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jennyyates's review against another edition
This has a more traditional structure than most of Woolf’s work. It’s basically a romantic comedy with four young people who are confused about which of the others they really love. Although there’s a lot of beautiful writing, I was a little aggravated by the amount of time the characters spent waffling around.
I have to contrast this with The Voyage Out, which deals more ably with the process of falling in love. Like that novel, this one recognizes that love doesn’t always feel like love at first; in fact, it can feel vaguely threatening.
In this novel, the main character is Katherine Hilbery, whose secret desire is to be a mathematician. Instead, she spends her days in her family home, acting as an assistant to her mother, who is writing an interminable biography of Katherine’s grandfather, a celebrated poet. Her mother, by the way, is one of the best characters, as she starts out as a ditz and ends up effortlessly and instinctively sorting everything out.
Everyone expects Katherine to marry William Rodney, and she agrees to it, mainly to get away from being the sensible foil to her always-distracted mother. But she just can’t go through the motions of being in love. Everyone thinks Katherine is a snob, and she actually is, but she manages to get over that when she meets Ralph Denham, who is part of a large, chaotic, lower-class family. However, her attraction is not immediately apparent, and both go through most of the novel thinking the other dislikes them.
Meanwhile, there’s Mary Datchet, a woman who spends her days working for woman’s suffrage, and who also loves Ralph. She’s given a certain nobility, but short shrift when it comes to romantic pairing-off. And there’s Katherine’s sweet, young, innocent cousin Clarissa, who ends up stealing William’s susceptible heart. Katherine’s father and aunts are the ones who are most incensed by the switching of partners, because it just isn’t done. What will people think?
Here are some quotes. This is Katherine’s mother:
< Ideas came to her chiefly when she was in motion. She liked to perambulate the room with a duster in her hand, with which she stopped to polish the backs of already lustrous books, musing and romancing as she did so. Suddenly the right phrase or the penetrating point of view would suggest itself, and she would drop her duster and write ecstatically for a few breathless moments; and then the mood would pass away, and the duster would be sought for, and the old books polished again. >
< The three of them stood for a moment awkwardly silent, and then Mary left them in order to see that the great pitcher of coffee was properly handled, for beneath all her education she preserved the anxieties of one who owns china. >
< Those elderly ladies, who sit on the edge of ballrooms sampling the stuff of humanity between finger and thumb and breathing so evenly that the necklaces, which rise and fall upon their breasts, seem to represent some elemental force, such as the waves upon the ocean of humanity, concluded, a little smilingly, that she would do. They meant that she would in all probability marry some young man whose mother they respected. >
mescalero_at_bat's review against another edition
5.0
what a beautiful book! virginia woolf seems unparalleled in her ability to chart the complexity of human emotion, its influences and origins.
in this work, as you may have read, woolf writes a jane austen novel, but set in london at the end of the elizabethan period (a period far more restricted by morals and ethics). in doing so, she lightly satirizes austen, and probes at the societal values of romance and career.
as always, woolf's command of the english language is virtuosic. an absolute gem - once i was 100 pages in, i couldn't put this one down.
in this work, as you may have read, woolf writes a jane austen novel, but set in london at the end of the elizabethan period (a period far more restricted by morals and ethics). in doing so, she lightly satirizes austen, and probes at the societal values of romance and career.
as always, woolf's command of the english language is virtuosic. an absolute gem - once i was 100 pages in, i couldn't put this one down.
bradleyfrederick's review against another edition
5.0
A truly masterful tale by Virginia Woolf which conveys the change of societal values from Victorianism to Modernism. Despite still having Victorian style language, Night and Day is filled with modern themes such as challenging the institution of marriage, what are the roles of a man/woman, individuality, and religion. She still, however, includes the usual Victorian characters (gossipers, pretentious people, extremely wealthy family contrasted with poor family, etc.) and has her characters try to find their own definition for love.
jbrown2140's review against another edition
4.0
I wrote a longer review here: http://www.originalpositions.com/2016/04/the-novels-of-virginia-woolf-2-night-and-day/#more-887
freysiercrane's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I expected to enjoy this more… the protagonists were both as tedious as each other
beckinasec's review against another edition
5.0
Ah I am convinced this book is Woolf's greatest masterpiece. Everyone is incomprehensible yet familiar. It makes me just want to silently sit and think for hours. And I don't know if some of the things I feel are what she wants me to feel, or a revolt against what she wants me to feel.
I think maybe how much of a martyr she makes Mary—or makes everyone think Mary, is that the key distinction? Idk it doesn't sit well with me.
I think maybe how much of a martyr she makes Mary—or makes everyone think Mary, is that the key distinction? Idk it doesn't sit well with me.
teresatumminello's review against another edition
3.0
Ralph adores Katharine. Mary loves Ralph. William, who seems to love himself mostly, desperately wants to marry Katharine.
Katharine, who seems to be sleepwalking through her life, loves…Mathematics. Katharine, an upper-class woman living with her parents, has to hide her love. The above “entanglements” are only the start. Love, or its facsimile, is dissected and lost; dissected and gained; or regained.
Katharine and Mary are opposites, “night and day” (though I don’t think that’s the reason for the title): the light of the late afternoon glowed green behind the straight trees, and became a symbol of her [Katharine].; …Mary Datchet, a sturdy russet figure, with a dash of scarlet. (Both quotes from Chapter XV.) The younger Cassandra, who comes into the picture later to both complicate and simplify matters, is the weakest link, as far as characterization goes. Her dialogue in one particular chapter is both too forced and too obvious as concerning her name—though unlike the mythological Cassandra, her reassurances are believed. She’s first portrayed as an Edwardian girl who can follow her fancy wherever her various interests take her, but then comes to seem as if she’s still a part of the Victorian age, or at least the Victorian novel. This fits the “in-between-ness” of the time period—at one point, Katharine is running around the streets of London desperately searching for her special-someone until Mary reminds her she could use the telephone instead.
In Woolf’s first novel, [b:The Voyage Out|148905|The Voyage Out|Virginia Woolf|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328874751l/148905._SY75_.jpg|1412170], there were too many characters. The number of characters in this, her second novel, seems just right; my main issue is with the numerous descriptions of emotions and feelings. Though Woolf’s prose is lovely and flowing, near the end its content turns tedious and repetitive, and thus exasperating. Are three separate outings by the two couples needed before bringing Katharine’s ineffectual father into the mix? However, unlike in Woolf’s first novel, the amount of themes has been streamlined, but still includes the tantalizing In such a room, one could work—one could have a life of one’s own.
Katharine, who seems to be sleepwalking through her life, loves…Mathematics. Katharine, an upper-class woman living with her parents, has to hide her love. The above “entanglements” are only the start. Love, or its facsimile, is dissected and lost; dissected and gained; or regained.
Katharine and Mary are opposites, “night and day” (though I don’t think that’s the reason for the title): the light of the late afternoon glowed green behind the straight trees, and became a symbol of her [Katharine].; …Mary Datchet, a sturdy russet figure, with a dash of scarlet. (Both quotes from Chapter XV.) The younger Cassandra, who comes into the picture later to both complicate and simplify matters, is the weakest link, as far as characterization goes. Her dialogue in one particular chapter is both too forced and too obvious as concerning her name—though unlike the mythological Cassandra, her reassurances are believed. She’s first portrayed as an Edwardian girl who can follow her fancy wherever her various interests take her, but then comes to seem as if she’s still a part of the Victorian age, or at least the Victorian novel. This fits the “in-between-ness” of the time period—at one point, Katharine is running around the streets of London desperately searching for her special-someone until Mary reminds her she could use the telephone instead.
In Woolf’s first novel, [b:The Voyage Out|148905|The Voyage Out|Virginia Woolf|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328874751l/148905._SY75_.jpg|1412170], there were too many characters. The number of characters in this, her second novel, seems just right; my main issue is with the numerous descriptions of emotions and feelings. Though Woolf’s prose is lovely and flowing, near the end its content turns tedious and repetitive, and thus exasperating. Are three separate outings by the two couples needed before bringing Katharine’s ineffectual father into the mix? However, unlike in Woolf’s first novel, the amount of themes has been streamlined, but still includes the tantalizing In such a room, one could work—one could have a life of one’s own.
amydobrzynski's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0