Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse BOOK REVIEW 

To the Lighthouse is one of my favorite novels. I'm amazed at how you managed to state that you didn't like its depressed tone with an intelligent point of view instead of making a silly rant. I am predictably impressed as always, good sir.

I don’t consider Woolf the best novelist I’ve ever read, but she very well might be the best writer I’ve encountered. She just has such an astounding way with words. The sections with Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway are especially moving to me. She also has an essay titled “Modern Fiction” that is outstanding.

Most unique BookTuber..I just love him

The Waves is my favorite novel from her. You should give it a try

One of my favourites from Woolf! Excellent job, as always, Cliff!

It's so interesting that you say it's not a book that you would ever read again because of how depressing it is because to me this book is so full of hope and it fills me with life, almost as if it heightened all my senses. It's amazing how drastically different our experience of the same literary work is. I saw some people recommend The Waves but just a heads up I personally find it even more depressing than To The Lighthouse. Anyways, really enjoyed your review!

Your review of on pain and sun and steel made me quit social media and work on my academics and strength training regimen. Keep making reviews. They're really helpful.

This might be my favorite novel. A book I strive to read once per year

To the lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, and The Waves are considered the best of her works, I'm not big fan of The Waves but I still think it is worth reading all those books, can easily read them all in 2 weeks. My fav being Orlando, the prose and message is wonderful.

i never got a depressive vibe from this book

Holy Jesus! I just finished this book, and I'm doing a paper on it.

Ahh man, NFT :(

Woolf is my all time favourite writer, absolutely love her work.

Well, I guess that it says a lot about me the fact that this is my ultimate comfort book. I recommend you "The Waves", "Orlando" and "Mrs. Dalloway"; these are her most representative works alongside "To the lighthouse".

if you hate long boring sentences you will hate Charles Dickens,have you read him?,i would like for you to read him if you can.

it is never a bad day when you upload, cliff

Virginia woolf is my favorite author, The first novel I read by her was "Orlando" and it was love at first read, I think you'll like it way better than To the lighthouse!

Hi Cliff, would you consider reading and reviewing The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster? I highly recommend it. Love your channel, greetings from Germany!

This book marked me so deeply. It’s still one of my favorites. Her ability to describe loss and oblivion is unmatched. I recommend Orlando by her, it’s also fantastic.

Thanks for making videos. I love Woolf’s long agonizing sentences because they are so in keeping with the overall quagmire that is consciousness. Lighthouses themselves were pretty desperate attempts to cling to life, if one considers the yearly disaster stats of nations before airlines became the major mode of travel for immigration. Maritime disasters ubiquitously dominate the charts. An ocean, a sea of consciousness often too perilous to cross.

I would love to hear your opinion of Orlando! One of my favourites. It's definitely not depressing at all.

I love the variety of genres you review on your channel. Each video is a treat that re-ignites my hunger for the written word. You are certainly a gem.

This book killed me with boredom quicker than Virginia kills off characters in “Time Passes”.

Interesting how Cliff has slowly moved from obscure authors and books to relatively more mainstream ones.

Unstable world, if you confess Jesus is Lord believe God raised Him fromthe dead youwill be Saved. Romans10:9

So happy to see you reviewing one of my all time favorite novels that I love from the depths of my heart!

VW is one of my favorite writers but To the Lighthouse is a bore; my least favorite of her books. I’d suggest the experimental novel The Waves (my favorite), Mrs. Dalloway, which is probably her best work, or Orlando for a very different VW. Orlando isn’t representative of a “VW” work but is more fun, has more energy, carries an interesting plot and characters, and moves forward in a way we’re more accustomed to in novels. It’s the work I’d recommend first to a someone wanting to read VW and not get bogged down (or be delighted) by every single sentence.

Give The Left Hand of Darkness a try

Yes! Virginia Woolf is one of my most favorite author of all time. Amazing review! Please do a Ursula Le Guin book review.

The sheer juxtaposition of this smart review of Virginia Woolf with the NFT ad at the front lol

It was exactly the opposite for me. When I started it, I felt like it's going to be laborious read and I couldn't understand what was going on, neither did I care for any of the characters. I picked it up couple of days later and it just hit me for no apparent reason. Towards the end, it became one of my favorite novels.

the waves is my favourite novel by her and one of my favourite books of all time!

i've never read Woolf but the Hours is one of my favorite films of all time. Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in a very compelling performance. in fact the book is just as good as the film, and i'm sure its more enhanced if i had read Dalloway first.

The Lighthouse cannot be a symbol of death as the analyst says because it is the light out there a way off from the land where there is loneliness sorrow, people suddenly die, darkness to the depths suffuses everything and creeps in through crevices and keyholes, the light out there in the sea is hope , spiritual guidance , the thing that drives us to keep on living.

It was a difficult read for me in the beginning but, as you read you'll get familiar with her style. The lighthouse's light scene, beef stew dinner and Mr. Ramsay's thought on becoming best in his field. After time passes it's all melancholy. I don't want to post spoiler here. End was also heart-warming.

i'm a fan. have you done maurice blanchot?

I’m a simple man: BTF recommends some good modernist literature, I buy it and let it sit on the shelf for 4 years

10:52 For the peoples, before us, reading this literature, out loud, even with radio, these 'long confusing sentences' (Mr. Better than food, stop with your 20-21 century bias of visual slavery of your perceptions...) I was ecstatic reading these sentences and feeling something I have not felt before thru pure art written in English sentences.

Read that one for Brit Lit way back. It was ok. Not something that I’m likely to read again, but thanks for the review.

I was considering reading this book until I got to the end of this review and decided it's not for me. Have you read Clarice Lispector's "The Hour of de Star"? I think it might be similar tot his, but less of a drag.

Virginia Wolfe was channeling genius. Few writers come close.

for me the lighthouse represents loss, or rather the loss of what you could have done, that's why they go back but they cant get the magic. Its central I think to youth and lost youth and lost opportunity, but more so opportunity that you spoiled yourself. VW is essentially repeating the same thing again and again. Its a churn of analogy, all pointing to the same motif, loss of opportunity but in varied guises. There are so many clues, the only rattling around my head is her reference to her eyes being open and seeing. Seems to make far more sense than the literal.

I just love how he doesn’t feel anything by referencing Wikipedia

but modern literature is kinda like that, isn't it? everything is very critical and gloomy. i don't blame the writers, given the time when they were living.

You should read The Years by Woolf. I read it in a hospital bed while trating a cancer and it didnt felt depressing, it felt like a treat, just a delicious and well writing good company. Sad but beautifully sad and not depressing ( ok, dooming as the title may suggest). I also read The Chandelier ( O lustre) By Lispctor and the Museum of Innocence by Pamuk while I was in the hospital and these thee books really left a lasting impression and again a very good company much needed to being able to avoid the self-help and christian books they shove into you when you have cancer. Great channel, kisses from Brazil.

I was happy to see you mentioned Clarice Lispector at the end of the video. I was wondering if you have ever reviewed any of her books. By the way, To the Lighthouse is one of my favorite books, especially the middle chapter "Time Passes". I'm considering reading it again after watching that video.

i like the narration style however it was very very dramatic almost to the point of being funny many times

Wonderful video, as always! I read portions of To the Lighthouse in a Woolf lit class in college. I enjoyed it, but definitely need to revisit the whole novel. I highly recommend A Room of One’s Own by Woolf. Two brilliant essays discussing writing and feminism that were unbelievably radical and forward thinking for the time. Happy reading! ❤️

Looking forward to this. My favorite book ever. Do yourself a favor and explore more of her work. Mrs Dalloway has more of what you'll be looking for, from what you've said. Edit : Ha, Bela Tarr. One of my favorite directors. Lovely comparison.

Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped is not only 'beautiful' but tense and riveting, in my view.

It's not Byron, is it.

Thanks for the great review! I loved this book. Such a subtle masterpiece

Just realized how I've messed up stream of consciousness and internal monologue for a while. Thanks for the lesson, Cliff!

I was underwhelmed with this novel. The plot is shallow and the writing so convoluted that it hard to sustain interest..

Love a bit of Virginia

I am so glad that you finally reviewed this book, I absolutely love it!

Looks a bit more like Steinbeck that NFT

Discription of her suicide was dead on. I am dead!

Love your reviews! I would love to see one on Sebald!

Aaah I'm so happy you posted this video! I'm reading it currently, it's amazing

I was surprised at how much of a male approach to Woolf's novel you took. For me, it seemed that in this review you zeroed in on all those things a male would concentrate on. I am a male. However, when I read this book, I took the role of observer as opposed to someone attempting to understand, needing to place in a concretized logical pattern of thought what the author was saying. I let the words of the novel wash over me, absorbing the magnificent tones and impressions Woolf presented to the reader. To the Lighthouse is one of the greatest pieces of literature I've ever read.

book recommendation: ADVENTURES IN IMMEDIATE IRREALITY by MAX BLECHER

I love Virginia Woolf. She was brilliant. I like To the lighthouse but prefer Mrs Dalloway (it's the kind of book that you read in one breath, a version of Ullysses that you can actually read) and The Waves (more experimental). Orlando is great, but different for her other books. Easier, more tradicional, happier. She also has a lot of feminist essays like "A room of one's own" that today, in 2021, still so relevant. That's the thing about her, she is timeless. By the way, tottally agree that Clarice Lispector is better. As a brazilian, I feel in love with her as a teenager in high school and I read A LOT since than but good god, her writing is so briliant that I keep coming back for more. Edit: I'm thinking a lot about Virginia Woolf after this review because I agree with on Clarice and Hilda and hey, I'm a brazilian, but I relate way more with Virginia sadness. I'm dry and quiet and more apathetic and reflective about life, in a contained way. Like in Mrs Dalloway, for example, she is sick and depressed but her party is amazing and no one can notice that she is falling apart. That's my life, and that's Virginia's writing.

Good review thanks. I just read it and your points really helped to solidify my thinking on it, but unlike you I really loved it. I disagree that it is all doom and gloom as I thought that it achieved balance through reconciliation in the end. Lily who struggled with the meaning of life is reconciled to gaining 'little revelations' and thus completes her painting. The father looks for adoration and sympathy, from anyone and gets that from his family through an act of self sacrifice, by going to the lighthouse. The hatred Jame's feels for his father is dissipated through his father's sacrifice. All of which is hopeful rather than depressing I feel. Anyhow loved the review and I will be back.

NFT... electricity usage???

Both the first and second reading of "To the Lighthouse" were like crawling across the Sahara on my knees. Like you, I will never read it again.

I was so happy when I saw Chess Story and To the Lighthouse pop up in my subscription feed. I watch lots of your reviews but have barely read any of the books that you review. But slowly I'm getting into more difficult fiction, and Chess Story and To the Lighthouse were both on my TBR. I loved Chess Story and am super excited to read To the Lighthouse (and then watch your review!). Thanks for reviewing some "easier" books. A Beginner

I just found your channel. I watched The Great Gatsby video first and now this one. I do not understand the fascination with The Great Gatsby, but I do like reading this book. I'm not sure why one and not the other. They are both as grim as you note in the two videos. The narration may even be the same. Does naming the narrator mean the book is not third person omniscient?

You must’ve enjoyed Breaking the Waves. Thoughts on Robert Pattinson’s work, like, Good Time, for example?

Yes, there is humor. Woolf's actually very funny, but her jokes are, as you implied, subtle (I just reread A Room of One's Own, and was amazed how many jokes I'd missed on the first reading). I think the wandering sentences in To The Lighthouse were intentional; you sometimes get a bit lost in them, the way you get lost in thoughts--and thoughts are what drive this narrative.

Woolf wrote about the hardships of women that write in A Room of One's Own, a book-length essay from 1929.

That's pretty much how I felt about 'Mrs. Dalloway', all very clever, but I just didn't give a fuck.

A friend of mine's wife recommended this aeons ago. I barely remember it. But do recall some similar takes on it, falling off of interest. But still it recorded life so well!!! I believe I saw the film with that beautiful Australian actor in it. Mr. Sargeant, you made the book interesting to a point, and I've a book of Lispector stories I have, tried to read...but haven't returned...it's hard. Writing the thing that is life. Yes. It can be dull or depressing, because, well, it is. It's very difficult doing balance. My short novella was criticized as being inconsistent. Not all funny absurd sad exciting or interesting or whatever. Balance in the literary form. It's very challenging to accomplish. For a person to eventually have maybe marketable tome, one has to more or less cheat. The reader knows it is a cheat. The happy ending, loose ends tied up, etc. But real life doesn't always do that. So far in my 59 years there are times I feel stuck, frustrated, and even depressed that I'll never get out of where I am, which is employed and healthy, etc., but of course I'd just want to sit at home and read and write. But who am I? Keep Reading and Reviewing Books. You are great at what you do.

excellent book - infuriating review ... which I must agree with in many particulars - yeah, if one is so smart that he thinks he has (she has) figured it all out and found it wanting (life!) then he is a laughable fool - and should therefore LAUGH! Sad lady.

I couldn't read past 1/3 of To The Lighthouse... Soooo boring. Smart, but dull.

Like your content, but please look into the environmental damage the creation of NFTs cause

Interesting thought about stopping moving inside. Seems to me that to stop moving inside is to surrender to bitterness -- a world in which everything hurts and is a pain in the ass. Depression, on the other hand is a state of being overwhelmed. I've met chronically depressed people who aren't bitter. Bitter people are often too full self-righteous bullshit to acknowledge their depression. And so it goes.

The Melancholy of Resistance by Laszlo Krasznahorkai review pls. It will be one of your fav

Hey, Cliff, have you ever read any Robert Walser? He was a german language writer from Swiss, greatly admired by Kafka, Sebald, and quite a few other literary titans. His novels and stories are quietly pessimistic, but also very beautiful and full with subtle, intelligent humor. I think he should be right up your alley. I would recommend the brief and exquisite novel "Jakob von Gunten" or the short story "Kleist in Thun" as a starting point.

OMG Thank you for your review!! I completely totally agree. I simply did NOT like this book. I have been told so often how absolutely wonderful it is and told specifically how much I am going to like it.... well, guess what, I didn't. I only finished it because I promise myself to finish books that I start. I do think you will find some interesting thoughts in Orlando.

The only Woolf I've read is Mrs. Dalloway. It's such a beautiful novel, I'd love to hear your review of it. To The Lighthouse is a book I've always wanted to read, it sounds, like Mrs. Dalloway beautifully bittersweet.

The author, V. Woolf, writes of Divine Goodness, Loveliness. In Time Passes chapter there are lines about darkness and light: “When darkness fell, the stroke of the Lighthouse, came now in the softer light of spring mixed with moonlight as if it laid its caress ... and came lovingly again...”

Y'all watch contrapoints?

Love that devastating passage... Mr Ramsey walking on the shore, he stretched him arms out but Mrs Ramsey having died the night before, he stretched his arms out they remained empty. I'm paraphrasing as it's been 20 years but it stayed with me along with the animal skull in the bedroom in time passes. Life is a tumultous series of impressions, memories, real and warped, and experiences, thoughts and feelings. That's why this works, that's why it is groundbreaking along with Mrs Dalloway. The Ramseys are like the feather and the hammer. The one ethereal, caressing, comforting, the other brutalising, utilitarian and ultimately destructive.

Sometimes when I read or watch good stuff (good art), I feel overwhelmed by an ocean. This unpacking overwhelmed me. That's a good thing. I think. I've learnt something.

I feel like Woolf writes books whose depth is uncovered on each rereading. To the Lighthouse didn't quite blow me away in the same manner that Mrs Dalloway or Orlando did, but it is a book I'll be rereading, not just to uncover the next layer of depth imbedded in it, but for the amazing human portraits she paints. Loved the honest review. Thanks for sharing.

Attenuated, nerveless, fog-bound depression in superb, lapidary prose..

I like the reviews usually. Parallels between the insecure philosopher in this novel and your boy Jordan Peterson?

The Waves is written similarly to this in a way that it is also written as if your in characters mind. I personally like The Waves better, both because of beauty of the language and the story line and it's development. If you didn't like this one maybe give try to the other one because im not the biggest fan of light house myself yet i enjoyed waves on another level

I think I never agreed with you so much... Also my first Virginia Woolf book... It took me years to give her another go, unfortunately, as the other ones are so much better... It is very much a drag...

Not a dessert island book lol What an on-point review... I'm just about to read Huysmans, and you've just nonchalantly mentioned Dorian Gray!!!!

Been waiting too damn long for another review, Cliff! lol Just bought Huysmans two minutes ago as well, as I've been watching your old reviews over and over again. Damn! I've read To The Lighthouse so, let me get that coffee...

Man, I love your reviews!! They’re very balanced and I love your dry, cynical tone. I would really love if you could do a review of The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera!!

The importance of being earnest by Oscar Wilde is really good. However the picture of Dorian Gray taught me a few things about life.

Cool. I read The Waves earlier this year. It was my first Woolf and it was a masterpiece. Beautiful use of language.

Have you ever thought about doing a collaboration with Krimsonrouge? He does book reviews as well.

A real favorite and a great review/discussion of the book and Woolf herself. Woolf was a depressive and suicidal and in this novel she seems to have poured that sad sensibility onto the page but it still is a truly great novel, just not something to be re-read except for the prose.

I was reading and a friend of mine said " A mad man's happiness is in his mind." this produced so much confusion & anxiety even about my very being. I really don't want to feel so hopeless and that opinion is still panging me terribly.

My favourite avid reader and critic. Thank you forever and hi from Australia 🇦🇺

Yeah we're into crypto , trying to get into the Hive myself. effing not easy.