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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Jacob's Room


The blurb on the back of Jacob's Room describes it this way:
"Poetic and nearly plotless, this groundbreaking novel focuses on a flow of random impressions through the minds of its characters. Jacob's Room was Virginia Woolf's first stream-of-consciousness novel--nonlinear and experimental, with an ending that is among the most moving in all of English literature."
Which makes this novel interesting to read, but hard to summarize. The story swirls and eddies around Jacob Flanders, beginning when he's a child collecting butterflies and playing at the seashore with his brothers, to his years at Cambridge arguing Greek philosophy with his friends, to when he's living on his own, presumably working, and falling in love in London, to his travels in Greece when he's just twenty-six. But because of the way this story is told, Jacob remains an elusive, almost ethereal character. We know of him, but we never really get to know him. What I like most about this novel is Woolf's way with words; her writing is lyrical and filled with poetic imagery. I admire how she was always pushing herself as a writer to choose just the right words and to find a new narrative style. For me, Jacob's Room is not as good a Mrs. Dalloway, but it's still a novel worth reading.

But I think I'll let Virginia's words speak for themselves. Here are a few poetic passages from this innovative book:
The waves showed that uneasiness, like something alive, restive, expecting the whip, of waves before a storm ... The wind blew straight dashes of rain across the window, which flashed silver as they passed through the light. A single leaf tapped hurriedly, persistently, upon the glass. There was a hurricane at sea.
"I like Jacob Flanders," wrote Clara Durrant in her diary. "He's so unworldly. He gives himself no airs and one can say what one likes to him, though he's frightening because..." But then, this is only a young woman's language, one, too, who loves, or refrains from loving. She wished the moment to continue forever precisely as it was that July morning. And moments don't.
Jacob went to the window and stood with his hands in his pockets. There he saw three Greeks in kilts; the masts of ships; idle or busy people of the lower classes strolling or stepping out briskly....Their lack of concern for him was not the cause of his gloom; but some profound conviction--it was not that he himself happened to be lonely, but that all people are.
Happy Reading!

 

9 comments:

  1. Hmmm, sounds a bit heavy. I hate to admit it, but I'm just not liking super deep or heavy books lately. I think it's because I'm reading to escape right now.

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    1. It's not a super heavy read...the narrative carries you like an ocean wave would, in and out, up and down...but it's definitely not a light summer-escape novel either. (I think I'm about ready for some of those.)

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  2. I don't think I've read a Virginia Woolf book but this sounds like a character-driven book. I'll probably start with Mrs. Dalloway if the mood calls for it.

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    1. Jacob's Room is an object, memory, moment-driven book. You never really get drawn into the various characters' lives beyond that momentary connection and stream-of-consciousness. It's a different way to tell a story. So definitely start with Mrs. Dalloway first. I think it's her best book.

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  3. Hmmm. I actually like the sound of this one. Sometimes I enjoy reading just for the magic a writer can create with words.

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    1. It's a good book! But then I'm a Virginia Woolf fan, so I like most of what she wrote. Have you ever read Mrs. Dalloway? That's my favorite.

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  4. Jacob's room is a beautiful book, I've read it a couple of years ago, but now I feel like reading it again.
    I think it is one of Virginia Woolf's best books.

    Kind regards,

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    1. It is a really good one. I still think I like Mrs. Dalloway better, but the only book of Woolf's that I don't particularly like is Between the Acts. Everything else is amazing. :)

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  5. Ok, I have never read Virginia Woolf except maybe a required short story in an English class. Maybe I will be brave enough to make the attempt at some point. I confess I have always hesitated because of the stream-of-consciousness style....

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