Group Read, February 2016: The Voyage Out

Our February Group Read is Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out. Please join us for the read and post any comments here.

I downloaded a copy for free on my kindle and then there are a couple others that only .99 FYI for anyone.

I will definitely read this. Probably starting in a few days.

One of my library's has it available on audio so I've got it lined up. I'll just finish 12 years a Slave and then I'll probably begin that one.

I am about 60 pages in and surprised to find Mrs Dalloway as one of the major players. Like bumping in to an acquaintance while visiting a strange town.

I read this a few years ago and won't read again, but I'm interested in the conversation. This is one of the more straightforward Woolf novels, before she discovered stream of consciousness.

I also picked up a copy today and should start reading shortly. I've found that I like Woolf's novels if they have a more traditional structure, not so much a fan of the experimental stuff. So, hopefully, I'm going to like this one!

I started this book and I have kinda been scared of Woolf and Im glad this is very easy to read so far.

>5 puckers: I am listening to this book and was also surprised that Mrs. Dalloway made a brief appearance. At first I thought maybe I had misheard the narrator.

>8 ALWINN: It is easy to read (or in my case listen to) but I am half way through and still waiting for something to grab me.

>10 gypsysmom: Welcome to Woolf! - in my experience there is little drama in her novels. What I do like here is her skill at making original observations on life in a sentence or two. Similarly I find she can describe a scene/location vividly with maximum economy of words. I have found myself scribbling several nice observations in my "book of quotes". While this novel is less modern/experimental than some of her later works her observational skills are as good as ever here.

The first pages that set the scene in London were utterly brilliant. Now that we are on the boat, I am less enthralled but more curious. The whole premise of the voyage is rather mysterious to me.

I have it and will look for it and try to get into the discussion.

I'm joining in with this one too - going to start tonight.

I'm finding this a little difficult to engage with. I've restarted twice because I keep thinking about something else while I'm listening to it and realise 20 minutes later that I've taken virtually nothing in.

To any Virginia Woolf fans out there: did she ever actually cross the ocean on a sea voyage to a tropical resort? I mean, is she writing from experience here? Because to me, the beginning set in London was so fully felt and the rest (1/2 way through) never quite feels that way. I miss the London in her writing! It makes me suspect, since this was her first novel, that reviewers might have suggested the same thing.

I'm also not sure why we need quite so many characters. A whole hotel full of them. It's just confusing.

The appearance of the Dalloways was indeed a nice surprise. Woolf must have loved the character she'd created so much that she eventually gave her her own much more wonderful book.

>16 annamorphic: I agree. I don't think she ever traveled to South America though I could be wrong about that. Her writing about London was much stronger than the setting of South America.

I'm only about a third of the way through and am just being introduced to the people in the hotel so the jury is still out. So far, though, I'm feeling like she doesn't have a strong enough character in Rachel or Helen Ambrose to carry the reader through the radically different settings she's creating.

I loved the part with the Dalloways. They have really overshadowed the other characters (who are supposed to be the main ones). I wonder, though, if it's because I've read Mrs. Dalloway. Has anyone not read Mrs. Dalloway who could comment on that?

I finished the book yesterday but have avoided summarizing anything here to avoid any spoilers while everyone else is still in the early stages.

I did wonder a bit about the setting in South America (if indeed it is South America). I've made a few long trips through South America and while I think she captured some of the heat and stillness at midday, I never saw habitat quite like she describes. At one point (not really a spoiler)a party take an expedition up river and then disembark to wander around in the forest like it was English parkland. Similarly the birds and animals described don't resemble anything I've seen (I am a birder, hence the long trips through the tropics). At one point the party startle a herd of deer - I don't think there are herds of any deer-like animals in South America.

The setting isn't crucial to the plot, but it is always a little distracting when a supposed real place doesn't quite marry up with my experience.

I agree about the overshadowing. Everyone else has completely faded into the background.

Having so much trouble getting through this one. I read about 10 pages and start falling asleep. I'm halfway through at this point and wondering if anything interesting is ever going to happen.

Well this is Woolfe so probably not, if by interesting you mean exciting.

I took a little while to get into the flow of the language but I think I'm there now.

Im with you amerynth I am also just having a hard time getting into the story. When Im reading its really not that bad but when I sit down to read I just want to read something else.

Re: South America -- I found this setting very odd. Was South America a destination for English travellers then? First I've heard of it.

I've read a lot about Woolf, and used academic commentary when I read The Voyage Out* and I don't remember anything about her having ever been to South America. She did travel to Italy and Greece though.

*LT not offering the correct touchstone today. Oh my.

BTW: has anyone read Melymbrosia? It's VW's first attempt at this novel. Bloomsbury friends said it was unpublishable (due to lesbian detail) and so she rewrote it. Every year I say I'm going to read it, but since The Voyage Out wasn't exactly exciting, I keep not reading it.

>23 Nickelini: gosh, now as I read The Voyage Out I'm wondering to whom the lesbian detail belonged.

>24 annamorphic: I know! Me too.

Finally finished today.... really didn't enjoy this one at all. It did make me appreciate her later books a little more, seeing where she started writing. Woolf definitely isn't someone I particularly enjoy reading in any case though.

I notice that some of you are finished and posting reviews on your pages. For those of you who found this boring, I suggest you skip Night and Day. I don't think Woolf really got going until Jacob's Room.

Yes, I finished today. I found it pretty boring. Too many characters and it barely occurred to me until 2/3rds through the book that Rachel was the main character. I also didn't like the ambiguous setting.

I've loved the other books that I've read by her (To the Lighthouse, The Waves, Mrs. Dalloway, and Orlando) but this early work was just not at all memorable or exciting for me.

>27 Nickelini: I will put off reading Night and Day though the completist in me will probably read it some day.

I seem to be the only person who is enjoying this novel! So far (80% complete) I am ranking it as my most liked Woolf.

Re: South America -- I found this setting very odd. Was South America a destination for English travellers then? First I've heard of it.

I'm not sure if it was (although I wouldn't be surprised) but I am currently reading the whole location as an allegory. The young woman is exploring something new; 'love and growing up', but even though she is now somewhere so strange and beautiful she is still surrounded by 'the English' and all that implies. Even on the other side of the world, the expectations and restrictions are still there.

>30 M1nks: yes, I completely agree with you on the allegorical nature of "South America" here. Probably a century ago that did not feel so weird. Now, in a global and post-colonial era, the fact that English grassy paths open up through tropical forests is just too unsettling.

I bought the book especially for this GR but I am going to skip it for now. This thread is not very encouraging and I really need an easy book with some action right now :-)

I am at least 2/3's through and still finding it strange. The characters all seem so stilted. And did courting couples in that time really decide to get married after a few brief conversations? I will finish but I will take it under advisement what many of you have said i.e. that this is not the best example of Woolf's writing.

Well, I have now finished and I was rather stunned by the ending. I'm glad I listened to this book rather than trying to read it. The reader, Nadia May, did an excellent job. I think it would have been more difficult to keep with it if I had been reading it.

Well, I have now finished and I was rather stunned by the ending.

Unfortunately for me some review or other spoke of the tragic end and that fairly much gave it away. Not specific details but when the events near the end happened I was pretty sure what the outcome would be and that lessened the dramatic impact.

I feel like I've been reading this for ever. There is a stunning ending you say? *grumble* might as well continue *grumble*