was centered around the daily lives of the characters and not really one event in itself. It worked perfectly as a “moving still-life-painting” if that was a thing. We jump from one character’s thoughts to the other, and even though it took some getting used to, it ended up weaving their lives together. Very much like our lives are already intertwined with so many others, our stories dependent on each other.

It’s a bit of a hassle getting into the language and the long sentences, describing every detail of the room or street. But it works much the same way as our mind does, when wandering. So read it like you would a record of your daydreams and thoughts when strolling a new city.

You might see something that you didn’t notice before, about the beauty that is your very own story.

Have you read anything by Virginia Woolf before? She seems like such a classic must-read for the western-european lit-lovers. Let me know in the comments below!

If you’re curious and want to browse through other book reviews on this page, feel free to have a look at my collection of book reviews right here>>

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