literarianlife's Reviews (485)

This was my first time reading The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf, which was the first of her stories to be published by Hogarth Press. I though the second short story by Mark Haddon was a lovely edition, with both short stories complimenting each other well. It's also a lovely little edition

Thoroughly enjoyed this fictional account of Vanessa Bell and her sister Virginia Woolf. The book is narrated through diary entries and letters which I felt worked very well, especially as the Bloomsbury group were all prolific writers and there is a lot of source material to use. I felt that the author created characters incredibly well around these real life artists and writers. I would love to read more from her centred on this group. I'll be going away to read some non-fiction on the central characters and find out more about Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.

I'm not sure quite what I make of this book and a star rating doesn't really accurately reflect how I feel about it. I'm not sure how I feel about Lucy the heroine and other character feel a little incomplete somehow. Saying that Forster wrote this in 1908, and I like his subtle critique of aspects of society at that time, notions of class and gender and the writing is excellent. All in all I'm keen to read more of his work.