To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
1 Rating(s)
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To the Lighthouse

Author: Virginia Woolf

Narrator: Phyllida Law

Unabridged: 7 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2010


Synopsis

To the Lighthouse is at once a vivid impressionist depiction of a family holiday and a meditation on a marriage, on parenthood and childhood, on grief, tyranny, and bitterness.Its use of stream of consciousness, reminiscence, and shifting perspectives gives the novel an intimate, poetic essence, and at the time of publication in 1927 it represented an utter rejection of Victorian and Edwardian literary values.

About Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), one of the major literary figures of the twentieth century, transformed the art of the novel. She was a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. The author of numerous novels, collections of letters, journals, and short stories, she was also an admired literary critic and a master of the essay form.

About Phyllida Law

Phyllida Law, a Scottish actress, has appeared in Monarch of the Glen and Waking the Dead. Born in 1932, she is also the mother of actresses Emma Thompson and Sophie Thompson.


Reviews

Goodreads review by s.penkevich on April 09, 2025

The lighthouse is out there, it's eye caressing our struggles with cold indifference. We can beat against the tides in pursuit, but will we ever reach it? Does it even matter, and is it even attainable? If we only look to that spot on the horizon we miss the love around us, miss those gasping for ou......more

Goodreads review by Jim on March 27, 2021

I think this book is Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece, not The Waves as some critics say. What is it about? It’s about life. The first half is about two days of life; the second half, set ten years later, is largely about death. In the Intro by Eudora Welty she says that in the novel “reality looms” but......more

Goodreads review by Paul on August 12, 2016

It's a problem, dear Virginia They like stuff that's much more linear, I know your teeth you will grit But you have to admit You may be hot but there's not a lot of plot that you got Five pages about rain on a distant steeple Is five too many for most of the British people They moan about Mrs Dalloway In su......more

Goodreads review by Charlotte on May 17, 2018

I’m sorry...I just don’t get it? This book has numerous five star reviews, and while I understand it isn’t plot driven, the characters are so vague? They all kind of blur together so I never really knew who was speaking/thinking and when. So many thoughts flying around and I just didn’t see the point......more

Goodreads review by Vit on August 06, 2022

There are two bright autumnal days… And thousands of dark nights in between… Two days in life… The insincerity slipping in among the truths roused her, annoyed her. She returned to her knitting again. How could any Lord have made this world? she asked. With her mind she had always seized the fact tha......more


Quotes

“Beautiful…somber…Law’s rhythmic, poetic reading renders it with finesse.” AudioFile

“Law admirably narrates…easily moving from one character to another and keeping listeners engaged…Through stream-of-consciousness prose, the characters ponder family relationships, art, literature, and the roles of men and women.” Booklist


Awards

  • Time Magazine's Best 100 English-Language Novels from 1923–2005
  • Modern Library's 100 Best English-Language Novels of the Twentieth Century
  • London Times Pick