The Waves

For the first 50 or 100 pages of The Waves I was enthralled. Late in the novel Woolf has a character muse on the blurry outlines of our everyday consciousness where there is a "rushing stream of broken dreams, nursery rhymes, street cries, half-finished sentences and sights...There is nothing one can fish up in a spoon; nothing one can call an event. Yet it is alive too and deep, this stream" (255-256). Woolf has set herself the task of describing six lives from the standpoint of this stream which can never truly be captured in language and the novel is at times revelatory. One learns a lot about oneself reading this book.However, it is difficult to sustain for 300 pages. While there are priceless gems scattered throughout the whole book after 50 or 100 pages it becomes a bit repetitive and tedious and I found myself longing for the surface. It just felt like too much to be submerged in this stream for 300 straight pages. I think in general there needs to be rhythm in works of fiction. If there is a climax there also have to be duller sections and periods of build up and return. If there are revelations or epiphanies they need to be separated by periods of routine. If there is profound poetry there also need to be sections of plain prose. This novel seemed to me to be an attempt at pure poetry, every line made an attempt to be deep and profound, every moment needed to give birth to some new epiphany, and it is too much. We lose the rhythm of the waves and of life. The novel was missing the rhythmic returns to normalcy that are necessary to highlight the moments of exceptional clarity and beauty.There are lots of interesting themes in the novel involving the nature of identity, the self, language, consciousness, and so on and there are some tremendously beautiful lines and insights that I will return to over the years so the book is worth reading. It is also a tremendous feat to have written this book and I have the utmost respect and admiration for Woolf for not only attempting it but succeeding as well as anyone possibly could. But I don't think the experiment was ultimately entirely successful. We cannot live in the stream. We can dive occasionally and bring back a pearl or a shiny rock but we also need to breathe the air and forget about the stream for extended periods of time. While I gathered some pearls along the way, and am grateful for them, by the time I finished the book I was ready for some fresh air.

I have been a devoted fan of Virginia Woolf since I was a teenager and first discovered the brilliance of her writing in "To The Lighthouse"... after which I devoured everything she had written, including her diaries and essays. There is nothing else like The Waves in the whole of English literature, before or since. The best summary of it I have ever heard was the author Jeanette Winterson's comment that it represented "a 200-page insult to mediocrity". Indeed it does.Six characters, followed from childhood to old age, narrating what they see, think and feel, always in the present tense. As with her other novels, Woolf's insights into the individual's inner realm of emotion and thought are keen and complex. But the true magic of the book lies in the writing and the way all this is expressed. The language is uniquely lyrical; Woolf's words almost paint pictures on the page.This is not to say that The Waves is for everyone. So try this simple test: pick it off the shelf in a bookstore and read the first dozen or so pages. You will likely have one of two reactions: either that it is extraordinary, magical prose poetry, or a less prosaic "Huh?" If you're in the latter category, don't read the rest... and if you're still curious about Woolf, start with To The Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway, both of which are more conventional in their form (though Woolf's work can rarely be termed conventional).I return to this book every few years as I myself advance in age and can relate more directly to a different part of the characters' lives. The old dinner party question about which three or four books one would take to a desert island finds, for me, one of its answers here in this wonderful, unique novel (for the record, the others would be Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, some good trash - maybe James Clavell's "Shogun" - and an anthology of poetry of my own choosing).

The novel presents monologues of six different people in various stages of life. Unfortunately, it reads like six monologues from the same person at one stage of like. I seems to reflect the thoughts of one person at one stage of life, That is, Virginia Wolf an sophisticated mature author. It seem that she is the voice of each. If you examine the monologues of the characters as children you find language would be far beyond the their reach.The prose is beautiful and poetic but it doesn't communicate a discernable message to me.I have found her other novels much more rewarding

This is a beautiful story that struck an emotional chord with me as a reader. The stories are intriguing and convincing, the writing is beautifully poetic, and the formatting of this particular version was easy to read and navigate. Overall, this book is a great read, especially for those who might be unfamiliar with Woolf's work.

The Waves is a 20th century prose poetic study in childhood relationships. The children are like the author very intelligent and insightful and what a reader takes away is the poetic musical language of remembrances and psychological discoveries of recall from youth and the compounded effect of later life. If you like the language of youth and the discoveries of heartfelt sentiment this may be appealing to you. If you're looking for standard prose storytelling this will not be an easy read. Sample the text and at least try engaging Woolf's extraordinary mind as she unveils the remembrances of the wave-like encounters of current and past friends from childhood. A relatively short work makes the reading of this experimental novel even more approachable for someone new to psychologically complex studies of time recollected from youth.

Some passages that cannot be conveyed, only luxuriated in for real. Give the text a go, as its meaning will seep into your mind, as characters are apotheosised in their growing age, in various extrapolations of existence, such as birds.The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.Above is one of its conclusions.

This is the first time l've ever read a book by Virginia Woolf, it is certainly different to other books l have read. A friend explained the book to me and then it made more sense - you're reading their thoughts not a conversation, once l knew that it made reading easier and l have enjoyed the book. Would recommend this book/author to other readers. Other book l purchased at the same time was Whose's afraid of Virginia Woolf - next to read.......

Not for the faint hearted reader! The style of writing and the the format of the book are something quite different. Here you will find in analysis of the psyche which scratches beneath the surface to reveal the subjects as they are, rather than as they would wish to appear. The chronological approach emphasizes changes - one is constantly asking what is genetic, what is learned? As an in depth writing the book is interesting - there are brilliant passages, some a little abstract.

Read this when I was 15 and was told to write in the style of Virginia Woolf when I was 16 or 17. He marked my work highly commended and it made me feel so good.I am really looking forward to rereading The Waves, along with Mrs Dalloway.A treat lies in store ...

kindle purchase