To the lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

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'To the lighthouse' is an extraordinary work of literature which dwells into the consciousness of the human mind. The basic plot of novel is around a family 'The Ramsay's and there friends and admirers. The Ramsay's have 8 kids and the other acquaintances are Lily Briscoe, William Banks, Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael, Charles Tansley, Minta Doyle and Paul Rayley. This crowd is vacationing in an island in Scotland one Summer. the story unfolds with the young son of the Ramsay's, James wanting to go to the lighthouse and his father telling him that the weather conditions are not suitable for that. The novel is set during a period of 11 years. The first section 'The window' is set before the World War 1 and the final section 'The Lighthouse' is set 11 years later. However the actual scenes of the novel concentrate on 2 days only. One before the way and the other after. 

This is not a plot driven novel. As soon as we get into the novel we get dragged into the consciousness of the characters. The characters are rich and contain multitudes. Marriage, death, time, perspectives are some of the major themes touched on by Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Ramsay is portrayed as the conventional female character who suppresses her emotional needs to cater to those that of her husband. In contrast Virginia Woolf pairs her up with Lily Briscoe who is an independent woman, a painter who has no intention of marrying. The novel basically features how Lily tries and understand the activities, and the thoughts behind Mrs. Ramsay's external persona. It is very intriguing how there are no white or black characters in this novel. Even though Mr. Ramsay is portrayed as a bitter person we are given his perspectives and a look into his consciousness as well. As a result as the novel moves forward we sympathize with each of the characters and come to the conclusion that each person contain a wide variety of emotions out of which only a sliver is expressed. 

"How then, she asked herself, did one know one thing or another thing about people, sealed as they were." 

"Half one's notions of other people were, after all, grotesque. They served private purposes of one's own"

"One wanted 50 pairs of eyes to see with, she reflected"

There is also this whole doom and gloom about death. At the same time it leaves the reader hopeful and it's as if Woolf is imploring the readers the value of staying in the moment, before it fades away and becomes history. This is a recurring theme and all this past and present and how memories stay unchanged and how these memories play a part in understanding other characters and their actions is widely depicted in the novel. All this seriousness is presented with a hint of humor as well. The not so subtle nod to the established conventional gender roles is found throughout the novel. It leads me to think how Woolf would look at the present situation and find that not much has changed after almost a 100 years. 

It is a must read and it must be read SLOWLY, devouring each and every word, letting it fill up the senses, imagining the characters. A five star read and one I'd read again

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