This is a collection of short stories about a party thrown by Mrs Dalloway. It is not necessarily the party, it doesn't even seem to be that important a party, but that doesn't matter.
Each story follows a different person as they prepare for and attend this party. You follow Mrs Dalloway herself as she prepares. You get to follow a woman unsure of the statement she is making with her new dress, you are privy to first meetings and first avoidings and through all these little encounters you find yourself at the heart of the party.
This collection of little snippets I think create a really good sense of the occasion as a whole. I challenge anyone to read it and not see a bit of themselves in the characters. Despite being very of the time, the experiences could apply to almost any party. We've all felt a bit out of place at a party, a bit overdressed, a bit out of our comfort zone and Woolf captures that brilliantly.
It's a tough read, I'll admit that. It's dense modernist prose that moves through time and space in a stream of consciousness that is sometimes hard to keep up with but if you can get to grips with it, it's worth reading.
A really nice little read.
Each story follows a different person as they prepare for and attend this party. You follow Mrs Dalloway herself as she prepares. You get to follow a woman unsure of the statement she is making with her new dress, you are privy to first meetings and first avoidings and through all these little encounters you find yourself at the heart of the party.
This collection of little snippets I think create a really good sense of the occasion as a whole. I challenge anyone to read it and not see a bit of themselves in the characters. Despite being very of the time, the experiences could apply to almost any party. We've all felt a bit out of place at a party, a bit overdressed, a bit out of our comfort zone and Woolf captures that brilliantly.
It's a tough read, I'll admit that. It's dense modernist prose that moves through time and space in a stream of consciousness that is sometimes hard to keep up with but if you can get to grips with it, it's worth reading.
A really nice little read.
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