Mrs Dalloway

by Virginia Woolf

[nannah]

I've seen this book on many wlw reading lists, and that's ultimately what made me pick this up at the library. Unfortunately, that's also the (largest) reason I disliked it.

Book content warnings:
suicide
ableism

Mrs. Dalloway is a book that's more of an experiment in stream of consciousness than anything written in prose or poetry style. It made reading and enjoying this novel difficult, to say the least. Yeah, I can be impressed by Virginia Woolf's skill as a writer, but it ends there. Reading this was a challenge I don't ever want to attempt again. After finishing the last page, there was no satisfaction, no particular feeling of conclusion, etc.

What's it about? Honestly . . . much of nothing. You as a reader are taken wandering around as characters go about their day. You experience one character's views, then hop into another's mind, then another. Then you end the day.

That's about it. 194 pages later, and I'm not really sure what I possibly have gained from this book. satisfaction? no. Positive wlw representation? no. A story? no.

I know people say the experience of the writing and setting an atmosphere is worth reading, but I can't agree, I'm sorry.