So I’m taking a Virginia Woolf class this semester, and while that means I could have gotten every book I needed from the library (which was my PLAN) I, er. Ended up buying all of them.
I was lured into it! I went into the bookstore for Persian Letters and BAM. Shiny, tempting books. So, you know, now I’ve got a Virginia Woolf collection. It’s a good thing I like modern fiction!
So far we’ve read The Voyage Out (I only made it halfway; I seriously hated it) and we’re onto Jacob’s Room. I like Jacob’s Room, and I’m underlining a lot of interesting, melodious phrases. But I’m dreading the end. If you know what happens at the end, you’ll know why. If you haven’t read it, I won’t ruin it for you.
One of the things I like about Jacob’s Room is how while it’s about Jacob, the person, he’s only ever a sort of background character. Most of what we learn about him is through other people’s perspectives, even if they’re only just sitting across from him on a train. Jacob gets to let out a few thoughts of his own, but they’re small thoughts, inconsequential. When he speaks, it’s mostly in monosyllables.
Plus it’s got that wacky, wacky modern fiction thing where stuff is happening but you don’t know where or when, characters are introduced in a way that gives you absolutely no information about them, and oftentimes objects are described in entirely oddball ways. Sometimes you don’t even know what’s being described until a page later, if that. Fun stuff, if you like that sort of thing. I tend to just hang on by my fingernails I hope I don’t get too lost.
Next we’re going on to Mrs Dalloway. Huzzah!
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