Reviews

Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf

miramadsen's review against another edition

4.0

indirektheden gør visse passager lettere forvirrende, men den er virkelig fin! desuden ret stilet udelukkende at beskrive en hovedperson gennem andres blikke!!

mia_arianne's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

At first, reading this book was quite a struggle! The stream of consciousness style employed by Woolf created an atmosphere where one sometimes was unsure where they stood within the story. It was especially interesting how the story followed Jacob through the perspectives of those who encountered him across his short lifetime. I also found it fascinating how the voice of the narrator was undoubtedly a female voice as she was not able to follow Jacob into certain ‘male dominated’ areas. I found it especially interesting how even though the narrator was a woman, she often didn’t have the female solidarity one would expect for the other characters within the story. Very interesting literary creation within a rather mundane story. 

juliethelenmayb's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

matchastrawberri's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Confusing but sometimes good

fannyb's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

4.0

dmmcknight's review against another edition

2.0

I really wanted to like this book but fully admit I was confused throughout a lot of it. I do chalk up some of that confusion to me not reading it regularly enough but even with the second half being read consistently and days in a row, I often had to reread to understand the sudden jolt in character or scene change. Maybe I had a weird eBook version?

longtimewish's review against another edition

2.0

"So violent, so dangerous is it when young women stand rigid; grasp the barrier; fall in love."

Terminar este libro se sintió como una especie de fracaso. No esperaba nada, y sin embargo cuando no obtuve nada no pude evitar pensar que la que falló fui yo, que no supo entenderlo. Pero a veces simplemente no hay conexión, y creo que este fue uno de esos casos.

erreyn's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

elfs29's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

4.0

Woolf employs narrative and perspective alterations to explore the transience of perception and character — the reader hardly knows who Jacob is, nor does he himself, but instead see the impressions he leaves on others, varying and contradictory. Are these the truth, or a reflection of the viewers themselves?

"Urbane' on the lips of Jacob had mysteriously all the shapeliness of a character which Bonamy thought daily more sublime, devastating, terrific than ever, though he was still, and perhaps would be for ever, barbaric, obscure.

mkbarry's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5