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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
I could just as easily have given this 2 stars as 5. The story seemed to stray and wander at times, and I got impatient for it to move forward. The entire time though, it kept my mind going, ruminating over story lines I could write myself, forming a textural landscape for my own narrative. And the writing was beautiful and activated all of the senses and emotions.
Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!!!!!!
I thought Orlando had become my favorite book but this is a close close close second. I feel so LUCKY I get to exist in the same time field as Virginia Woolf and I get to experience her grasp on the English language. Timeless depictions of unrequited love, anxiety, and young adult angst/insecurity through an incredible literary decomposition of time and space. Heavy on themes of queer gender, the relentless doom of womanhood, the fatal curse of motherhood, and the impossibility of an “identity” in a world of infinite and simultaneous experiences. The problem is insoluble. The observer is choked with observation. Its no use trying to sum people up. It is beauty alone that is immortal. This is life, this is life. Virginia Woolf is my idol and my sister in arms…
“It’s not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us; it’s the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses.”
“What can be more violent that the fling of boughs in a gale, the tree yielding itself all up the trunk, to the very tip of the branch, streaming and shuddering the way the wind blows, yet never flying in dishevelment away? The corn squirms and abases itself as if preparing to tug itself free from the roots, and yet is tied down.”
“They never noticed her. She felt motherly towards them.”
“It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow creatures is utterly unknown. Either we are men, or we are women. Either we are cold, or we are sentimental. Either we are young, or growing old. In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and watch them depart with such anguish, being shadows…. Such is the manner of our seeing. Such the conditions of our love”
I thought Orlando had become my favorite book but this is a close close close second. I feel so LUCKY I get to exist in the same time field as Virginia Woolf and I get to experience her grasp on the English language. Timeless depictions of unrequited love, anxiety, and young adult angst/insecurity through an incredible literary decomposition of time and space. Heavy on themes of queer gender, the relentless doom of womanhood, the fatal curse of motherhood, and the impossibility of an “identity” in a world of infinite and simultaneous experiences. The problem is insoluble. The observer is choked with observation. Its no use trying to sum people up. It is beauty alone that is immortal. This is life, this is life. Virginia Woolf is my idol and my sister in arms…
“It’s not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us; it’s the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses.”
“What can be more violent that the fling of boughs in a gale, the tree yielding itself all up the trunk, to the very tip of the branch, streaming and shuddering the way the wind blows, yet never flying in dishevelment away? The corn squirms and abases itself as if preparing to tug itself free from the roots, and yet is tied down.”
“They never noticed her. She felt motherly towards them.”
“It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow creatures is utterly unknown. Either we are men, or we are women. Either we are cold, or we are sentimental. Either we are young, or growing old. In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and watch them depart with such anguish, being shadows…. Such is the manner of our seeing. Such the conditions of our love”
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Re-read this as preparation to teach it and was surprised that I'd misremembered it completely. All the time we spend learning about the titular Jacob bored me and made me dislike him, which while painful is perhaps what makes both the opening and climatic scenes so vividly painful. The use of free indirect discourse will definitely push students comfortable with linear narrative and it may be helpful to focus on breaking in down into separate episodes.
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Okay, a novel that "lacks a conventional narrative style" and experiments with POVs is not going to be best enjoyed in a LibriVox audiobook format. I don't know why I keep putting myself through this misery. Anyway, I was more present during the middle of the book, which was f i n e, but like -- I wasn't invested. It wasn't only the audiobook narrator though; the issue I had was that it was a little bit too scattered with direct characterization or at times I felt like a very static observer - not very involved. It was not a very enjoyable read and I didn't derive much else from it; I'm also not at a point in my life, where experimental literary styles are hugely intriguing to me.
challenging
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Well… if I ever were curious what it would be like to read an entire novel about absolutely nothing, I needn’t wonder any longer.
While working on my PhD coursework I took an entire class on Virginia Woolf, and despite that I still could find nothing to enjoy or appreciate about this novel, which I found to be completely and utterly inane, and, frankly, sinfully boring.
Jacob is in the title, and thus I searched for him throughout this book, but he never really materialized. Sure, he’s mentioned, often even, but I know as much about him or anyone or anything throughout the narrative as I did before starting it: namely, completely and absolutely nothing.
It’s as though this were simply a collection of words strewn together, leaving no lasting impression of any kind. It was a waste of time, for me at least, and it leaves me wondering what anyone could find to enjoy or appreciate about it. Woolf wrote some brilliant works, but this, in my opinion, is definitely not one of them.
While working on my PhD coursework I took an entire class on Virginia Woolf, and despite that I still could find nothing to enjoy or appreciate about this novel, which I found to be completely and utterly inane, and, frankly, sinfully boring.
Jacob is in the title, and thus I searched for him throughout this book, but he never really materialized. Sure, he’s mentioned, often even, but I know as much about him or anyone or anything throughout the narrative as I did before starting it: namely, completely and absolutely nothing.
It’s as though this were simply a collection of words strewn together, leaving no lasting impression of any kind. It was a waste of time, for me at least, and it leaves me wondering what anyone could find to enjoy or appreciate about it. Woolf wrote some brilliant works, but this, in my opinion, is definitely not one of them.