The Election and Mrs. Dalloway

First and foremost as of this writing (Wednesday at 12:05 a.m.) the Democrats have just won the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi will be the first female Speaker of the House and we may still win the Senate (tough but possible), so if you'll excuse me for a minute...

WOO HOO!!!

OK, now back to my planned entry...

Wow! Clarissa and Virginia kicked my butt.

Regular readers may remember that in mid-October I began reading Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" and was struggling. Well, after reading more than half of the book, and seeing the movie, I gave up on the book. At least for now. Perhaps I'll revisit it, when I have time to read it in longer stretches.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa [thumping my chest three times]. Why do I feel so guilty about this?

The writing is wonderful - the details, the character development, it's all there. But the stream-of-consciousness was too difficult for me to keep up with.

The entire novel - 200+ pages - takes place over one day. There is relatively little dialogue and when there is dialogue Woolf doesn't distinguish it from the narrative. It is written in an omniscient third person POV but it tells the story from inside one person's head at a time - it's difficult to explain and tough to read.

I've already read Woolf's "Orlando" and "To the Lighthouse" and I still want to read "A Room of One's Own", so I will be visiting with Virginia once again.

I recommend "Mrs. Dalloway" with the caveat that it is a difficult read.