To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (Harcourt Brace & Co. , NY, 1927)***

 

One of Woolf’s earlier novels, it was one her first efforts to use the stream-of-conciousness style of writing.  Consequently, there is little plot to the story and the reader must focus on the characters and what they are up to. 

 

Somewhat autobiographical, the story is set between 1910-20, during the summer visits of the Ramsay family to their vacation residence on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.  There are a variety of points of view, sometimes the elderly Mrs. Ramsay trying to anticipate a marriage match for the younger women, one of whom is an artist, the other her more introverted daughter.  She compares some of the possible suitors to her own sons. The point of view might then switch to the thoughts of the younger women, where they consider the several men available at this summer residence and reflect upon the nature of their own existence as well as the character of the men.

 

The third part of the book deals with a final visit to the summer place.  Old Mrs. Ramsay has died, the war has taken the lives of some of the young men.  Why go back at all?  And will Father takes us out to the lighthouse?  It is in this final third of the book that the relationships between family and friends is explored most interestingly.

 

There is much to contemplate in this book, though it is not that difficult to read.