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The waves (Albatross modern continental library)
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Manufacturer: Albatross
Author: Virginia Woolf
Publisher: Albatross
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Our Price:
You Save: $ ( % )
Manufacturer: Albatross
Author: Virginia Woolf
Publisher: Albatross
Average Customer Rating:
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The waves (Albatross modern continental library) Description
Binding: Unknown Binding
Label: Albatross
Manufacturer: Albatross
Book Pages: 270
Publication Date: 1949
Publisher: Albatross
Studio: Albatross
Label: Albatross
Manufacturer: Albatross
Book Pages: 270
Publication Date: 1949
Publisher: Albatross
Studio: Albatross
Editorial Review of The waves (Albatross modern continental library)
'I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot', Virginia Woolf stated of her eighth novel, The Waves. Widely regarded as one of her greatest and most original works, it conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time. Six children - Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny and Louis - meet in a garden close to the sea, their voices sounding over the constant echo of the waves that roll back and forth from the shore. The subsequent continuity of these six main characters, as they develop from childhood to maturity and follow different passions and ambitions, is interspersed with interludes from the timeless and unifying chorus of nature. In pure stream-of-consciousness style, Woolf presents a cross-section of multiple yet parallel lives, each marked by the disintegrating force of a mutual tragedy. The Waves is her searching exploration of individual and collective identity, and the observations and emotions of life, from the simplicity and surging optimism of youth to the vacancy and despair of middle-age.
Customer Reviews of The waves (Albatross modern continental library)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A glorious book
Review: If I were allowed to recommend only one book to other readers for the rest of my life, it would be The Waves. This exquisite novel showcases Woolf at the height of her genius (it's often considered her masterpiece); in it, she's taken the English language in all its messy, adjective-laden glory and used it to its full potential, producing a uniquely structured book of grace, beauty, and powerful compassion. When I first picked up The Waves, I had no idea what I was in for - believing that To the Lighthouse was Woolf's best book, I was prepared to enjoy myself but didn't expect anything spectacular. The Waves proceeded to make my jaw drop in shock at its beauty, and by the time I finished, my life felt altered. Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse may be Woolf's most famous novels, but The Waves is her greatest achievement.
The Waves has a reputation as a difficult and sometimes frustrating book, but don't let that turn you away! Its sentences are some of the most grammatically comprehensible in all Woolf's fiction, and she sticks to traditional paragraphs. If you drop kick your preconceived notions of what narratives and characters should do out the window before starting The Waves, it's not that bad. Trust Woolf's decisions, even if they seem odd - she knows what she's doing.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: less expensive editions
Review: The one star rating refers not to Woolf's novel--which receives a five-star rating--but to this particular edition. There are less expensive editions of this novel. The "annotations" of this edition are not new--and the editor makes no secret that the annotations are available elsewhere. The "introduction" is interesting, but it also offers nothing particularly new for Woolf scholars and nothing particularly enlightening for non-academic readers that they could not easily find on any number of online sources.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A toughie.
Review: Considered by many who should know (e.g., E. M. Forester)to be Woolf's most brilliant work of genius, The Waves is a challenging book to read for many reasons, not the least of which is the style she has adopted. More like an extended Greek chorus than anything else, the six characters, whose "voices" sound identical to one another, speak their life stories in short, alternating monologues. Although the writing is very poetic, it is also very dense and very distancing. We never really warm up to any of the characters or get involved in their stories.
I had to read this book for a class and, though I'm glad I made it through to the end, it was difficult going and I know I never would have finished it (or even gotten through ten pages of it) if I hadn't had the carrot of a grade hanging over it. We had to read the whole thing in a week which is really not a good way to tackle this book. Best read in small segments, leisurely, absorbing each moment Woolf choses to highlight. Definitely not a plane or beach book!
If you haven't read Woolf before, this is not the book to start with. Mrs. Dalloway is, in my opinion, the best and most accessible of Woolf's experimental fictions and a good starting place for access into this great 20th century author's works. Then, if your brave, move onto "To the Lighthouse" and then, shudder, "The Waves."
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Pam "Book Club Sin Nombre"
Review: Our book club in Cancun read it for April. We can be a critical group, but this one received nothing but praise from those of us who actually FINISHED it. Through the night the message was "It's well worth it! Stick with it!" It is confusing at the beginning for those of us who've been reading best sellers awhile, and it was hard to learn to pace your reading. (Some advice: don't tackle it for less than 30 minutes at a time, and do some biographical research on Woolf before or while you read it).
I'd love to give some of our group's analyses, but that might ruin it for some of you. I'll limit that to just saying that we had a very fine conversation that night, full of thoughtful speculation. And many of us have been commenting that meeting for days afterward. We're a very small community here, and culture is hard to come by. Woolf brought it to us on the waves (sorry). The Waves is prose; it's a work of art. What a pleasure! You can expect conversation about this novel to be of a higher literary level. It's a great book club read because it creates lots of thoughts to share.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Shimmering but Difficult
Review: English speakers everywhere should thank whatever higher power allowed for Virginia Woolf to write in their native tongue. They should, at the same time, thank her for gracing the world with books like "The Waves." Difficult? Of course, but so is existence, and no one, in any tradition, has been better at expressing the tumultuous inner space of being. This book, told as a series of interior monologues told by six characters, broken into chapters by brief descriptions of a beach at different times of day, is not an easy read, there is no doubt about that, but it is not obscure or pedantic. Its "difficultness" lies in its idiosyncrasies, in its subjective view toward reality, in its fragmentation, in its personality: its difficulty lies in how well it parallels individual experience and existence. By allowing each character to speak exclusively from its own private and self-serving platform, it makes a noble attempt at rectifying the artificiality of the text with the unknowableness of life, even if it fails to truly rectify the rift (which is impossible anyway). Perhaps, however, it would be better appreciated if other works are used as an introduction to Woolf's style; not to say that To the Lighthouse or Mrs. Dalloway are easy books, but they are easier for the novice to Woolf's style to wrap her/his mind around. Reading it requires concentration and effort, but like trying to truly know a person, all the travail is worth it in the end. Immerse yourself in the book, and feel how great literature truly can be.
Review Summary: A glorious book
Review: If I were allowed to recommend only one book to other readers for the rest of my life, it would be The Waves. This exquisite novel showcases Woolf at the height of her genius (it's often considered her masterpiece); in it, she's taken the English language in all its messy, adjective-laden glory and used it to its full potential, producing a uniquely structured book of grace, beauty, and powerful compassion. When I first picked up The Waves, I had no idea what I was in for - believing that To the Lighthouse was Woolf's best book, I was prepared to enjoy myself but didn't expect anything spectacular. The Waves proceeded to make my jaw drop in shock at its beauty, and by the time I finished, my life felt altered. Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse may be Woolf's most famous novels, but The Waves is her greatest achievement.
The Waves has a reputation as a difficult and sometimes frustrating book, but don't let that turn you away! Its sentences are some of the most grammatically comprehensible in all Woolf's fiction, and she sticks to traditional paragraphs. If you drop kick your preconceived notions of what narratives and characters should do out the window before starting The Waves, it's not that bad. Trust Woolf's decisions, even if they seem odd - she knows what she's doing.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: less expensive editions
Review: The one star rating refers not to Woolf's novel--which receives a five-star rating--but to this particular edition. There are less expensive editions of this novel. The "annotations" of this edition are not new--and the editor makes no secret that the annotations are available elsewhere. The "introduction" is interesting, but it also offers nothing particularly new for Woolf scholars and nothing particularly enlightening for non-academic readers that they could not easily find on any number of online sources.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A toughie.
Review: Considered by many who should know (e.g., E. M. Forester)to be Woolf's most brilliant work of genius, The Waves is a challenging book to read for many reasons, not the least of which is the style she has adopted. More like an extended Greek chorus than anything else, the six characters, whose "voices" sound identical to one another, speak their life stories in short, alternating monologues. Although the writing is very poetic, it is also very dense and very distancing. We never really warm up to any of the characters or get involved in their stories.
I had to read this book for a class and, though I'm glad I made it through to the end, it was difficult going and I know I never would have finished it (or even gotten through ten pages of it) if I hadn't had the carrot of a grade hanging over it. We had to read the whole thing in a week which is really not a good way to tackle this book. Best read in small segments, leisurely, absorbing each moment Woolf choses to highlight. Definitely not a plane or beach book!
If you haven't read Woolf before, this is not the book to start with. Mrs. Dalloway is, in my opinion, the best and most accessible of Woolf's experimental fictions and a good starting place for access into this great 20th century author's works. Then, if your brave, move onto "To the Lighthouse" and then, shudder, "The Waves."
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Pam "Book Club Sin Nombre"
Review: Our book club in Cancun read it for April. We can be a critical group, but this one received nothing but praise from those of us who actually FINISHED it. Through the night the message was "It's well worth it! Stick with it!" It is confusing at the beginning for those of us who've been reading best sellers awhile, and it was hard to learn to pace your reading. (Some advice: don't tackle it for less than 30 minutes at a time, and do some biographical research on Woolf before or while you read it).
I'd love to give some of our group's analyses, but that might ruin it for some of you. I'll limit that to just saying that we had a very fine conversation that night, full of thoughtful speculation. And many of us have been commenting that meeting for days afterward. We're a very small community here, and culture is hard to come by. Woolf brought it to us on the waves (sorry). The Waves is prose; it's a work of art. What a pleasure! You can expect conversation about this novel to be of a higher literary level. It's a great book club read because it creates lots of thoughts to share.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Shimmering but Difficult
Review: English speakers everywhere should thank whatever higher power allowed for Virginia Woolf to write in their native tongue. They should, at the same time, thank her for gracing the world with books like "The Waves." Difficult? Of course, but so is existence, and no one, in any tradition, has been better at expressing the tumultuous inner space of being. This book, told as a series of interior monologues told by six characters, broken into chapters by brief descriptions of a beach at different times of day, is not an easy read, there is no doubt about that, but it is not obscure or pedantic. Its "difficultness" lies in its idiosyncrasies, in its subjective view toward reality, in its fragmentation, in its personality: its difficulty lies in how well it parallels individual experience and existence. By allowing each character to speak exclusively from its own private and self-serving platform, it makes a noble attempt at rectifying the artificiality of the text with the unknowableness of life, even if it fails to truly rectify the rift (which is impossible anyway). Perhaps, however, it would be better appreciated if other works are used as an introduction to Woolf's style; not to say that To the Lighthouse or Mrs. Dalloway are easy books, but they are easier for the novice to Woolf's style to wrap her/his mind around. Reading it requires concentration and effort, but like trying to truly know a person, all the travail is worth it in the end. Immerse yourself in the book, and feel how great literature truly can be.