I guess this feels more like a defeat than anything else. This was not a book for me at all. I really tried to like it, but it simply did not work.

„Clarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Warren Smith is suffering from shell-shock and on the brink of madness. Smith’s day interweaves with that of Clarissa and her friends, their lives converging as the party reaches its glittering climax. Virginia Woolf’s masterly novel, in which she perfected the interior monologue, brings past, present and future together on one momentous day in June 1923.“

Blurb

I knew going in that this novel is considered a revolutionary and important example of what is called “stream of consciousness” and I understood that it focuses on inner thoughts rather than a conventional plot. But even with that awareness, the writing style made the whole experience complex and chaotic at best. I often struggled to understand who was talking or thinking and at what moment in time. It dragged on for me, since hardly anything happened on the surface. The thoughts felt random and sometimes made little sense, at least to me. And yes, my own thoughts probably wander in a similar chaotic way, but the difference is that I do not turn them into a novel. In the end I only wanted to stop reading, so I skimmed the last pages and switched to the audiobook on a faster rate just to reach the finish line.

After reading a bit more about the book on Wikipedia and elsewhere, I could appreciate even better why it is seen as a groundbreaking literary work. As I said, even before that research I already understood that it was highly regarded and that it does what it does on purpose. It simply did not offer me any enjoyment. This does not mean it is a bad book or that its achievements are worthless. I simply cannot recommend it. If you enjoy a challenge or are very invested in literary classics, then maybe give it a try. Otherwise I would pass on it.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️