A collection of snobby English society ( )

It took some time to get into the way the book was written and some time it can be a bit confusing for me. It is a book that one needs to read slowly. I love how much attention the author put into the details of a scene. You often felt that you are right there with the character. Quite an interesting book, I felt that one need to read couple more times to appreciate it more. ( )

A vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life, but it skips around to other people that are also on the periphery of her life. It's very stream of consciousness type writing that flows freely form one characters self reflective thoughts to another. It was very hard for me to get into it and really care much about any of the characters, there incessant thoughts seems so tedious. ( )

My biggest problem with this book is the writing. She writes and writes and writes and it's like she barely stops for air. There are no pauses or breaks and I found it exhausting. Yes I know, stream of consciousness. But I hate it. 160 pages felt like 160,000 pages.

Plus I didn't like Clarissa or Septimus and the story was boring. ( )

Modern classic published in 1925, Mrs. Dalloway provides a “day in the life” of Clarissa Dalloway, a London socialite, in June, 1923, as she prepares to host a party later that evening. Her charismatic former suitor, Peter, now in his fifties, has returned from five years in India. Decades ago, she turned down Peter’s proposal and married Richard Dalloway, a staid member of Parliament. The reader is privy to the thoughts and memories of Clarissa, her friends and acquaintances, and Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of the Great War. Septimus is suffering from what they called “shell shock” at the time, and we would now call “post-traumatic stress disorder.”

The stream-of-consciousness writing style took me a while to get used to, but once I did, I found the story intriguing. While the book covers only a single day, it examines the ageless themes of time, choices, and death. Big Ben chimes regularly throughout, reminding the reader of the passage of time. Clarissa and Peter wonder what their lives would be like if they had married. Clarissa and Septimus are preoccupied by thoughts of death. This novel contains commentary on the British social system and the treatment of mental illness, embedded in the various interactions among the characters. It packs a lot into 200 pages.

It won’t be for everyone. The writing is quaint, and I daresay it contains more semi-colons than any book I’ve read. It is a character study, so there is not much action and very little plot. The bulk of the narrative is spent in the heads of the characters, so it meanders and digresses as thoughts tend to do. Recommended to those who enjoy reading the classics or anyone that wants a glimpse into London’s society of the 1920’s, as seen through the eyes of a lyrical writer of the time. ( )