To the Lighthouse :: Virginia Woolf

This month I tackled my first 'white whale' for 2010. These are books that for whatever reason I haven't been able to finish - despite numerous attempts.

I've been reading Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse since 1999 when the awesome Professor Phil Fisher (elbow patches and all) assigned it in my 20th Century Novel class. I'm not sure why it's been so difficult for me to read: it's only 209 pages long. This time was no easier, though, as it took me almost 4 weeks to finish, which is kind of stupidly long for a book this short.

That's not to say it isn't good; it is, of course. I'm just not sure I enjoyed it. It's the type of book that I would have appreciated much more in an academic setting. Professor Fisher would have really shown me the way. I loved that guy.

Anyway, the novel is in three parts and is ostensibly about the Ramsay family (and some friends) on vacation in the Hebrides. In part one, James - the youngest boy - desperately wants to visit the nearby lighthouse. The conversation that follows, with regard to whether the weather (!) will allow it, sheds light into the relationships and tensions within the family. Also in the house are a sycophantic colleague of Mr. Ramsey, a newly engaged couple, and uncertain young painter, Lily Briscoe, who all come together for a large dinner party at the end of section one.

Section two, or Time Passes, is meant to give the reader the sensation that ten years are going by. We learn the fates of many of the characters; most notably Mrs. Ramsay who has passed away during this period. Woolf herself described this section as an experiment and as a reader, I'd say, you get it.

The last section of the book, of course, takes place ten years after part one. Mr. Ramsay returns to the house to finally take the trip to the lighthouse. As he and the children go to the lighthouse, Lily, who has also returned to the house, more assuredly works on the painting that she was so insecure about before.

Like many modernist classics, To The Lighthouse's accomplishment is not in the narrative, but in the telling. While not that much happens in the novel, Woolf's writing vividly conveys all the emotions and tensions of the Ramsays' world.

Again, an obvious achievement (not that anyone needed me to say it). But, you know, not "fun".

4 out of 5 stars.