Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

I first read this book after reading the amazing book The Hours by Michael Cunningham which has Virginia Woolf as one of the three central characters, and a woman reading Mrs Dalloway is another. The book (and later the movie) of The Hours inspired me to read more of Woolf's works. I thought this book deserved another read as it's been awhile.

The book weaves the tale of Clarissa Dalloway, a married English woman in 1923 on the day of a party she is holding. The book has not chapter separation and is told in Woolf's usual slice-of-life style. Clarissa's life is held in contrast to the life of another character, Septimus Smith, who she never comes into contact with throughout the book. The story is built up through the comparisons of the two characters and the disintegration in the state of Septimus' life. The story is helped along with Clarissa's two life loves: Peter Walsh and her husband Richard. Throughout the book it becomes clear that she still has love for both of them, the love for Peter being more wild, uncertain and daring while she chose to marry Richard who seems more stable, and not as expecting.

This book as most of Woolf's is not what I would call an easy read, it is comprised of long sentences, complex metaphors and life lessons. However, once you become used to the writing style it feels like you are in literary heaven, experiencing the downs and lows of the various characters and the interweaving stories. It shows how 'craziness' can make sense to the person being designated as 'crazy', how every life can make sense viewed through foreign eyes. Mrs Dalloway is so far my favourite of Woolf's works but I have many more to read. Her writing is so beautiful and is matched by few, if any others.

Definitely recommend it, some find it difficult to get into but once you get used to the complex style of her writing, it really does pay off.