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    To the Lighthouse
    To the Lighthouse
    To the Lighthouse
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    To the Lighthouse

    Written by Virginia Woolf

    Narrated by Juliet Stevenson

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    About this audiobook

    To The Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s most accomplished novel, and her most autobiographical. It tells of one summer spent by the Ramsay family and their friends in their holiday home in Scotland. Offshore stands the lighthouse, remote, inaccessible, an eternal presence in a changing world. A projected visit to the lighthouse forms the heart of this extraordinary novel which, through the minds of the various characters, explores the nature of time, memory, transience and eternity. The style has the clarity of a diamond which shimmers in the mind, making To The Lighthouse one of the most unforgettable novels of the twentieth century.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateMar 13, 1995
    ISBN9789629546175
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for To the Lighthouse

    4/5

    175 ratings120 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Phenomenal philosophical thinking all around the book. Very useful thoughts!
    • 4/5
      This was a very nicely written book. Ms. Woolf really has a way with words. It so lyrical yet so common. I would have given it 5 stars but it was not a book that is easy to read. It was a bit uninteresting but don't get me wrong, this is a good book. The plot was okay and it turned out a bit sad in the end. Ms. Woolf's words can actually bring you to tears but it took me a long time to finish it. It is not a book you read in one sitting.
    • 5/5
      The language is so beautifully evocative. The careful echoing of the longer first section, which allows the reader to meet and understand the Ramseys and Lily Briscoe in particular, with the concluding section where Lily (the artist) is forced to come to terms with what it all means is balanced by the much briefer middle part. That section is where we learn of the events of the painful period of Mrs. Ramsey's death, World War II and the passage of time. It functions as a sort of intercession for both the reader and Lily, allowing us to gain perspective (almost without realizing it) on how "we perish, each alone." Such a very powerful book.
    • 3/5
      I feel like I need cliff notes and a college level lecture on this one. There was just so much going on in this...every sentence heavy with meaning and infused with hidden feeling. The inner lives of Edwardians who perhaps grew up in the Victorian era...so repressed and filled with the expectations of society, struggling not to be themselves, but to even find themselves in the first place.
    • 5/5
      It's better to know what you're in for when beginning Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse'. If you go in expecting another 'read' not only will you be disappointed, but you may also find it too difficult to continue on with. Foolishly, I wasn't ready for the book when I started it; it took me 70 pages before I 'got' it and I understood how to read the novel and know roughly what it was concerned with. Once this happened I realised why everyone claims that Woolf is one of the greatest female writers, in fact, one of the greatest writers regardless of gender. Besides from an interlude most of the 'action' of the novel takes place within the characters. From their thoughts and emotions we can piece together relationships and events. The further we read the bigger and clearer the picture becomes. The book is divided into three distinct sections with the first one focusing mainly on Mrs Ramsay. It is the dinner table scene that Virginia Woolf juggles so well, swapping between the thoughts of different characters and ending with a powerful, resonating line. The interlude, or second section is only short and is written to convey the feeling and theme of passing time more than direct meaning. In a sense it is poetry. It feels like writing that is above the reader's comprehension and this is what endows it with its mystique. The third section is more structured than the first but remains internal. The main character here is Lily the painter and it has been suggested that she represents the author. This would make sense as she is in a good position to survey the family (based on her own) and is also an artistic creator. What makes this novel so great is its subtlety. It relies on the reader to infer the story. While it doesn't possess the freshness of prose that Joyce created, it perfects the early twentieth century novel by destroying the typical narrator and using stream-of-consciousness to carry the story. Joyce and Woolf are seen as the leaders of modern fiction in twentieth century English literature and is it coincidence that both were born in the same year (1882) and died in the same (1941)?
    • 5/5
      On its most simplest level, To the Lighthouse deals with the kind of meandering hours spent at a summer house on an island and the desire to make an excursion to the lightouse. The story meanders in an out of the concerns and dreams and hopes of the people there, pivoting aroung the central focus of Mrs. Ramsay, who holds everything together. One of my favorite moments is the dinner scene, in which Woolf graceful shifts from one character's point of view to the next, revieling the tapestry of human emotion (in one instance, three character simultaneously think themselves unique in how alone they feel). It's a beautiful book and I can see why it's on the Modern Library's list of 100 Best Books.
    • 5/5
      Fifteen years since I've read this book. For that long I've diligently moved it from household to household, unpacking it with all my other books on its proper shelf and packing it up again, and I've thought of it fondly, a book of my youth, worthy of respect. But, as the years passed, that regard came to contain a measure of trepidation: to take it up again would be such a commitment, such a weight, because it's Woolf, and not only do her sentences twist and take unexpected turns that force the reader's concentration merely to establish subject, object, verb, but the weight of them, collectively as sharp and true as any surgeon's scalpel, cutting to the reader's heart—well, it's hard to volunteer for that every day, when so many more comforting books are calling. But yesterday I picked it up, who knows why? I've been on a diet of Alice Munro and Sherman Alexie, lately, and some echo there maybe made me think of Mrs. Ramsay. And now I'm in. How amazing, the surge of emotion this story provokes across such a span of time, from its very first sentence, or, more specifically, from the brutal transition from that second paragraph—"To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled..."—to the third: "But," said his father, stopping in front of the drawing-room window, "it won't be fine." And what other writer can use the phrase "odious little man" with such wicked compassion?
    • 4/5
      There are books I’ve had on my shelves that I have always meant to read, and that I feel I ought to have read. To The Lighthouse was one of those books, so I took it with me on holiday and read it.But I didn’t really know what it was about, and it’s a strange book to encounter if you have no preconceptions. The first section, with its cloyingly deep analysis of the minutia of life, hundreds of pages where nothing much happens except they go to dinner, all the Meaning trapped in ‘do you think it will be fine enough to go to the Lighthouse tomorrow?’ ‘No, I think it will not be fine’. Marriage and motherhood and thwarted career ambitions and hosting and matchmaking, and the way the smallest thing can hold so much meaning. I found it quite intractable and frustrating at first, and then found a rhythm and a sympathy and settled into it...... when all at once I hit the second part and the book simultaneously broke my brain and my heart. Ten years pass in a flurry of pages. People we had known down to the grain on their fingerprints are casually dispatched in passing in the final sentence of a paragraph. The house slowly decays, the bubble that has been there so clearly is gone, as the dust and mould creep in.And then in the final part we are there again, and are drawn into musing around what fingerprints do we leave on the world, how are we remembered, what is success? Those complex family relationships, so much love and anger tangled up,and all inside, no ripples on the surface. But we paint. And we make it to the Lighthouse.
    • 1/5
      It was a chore to get through. I truly do not understand why she is considered such a great author. My theory is the phenomonon of "If I don't get it, it must be good". Kinda Like Felini or David Lynch. I have never enjoyed writing styles that did not make sense. Woolf does not make sense. Nor do I like subject matter the dwells on human neurosis which this book mainly consists of. It's like an intellectualized "Ally McBeal" or "Grey's Anatomy". Some might say I am a caveman and afraid of complexity. Not true. I appreciate complexity. I doubly appreciate complexity when it can related in simpler terms.
    • 5/5
      I think this is my favorite book ever. Woolf writes like an Impressionist paints, capturing a moment in time with words.
    • 5/5
      I read this book for a class on Intellectual History in the 20th Century. It was easily my favorite book in the course. And it was stunning.
    • 5/5
      Is art an expression of human life, or is it a decoration imposed upon it? It depends on whether or not someone relies on art to bring him fame and greatness. Mr. Ramsay is concerned that no one will read his books, that he won’t be remembered by future generations. He is very insecure about his writing because he feels that no one needs him to write; no one’s life depends on whether or not he expresses himself through the ideas in his books. He worries that his writing is merely decoration and not necessary to the whole of human culture and existence. He does not write to express himself or to find some meaning in human life, but rather, he writes to ease his insecurities, to establish some feeling of self-worth. He only writes so that others will believe he is important. Lily Briscoe, however, does not paint in hopes of being remembered or deemed important. She is compelled to paint by the voice of Charles Tansley that continuously chants, “Women can’t paint. Women can’t write.” But she is compelled by something even greater than Tansley’s need to assert himself. Lily Briscoe’s paintings are physical renderings of her desire for unity, her desire to fill emptiness with shape, “the empty places. Such were some of the parts, but how to bring them together?” (151). She believes that connecting seemingly unrelated things and isolated people, reveals some whole truth and meaning behind life. Lily tries to connect masses within her paintings. The painting she begins of Mrs. Ramsay and James remains unfinished for ten years, until she returns to the house at Isle of Skye after Mrs. Ramsay’s death. She doesn’t know how the masses in her painting connect. She doesn’t know the best way to lay out shape, light, and shadow. She doesn’t know how to relate or fill empty spaces, but she paints to uncover these relationships. The empty places Lily refers to are the ones left by Mrs. Ramsay. She is the mass that light shines on, and everything and everyone else in her life are the shadows cast by the light hitting her form. Lily is angry at Mrs. Ramsay because she left behind empty spaces—the step she sat on, the kitchen table with the leaf pattern, and the old ramshackle house itself—with no clear way to unite them. Without Mrs. Ramsay, the house was “full of unrelated passions” (152). Her family came untied—there was no knot tying Cam and James to Mr. Ramsay anymore. To the Lighthouse, like Lily’s painting, is made up of three parts that connect to form a greater whole. The first two sections—The Window and Time Passes—contain empty spaces; these spaces rely on Lily, in the final section, to step back and view everything from a distance so that all forms can be seen at once. It is only when different viewpoints and different relationships are observed that the true meaning of life can be discovered. Love, culture, art, and poetry are created from human relationships.
    • 3/5
      Found this book a hard slog because of the amount of commas in Virginia Woolf's writing, because of this found it hard to really engage with the book.
    • 5/5
      What a treat to read a masterpiece. I love the way Virginia Woolf writes weaving the story through the thoughts of each character. The silence of her characters held by unspoken rules and expectations they live their lives on the edge of what’s expected of them and what they want to question.
    • 3/5
      Finally managed to get through this and get something out of it. The stream of consciousness style is very difficult, possibly because the main characters are eminently dislikeable. The description of the empty house moving through the years is stunning, and easily the strongest part of the book.
    • 4/5
      The epitome of subjectivity in writing. At first, this makes for a very difficult read if you're not used to this stream of consciousness style (and I was not), but by the end of the book, you may wish every novel was written in this form. I have encountered few books that have so well invited me into the minds of its characters. Truly a journey to "the self", the spotlight of consciousness. A striking read.
    • 4/5
      What struck me about this was how seamlessly the writing moved from one character's perspective to the next. It seemed to flow, and was far from a difficult read (unlike James Joyce, for example, where I didn't have a clue what was going on). The depiction of every character's inner thoughts in immense detail, with all the incongruities and absurdities, was engrossing, even if in one or two places it seemed to me a little overdone. The second interesting thing for me was the depiction of time. The first and last passages of the book are extended descriptions of very short and meaningless events - a dinner, someone completing a painting, a trip to a lighthouse - while the middle part rushes headlong over years of far more important events, including the deaths of several major characters. This seems utterly wrong, but it works. The incredibly detailed snapshots at each end contrast so well that they explain the intervening years better than any conventional description could. And the warping of time reminded me that much of what I consider to be immensely important right now really isn't, while many of the things that seem trivial actually combine to create what I later find to be important. I think my life so far has been shaped more by the 99% of daily occurrences than by the 1% of "big events."
    • 5/5
      To the Lighthouse is a challenging read because of the literary devices Woolf used in her writing. I like it because of the unique way Woolf delineates her characters. She is interested in feelings and sensations of each one and the sympathy she arouses in the reader. She can be cruel in her plot.I can only think now of this book in general terms since I've read it some time back. This is the only fiction of hers I've finished so I couldn't compare it with Mrs. Dalloway, which is also one of her acknowledged best work. I've read the first volume of her literary criticism, The Common Reader, and that one was also fantastic.
    • 3/5
      Impressionistic rather than descriptive. Divided in three parts. The first, and the longest, serves as an introduction to the setting, the characters, and their interactions. And this part was tough going, especially towards the end, simply because nothing really happens in the first part, and yet it keeps on going, without any real purpose. Characters were kept at a stand-still, just so that the author could paint a detailed picture. My 21st century attention span -- used as it is to snappy, streamlined characterization and world-building -- made me put the book down a few timesThe second and third parts, though, are very much worth the effort of struggling through that lengthy set-up. This is where [To the lighthouse] comes into its own: once you understand what’s going on, the whole thing pays off beautifully.
    • 4/5
      This classic Virginia Woolf novel is such a "mood piece." Comprised of three major sections, To the Lighthouse is predominantly a portrait of the Ramsey family and its influential, beautiful matriarch. Most of the "action" (and I use that term loosely) takes place at a summer home off the coast of Scotland. Part 1 is a "day in the life" of Mrs. Ramsey, whose house is chock-a-block with visitors. She is a constant presence, caring for the youngest of her eight children, keeping a watchful eye on her moody husband, meddling a bit in young romance, and ensuring both timely, well-prepared meals and the general happiness of her guests. The tempo is slow, the imagery evocative, the overall feeling ethereal.Part 2 is a short section called "Time Passes," in which the next ten years unfold in factual narrative. And yet this section, which unveiled a number of significant Ramsey family events, had a surprisingly emotional impact. This was followed by Part 3, with the Ramsey family once again at their holiday home, picking up the pieces of a life gone somewhat awry. The youngest children, now teenagers, accompany their father on a visit to a lighthouse near the island. They are filled with teenage resentment, pent up over years of somewhat tyrannical paternal rule. Their emotions ebb and flow like the waves lapping at the side of their boat.And what happens, exactly? Not much. And yet, somehow, I was entranced by this family's life, from being made up of little separate incidents which one lived one by one, became curled and whole like a wave which bore one up with it and threw one down with it, there, with a dash on the beach (p. 47) This is a book best read, and re-read, and savored to glean new details and insights each time.
    • 4/5
      I thought that I would be put off by the writing style - but I actually found the "stream of thought" worked well for me.
      However, as I read this novel, regarded by many as one of the greatest of the 20th century, I had moments where I was jarred by something and it took me a while to understand it. The story, at least at a superficial level, tells the story of a married couple, their eight children, and various hanger-on'ers during a vacation in the North of Scotland. I kept being jarred in the narrative and thought to myself that here is a story about a mother, a father, and some children and I don't think the writer ever had children. A quick check confirmed that she never had children - and so it begs that question; can someone really tell the internal narrative stream-of-thought style of someone raising children when they haven't done it. Once I had decided that, I was jarred the entire rest of the novel and I'm pretty sure that wasn't her intention (there are other more jarring and purposeful bits). At the end, though, I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting. It is more than worthy of a re-read at a future date.
    • 5/5
      I read this book in college and while I don't remember the details now, I do remember the feeling of beauty and insight in what may be Woolf's best novel.
    • 4/5
      A second-by-second stream of consciousness tryptych, To The Lighthouse is not all that long but it is a demanding read. The Ramsay family (with eight children!) are at their summerhouse in the Hebrides. Like a slowly panning camera, the text drifts lazily over the characters in slow-motion - one can imagine time slowed to the point where you can see the flapping wings of a bee. This afternoon and evening they spend with their friends passes and in the second part of the book we have moved on into the war and the summerhouse falls into disrepair. Characters die or move on in their lives and the final episode finds them back at the house. The trip to the lighthouse is finally undertaken and a painting is completed. Its difficult to enjoy this writing but easy to admire it.
    • 2/5
      This novel exasperated me. Rather than be stuck at home doing housewifely things, I'd have rowed the boat myself. End. Of. Book.
    • 5/5
      This was an unrelenting richness that I could enjoy only in small segments before feeling overwhelmed.
      I should very much like to see Lily Briscoe's painting.
    • 3/5
      The style of writing in To the Lighthouse was intelligent, modern, very descriptive and quite long-winded at times. I believe Virginia Woolf may have used more commas in a few of her sentences than Jane Austen in Mansfield Park. I enjoyed getting to know some of the characters in-depth, being privy to their thoughts. The middle section of the book where time passes really bothered me. I don't much like change in my own life and I was surprised to read so quickly through the extremely drastic changes which come to the family after having spent so much time in their thoughts over one particular day. Looking back on it, it was an interesting segue into the second significant day described in the part three but I did not appreciate the time warp while reading it. It was an interesting character study and I think presented a glimpse into Virginia's own life, as the setting and characters were based somewhat on her family.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book for its style and the introspection of its characters. The themes of life and death, and transience and permanence are universal and the reader is left to draw his/her own conclusions.
    • 3/5
      I was fairly enraptured with the first part (The Window) - her prose detailing the myriad emotions of the household throughout the day is rather spellbinding. But the vast-jump-forward-in-time interlude and at long last the trip to the lighthouse, while full of insights, was devoid of the earlier magic. "She heard him. He said the most melancholy things, but she noticed that directly he had said them he always seemed more cheerful than usual. All this phrase-making was a game, she thought, for if she had said half what he said, she would have blown her brains out by now."
    • 5/5
      3-2-17
      Tonight I finished Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse.”

      Wowzers, it’s really great. This was my first reading of Woolf, and I was really hypnotized by her style. It was an emotional rollercoaster, and I highly recommend you ride it. A very quick read, under 200 pages, and it just flows and flows. Lyrical.
    • 5/5
      Good though uneven. I liked the first and second part much more than the third. Also, it was not very accessible. I feel stupid saying that, but I did not find it as impressive as Mrs. Dalloway.