Mrs Dalloway

By Virginia Woolf

Considered by many critics to be Woolf’s masterpiece, Mrs Dalloway was published by Hogarth Press in 1925. The plot follows a single day in the lead up to a party being hosted by Clarissa Dalloway, interspersed with flashbacks and switches in point of view to other principal characters so as to provide a background of their lives and comment on the social structure of the 1920s.

In addition to Mrs Dalloway, the other focus is Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of the war who suffers from ‘shell shock’. Though the two never meet, the hinge of the day’s activities is Smith’s suicide and the subsequent impact it has on Mrs Dalloway’s thoughts – she thinks him quite admirable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781291547382

Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, essayist, short story writer, publisher, critic and member of the Bloomsbury group, as well as being regarded as both a hugely significant modernist and feminist figure. Her most famous works include Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and A Room of One’s Own.

Reviews for Mrs Dalloway

[chrystal_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

masterpiece by one of the greatest writers in English literary history, Mrs. Dalloway is both a moving and innovative novel that breaks new ground in the representation of inner experience. A day in the life of a London woman, Clarissa Dalloway, Woolf's novel is a meditation on time, perception, memory and experience. Informed by the great novelists of the previous century as well as contemporary trends in philosophy, art and literature, Mrs. Dalloway is a towering achievement by an extraordinary artist.

[xicanti_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

MRS DALLOWAY is a stream-of-consciousness look at one day in the life of a society matron and the people she comes into contact with. While Clarissa Dalloway is at the centre, Woolf devotes equal care to those who surround her. The point of view flits from character to character with the speed of thought, and the result is a beautiful, unconventional novel in which plot takes a backseat to character development.I adore good characterization, and Woolf's is lovely. She gives us a real feel for who each of these people is as she invites us to ride around inside their heads and view the world through their eyes. Over a very short period of time, we learn a great deal about each and every one of them. And we don't just see how they view themselves; Woolf also shows us how those around them perceive them. I'll tell you up front, I'm an absolute sucker for anything that invites me to consider its characters in this way. The contrast between each character's view of herself and the way others see her is one of the novel's strongest qualities.The prose is equally good. Even though Woolf deals with the minutia of everyday life, I found the story strange and dreamlike. I think this is due, in large part, to the sudden shifts in POV. One moment, we're hard into Clarissa's perspective; the next, we're deep in Peter Walsh's mind. From him, we jump to someone else... and then to someone else again... and again... and again... Even though the story is grounded in reality, the storytelling makes it feel as though it isn't. It's nicely done.It does, however, make the book a bit difficult to sink into, especially if you've put it down for a while. I had some troubles in that area, and occasionally found that I just couldn't go back to it. I'd read a few lines and decide I needed another break. It's for this reason, more than anything else, that I've decided to pass it along to someone else. I enjoyed it, and I think I'll likely want to read it again, but I doubt I'll return to it any time soon. And when I do, I'm sure there'll be an obliging library or book market ready and waiting to provide me with another copy.(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).

[liivin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not the most entertaining book but an interesting writing style. Needs good concentration to not miss a change in the storyline.

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Mrs. Dalloway” is a classic, considered by some to be the finest modern novel. That sort of recommendation is enough to make me approach carefully; I’m not educated enough to fully appreciate the great works and I find reading them a chore. But I’m happy to say that, although I found the first bit tedious, it didn’t take me long to get sucked into the story. It’s not that the plot is engaging; there is almost no plot. The book is merely a record of one day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, and that of a few of her friends, and some people that she passes by. We are given access to their thoughts as they go about their day. Clarissa buys flowers, mends a dress, and gives a party. She hosts a visitor, just back from India. She thinks about a girl from her school days, with whom she had been in love. Septimus Smith, suffering from PTSD from WW I and the loss of a fellow soldier with whom he’d been in love, quietly sinks into a fatal madness. The stream of consciousness leads us seamlessly through the minds of these people; there are no chapters to provide breaking points. Wolff’s prose is simply beautiful; she describes the everyday moments that are usually forgotten or ignored as things of beauty. But the book is not just pretty prose; there is surprising depth to some of the characters. Clarissa and Septimus, in particular, although not directly connected, seem to be two sides of the questions of life and death. Five stars.

[oataker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I reluctantly gave it a high mark because I was eventually won over. She has lots of good moments in the writing, starting with her appreciation of 'life', especially in the context of the recent war, and the wonderful description of a June day. There is a note of regret throughout, about her charmed, but naive youth, and turning down an interesting man's marriage proposal, although he turns out to be hopeless. There are no chapters and the mental meanderings are a bit purple and prolonged at times. But the knives come out for poor Miss Kilman, (interesting choice of name), the Christian who is clearly hated by Dalloway and I imagine by Virginia. Ugly sweaty and poor, though principled. Her influence on daughter Elizabeth seems unlikely. And finally what is it about the Love interest, Peter's pocket knife, which he is constantly fiddling with?

[amandrake_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Virginia Woolf, like lobster - understandably praised, but not to my taste. I understand it was a fundamental rethinking of the novel, and her writing can be lovely, but it is a bunch of characters in whom I am just not interested. On the plus side, it's easily readable.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The first time I read this book it fell flat. Several years later I read The Hours, which is based on Mrs Dalloway, and thought it was wonderful, which made me think I should re-read the original someday. And this time I appreciated it so much more; in fact, I loved it. From the opening sentence, when Clarissa Dalloway leaves her house to buy flowers for a party she is hosting that evening, I was immediately immersed in the atmosphere of a beautiful London morning. Woolf moves seamlessly from Clarissa to other characters and other places, using events like a passing car to get the reader to “look” in another direction and observe other vignettes in the London scene. This flow continues throughout the novel, as Clarissa prepares for the party and others go about their days. Some characters will attend the party; others have more symbolic dramatic roles. By the end of the party, the characters have all been woven together into a tight and often moving narrative flow.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story told in steam of consciousness takes place in one day. Clarissa Dallaway is having a party that day. The time period is interwar time period. The book addresses women and the restrictions of the milieu has on their activities. Women are restricted politically and must work through men. Ideas are judged on the basis of class and gender. We also have the shell-shocked veteran (PTSD) of WWI who disintegrates, thinks of suicide, and a very astute picture of how doctor's (males) of the time, made decisions without regard to what patient or family really needed. This is another hot issue of the time in which this book is written. There were opinions that it was nothing, malingerers or psychologically unfit. The one doctor is of the opinion that it is nothing and the other takes it seriously and says Septimus must go to home and learn to rest. There is the comparison of Mrs Dallaway to Ulysses (Joyce). Both stories take place in a day. I also would say, that The Garden Party which also occurs in one day and involves a young woman and a death that occurs during a party. For Clarissa, the "continuous present" (Gertrude Stein's phrase) of her charmed youth at Bourton keeps intruding into her thoughts on this day in London. For Septimus, the "continuous present" of his time as a soldier during the "Great War" keeps intruding, especially in the form of Evans, his fallen comrade.More on mental illness; The author is critical of the medical community and is critical of the treatment of depression and PTSD (shell shock). Clarissa and Septimus never meet each other. Their realities are different. It depicts how one person's mental illness never impacts others. And something I didn't know; There are similarities in Septimus' condition to Woolf's struggles with bipolar disorder. Both hallucinate that birds sing in Greek, and Woolf once attempted to throw herself out of a window as Septimus does. Woolf had also been treated for her condition at various asylums, from which her antipathy towards doctors developed. Woolf committed suicide by drowning, sixteen years after the publication of Mrs Dalloway. Septimus is Clarissa's double (according to Woolf).

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was quite leery of reading Mrs. Dalloway, my second Virginia Woolf as I wasn’t a fan of my first attempt, Jacob’s Room. Once again the dreaded words “stream of consciousness” arose and I approached the book with trepidation. I chose to listen to the book as read by Juliet Stevenson, and this was an excellence choice as she did a stellar job and made the book come alive.Mrs. Dalloway is a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a high society woman in post WW I England. Mrs. Dalloway’s main concerns revolve around relationships and connections. On this particular day she is preparing to host a party and as she goes through the day getting ready for the evening, she muses on her past relationships and how her life has turned out. One gets the sense that somewhere along the way, she has lost her inner self to the Mayfair hostess she shows to the outside world.We don’t spend the whole book locked in Mrs. Dalloways’ head. There is another storyline that runs parallel to that of Clarissa’s. This one involves a war veteran, Septimus Smith and his wife Lucrezia. Septimus is suffering from post traumatic stress and although he and Clarissa do not meet on this day, his actions are to affect her. We also meet and are given an insight into her past with encounters with her past suitor, Peter Walsh and her childhood best friend Sally Seton.Surprise, surprise! I loved this book. The author was able to place me inside this woman’s head and make me privy to her inner most thoughts. Although some would find her shallow and selfish, I found myself relating to her. I think most everyone thinks about their choices and wonder what life would be like if they had chosen a different path. This is a short book but is packed with unforgettable images and beautiful language and ultimately is a story about wasted potential.

[margaretfield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

woman plans to kill herself or have a dinner party

[msaucier818 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to love this book but had a really hard time with it. It honestly was a struggle to get through.

The positive: The imagery and the descriptive writing was beautiful. It was a unique story in the sense of being able to get into the minds and thoughts of so many diverse characters.

The negative: There was really no plot to speak of. The entire book was one day about a party being thrown at night. However, the party was simply the backdrop for Woolf being able to look through the thoughts and judgements of her characters.

I really don't know what else to say about this book. I enjoyed the early pages because of the interesting style. However, this wore me down after a while. Also, the idea that most people came across as cynical to me lessened the enjoyment of the story for me.

I will try Woolf again but my expectations will not be as high.

[gabarito-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've never read anything quite like this. At first I found the long, complex sentences to be too much, but I got into the swing of it eventually. By the end I was really enjoying the way the stories almost came together, just glancing, never really involving each other. My friend really loves Woolf and described her writing as lyrical, washing over you like waves. I get what she was saying now.

[hopeevey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've been thinking about this book, on and off, since I finished listening to it. It didn't so much end as just stopped... but I may be mistaken about that. It seems so transparent, like clear topical water, but has surprising depth once you step in. Definitely, definitely need to read/listen to this one again.

[melancholia-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

One word : boring.

[lydiasbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Finally finished, after nearly two years. I'm not sorry I made the effort to read this, despite it not being my sort of thing. Woolf's writing style is unlike anyone else's, and I have developed my intellect by reading an act nobody can follow. The stream of consciousness technique is intriguing but I found it tiring to read - because it's so different from the usual things-happen way of things, maybe. For me, deciding to read a book like this is a commitment. A decision is taken to read, and not taken lightly. There are all sorts of lighter books I might have spent this time on instead, and although I alternated this reading journey with hundreds of other books, I continued it to its end. Thank you, Ms. Woolf.

[birdo82 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Though the ahead-of-its-time brilliance cannot be denied, Woolf's bewildering, exceedingly complicated narrative style may make the story inaccessible to all but the most dedicated of readers.

[sparkleandchico · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book has no chapters and is basically the stream of consciousness of Mrs Dalloway during one day. It was difficult to read without the natural chapter breaks. The style also didn't suit me--the author just lists random things that the character has seen without explaining why they are relevant or what they relate to. She does this in the middle of other trains of thought which can be confusing. There was nothing offensive about this book, I just didn't get on with it.

[nog_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I finally got around to reading this one. Over forty years ago I was taking this seminar from a renowned scholar of existentialism and this was on the reading list. Unfortunately, the week I was supposed to have discussed the book at his home with about a dozen other students I was being hammered with other course work (most notably in chemistry), and despite its short length I had to fake my way through the evening. Too bad, because this is a brilliantly written novel, deceivingly light in comparison to its obvious influences, the recent works by Joyce and Proust. But it is anything but light despite its readability. Highly recommended.

[jnwelch_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mrs. Dalloway is easily my favorite Virginia Woolf I've read so far. It all takes place on one June day in 1923, starting with 50ish Clarissa Dalloway preparing to give a party that night. An old unconventional flame, Peter Walsh, appears in town, and she reminisces about her younger life and her thirty year marriage to staid, reliable Richard Dalloway. She also remembers her passionate friendship with rebellious Sally Seton, with whom she shared a kiss. The second major storyline involves a shell-shocked WWI veteran, Septimus Smith, who has lost the ability to feel emotion, and is becoming delusional. There are many other well-drawn characters. Clarissa's party brings most of the principal characters together, and illuminates various dissatisfactions and shortcomings they have, even as the party seems to be a cacophonous success. Beautifully written, with skillful weaving of different time elements, and a bevy of characters the reader understands and develops strong feelings about. Reminded me a bit of Joyce's famous short story, "The Dead", but I liked this much more.

[alisony-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was so looking forward to reading this book. I loved To the Lighthouse and Between the Acts when I read them earlier this year, I devoured The Hours by Michael Cunningham which was based on Mrs Dalloway, and I also really enjoyed the film version. So it pains me to say that I really didn't enjoy Mrs Dalloway at all.Like many of Woolf's books, the novel takes place in a very short period of time. Clarissa Dalloway is throwing a party, and the story takes us from her preparations in the morning up to the party itself in the evening. Throughout the day she is the linchpin of all the other characters, linking us with her own family, her old paramour, a young couple whose marriage is struggling due to the husband's depression after the War, and various other insincere society figures.In the other two Woolf books I've read I really connected with the characters, stepping into their soul through the stream of consciousness narrative. They struck a chord with me, and I took them to my heart. I tried but failed to feel the same about any of the characters in Mrs Dalloway. The narrative swapped and changed regularly between characters, and I struggled to feel anything more than ambivalence about them all. I enjoyed the alternating stream of thought between Clarissa and her old love Peter Walsh when they met for the first time in years. It was a clever portrayal of an interesting scenario: ex-lovers meet for the first time in years, both wondering what the other thinks of how they now look, both trying to put on a cool exterior whilst below the surface their emotions are all over the place, both wanting to say things they feel they can't. I wanted Woolf to tease the reader with much more of this, yet it was a fleeting moment that ultimately went no further, merely dangling a "what if" in front of the reader. There were definitely some interesting trains of thought here and there, but without an emotional connection to the characters (good or bad) the narrative fell very flat for me, and it became something of a chore to read.2.5 stars - flashes of genius, but a short book that felt very, very long.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A collection of snobby English society

[funstm · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

My biggest problem with this book is the writing. She writes and writes and writes and it's like she barely stops for air. There are no pauses or breaks and I found it exhausting. Yes I know, stream of consciousness. But I hate it. 160 pages felt like 160,000 pages.

Plus I didn't like Clarissa or Septimus and the story was boring.

[debs4jc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life, but it skips around to other people that are also on the periphery of her life. It's very stream of consciousness type writing that flows freely form one characters self reflective thoughts to another. It was very hard for me to get into it and really care much about any of the characters, there incessant thoughts seems so tedious.

[sarahlh-41506 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

More of a 3.5 than a 4, but I enjoyed it. It is a rich, deep, dark, complex text that I am still coming to grips with. I look forward to the eventual and possibly soon reread of it.

[stillatim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Still as good as it gets.

[alexrichman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like whiskey. Packed full of flavour - but it's all a bit much for me. Preferred the Austentatious flirting to the existential crises - and the passages of similes stacked upon metaphors stacked upon similes stacked upon...

[maowangvater · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clarissa Dalloway plans a great party, and invites an old flame. Bust as the lives of the partygoers are drawn together, one man's life comes apart.

[geoffsc-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once I got into this book I really tuned in and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I could sense Virginia's active fertile mind.
The past era was obvious with everyone walking around London.
Captivating descriptions eg "moments like this are buds on the tree of life" p24.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amazing introspective novel.

[skavlanj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Book You Started But Never FinishedI read Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours in succession, then watched the movie {The} Hours. I enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway, but struggled with The Hours. I detested the prose and could never tell whether the narrator was omnisciently telling me the story from each readers perspective or describing the characters is his own voice. Two sentences to illustrate: 1. “She could have had a life as potent and dangerous as literature itself.” If this is Clarissa describing herself, good grief; if it's an omniscient narrator, good grief. This reads more like a novel from two centuries ago when a narrator telling the reader what to feel was acceptable. 2. “She has never lied like that before, not to someone she doesn’t know or love.” The word "that" made me stop and reread the sentence, substituting "this" (to stay in the present tense writing style). But then the subordinate clause at the end made me think there was a narrator telling me this story rather than listening in to the characters. I also expected some anecdote on who she had lied to.After finishing reading it, I swore off reading any more Pulitzer Prize winners from this timeframe (Olive Kitteridge was my first foray and I really detested that book; see my review for just how much).Then a funny thing happened: the movie {The} Hours (what do those braces signify?) completely ruined a book I didn't like. Watching the book converted into a vehicle for Meryl Streep (and to a lesser degree Juliette Moore and Nicole Kidman) made me appreciate the way Cunningham was true to Mrs. Dalloway's structure and characters. In the book, it is Louis (as an imitation of Peter) unexpectedly visiting Clarissa (as an imitation of Mrs. Dalloway) and crying. In the movie, the visit is planned and it is Clarissa who cries, who is the focal point of the drama. It is the impact on Clarissa, rather than Louis and Richard, that is significant. So I thought more about the book and, while I still detest the writing style (flamboyant with all that word connotes comes to mind) and don't think the point-of-view was clear or consistent, I am closer to neutral than when I finished reading it.