"Jacob's Room is Virginia Woolf's first truly experimental novel."
"There is no first, no origin, no break, no fixture."
"The artists I favor most-- Fielding, Rhys, Wycherley, Comyns, Spark, Lerner, Adler, Woolf-- all write the same book over and over again, and, of course, I'm never the same. But there's something for me to hold onto, like watching a game show or a sunrise."
"There is also the highly respectable opinion that character-mongering is much overdone nowadays."
"It's empty or being emptied, this. Or a tumble down the side of a hill, lapsed yet so rapid it's a blur. Too much and not enough-- intermittently struck by the most astounding, dizzying pains and pleasures amid tense grappling."
"This, they say, is what we live by- this unseizable force."
"Ponderous small."

Blargh

"A doubt insinuates itself; is this the way to spend our days? the rare, the limited, so soon dealt out to us—drinking tea? dining out? And the notes accumulate. And the telephones ring. And everywhere we go wires and tubes surround us to carry the voices that try to penetrate before the last card is dealt and the days are over. 'Try to penetrate,' for as we lift the cup, shake the hand, express the hope, something whispers, Is this all? Can I never know, share, be certain?" (93).

I have fond memories of reading this on the train whilst leaving St. Andrews, Scotland, and I finally picked it up to finish it today. I am astonished, as always, by Woolf; this time, she managed to create a thoroughly interesting novel, meditating on the significance of beauty and youth, about a completely and utterly disinteresting protagonist. My favorite part was pg. 106 when Julia Hedge, "the feminist," goes into the British Museum, frowns up at all of the carved names of famous men, and literally just says, "Oh damn, why didn't they leave room for an Eliot or a Brontë?" Same, sister.

3.5 loved the beginning but lost my attention for final few chapters although was still written beautifully and had very good meaning, but i guess it didn’t ‘strike’ me

3.5

Not as good as her other works but the ending was amazing!!

Disappointed by the fact I struggled to finish this book. I love Woolf’s style and this book is a masterpiece in terms of style, yet it was harder to follow for me than other works by her.