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bumblemee 's review for:

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
4.0
reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I liked this book way more than I thought I would, which is wonderful. 
As expected I struggled a lot with the old language plus the stream of consciousness writing. It was hard for me to follow, especially for the first 30 pages or something. More than once I was confused whom I followed in certain paragraphs, whose thoughts I read. At first I thought "Oh no, what have I gotten myself into? All of this just because I was stubborn enough to decide that I wanted to read something by Virginia Woolf despite anticipating it would be hard for me? Why would I do this to myself??", but then it got better. 
I could only read 10-30 pages at a time, because I needed razor sharp focus or else my thoughts would drift or I would simply not read with enough attention and had to reread whole pages. But read like this - carefully, a bit at a time and only when awake enough - I really enjoyed this book. It is the definition of "no plot, just vibes", the vibes being melancholy and time passing. It evoked a cozy kind of sadness, which I really enjoyed feeling for some reason. 
The language was beautiful as well. I annotated more than I thought I would, sometimes because of clever observations, sometimes simply because something was described in a beautiful way. Like Mrs Ramsay watching her daughter Cam running around happily, a little wild girl caught up in her fantasy of fairies living in the hedge. Or when it gets dark and the rain starts and Virginia Woolf describes how the darkness swallows up the house. Simply beautiful. 

I'm glad I read this book and was able to immerse myself in it, since I feared I'd struggle through it. I totally get how one can get frustrated or bored while reading this, though.