Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

3/10

This was the book I chose to read during Christmas break. I finished it up out in Utah. I chose it because, a) I wanted to read a Virginia Woolf book before declaring a boycott on all of her books; and b) It seemed the proper length of book to finish in time for when school started again. After making this decision on these unreasonable grounds, I less than anxiously began. When the first line began thus, "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself," I think I let out an audible, "Oh boy."

In honor of Virginia Woolf (a.k.a. "the semi-colon queen"), I will write this whole paragraph with semicolons instead of periods: The whole book, all 296 pages, covers one day (with random flashbacks); the story will change from one character to another without much hint that it does so; the characters are rarely introduced; instead, they are thrown in there and you have to slowly learn about them as the story progresses; while I typically enjoy reading stories that go deep into a character's thought processes and their methods of analyzing other's behavior, it is less enjoyable when the characters are so serious, not funny and dramatic about everything; I wish one of the characters was likable, not that they were unlikable, just not likable; the whole book was about Mrs. Dalloway getting flowers, how she was in love with this other guy before they got married and he still loves her but they were not right for each other, and there is a boring party at the end; I had to constantly force myself to pay attention while I read; while I did not love this book, I will give credit where credit is due - Woolf did have a pretty snazzy grasp of the English language and crafted some nifty sentences; but, alas, it was not enough to save the boring subject matter, for, style over substance has never been my cup o' tea; and I refuse to say I liked it just because it is "critically acclaimed."

It's true, she did bust out long sentences with infinity semi-colons. I get the whole semi-colon concept and all, but I am of the position that it should be used sparingly. There is a time and place, Virginia.

I also came to the sudden realization that I should have invoked some kind of star system to rate the books I've read. But I haven't. Is it too late? Do I go back and put in a star rating for each book? What a dilemma. But, doing a star system might lead to my ultimate demise because I would constantly second guess my rating in comparison with other ratings of books that are extremely difficult to compare. In conclusion, I will not do it I say. But if I did, I would probably give this book like 3 out of ten or something. Maybe 3.2.

Quotes:

"Communication is health; communication is happiness." Ha! There's that semi-colon...

"It is a thousand pities never to say what one feels."