Others: Leaning positive Virginia Woolf’s novel chronicles a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a politician’s wife in 1920s London, as she prepares to host a party that evening. The narrative follows Clarissa’s thoughts (and sometimes those of people she meets) as she goes about her errands, and events in the day remind her of her youth and friendships from the past. As the book progresses characters from the past emerge, igniting old feelings and making Clarissa question the life she has created for herself. Mrs. Dalloway became the inspiration for Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel The Hours.
Lists: …
Vladimir Nabokov
1777 · 319 pages · 8 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveLolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, whom he sexually molests after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores. The novel was originally written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press. Later it was translated into Russian by Nabokov himself and published in New York City in 1967 by Phaedra Publishers.
What made the match, strongest first
Fiódor Dostoievski
1848 · 294 pages · 2 reviews
Others: PositiveWhite Nights is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky that was published in 1848. Set in St. Petersburg, it is the story of a young man fighting his inner restlessness. A light and tender narrative, it delves into the torment and guilt of unrequited love. Both protagonists suffer from a deep sense of alienation that initially brings them together. A blend of romanticism and realism, the story appeals gently to the senses and feelings.
What made the match, strongest first
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1920 · 182 pages · 13 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveHere is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate – a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period – which reveals a hero like no other – one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts. "There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.... It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again." It is the story of this Jay Gatsby who came so mysteriously to West Egg, of his sumptuous entertainments, and of his love for Daisy Buchanan – a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism, and is infused with a sense of the strangeness of human circumstance in a heedless universe. It is a magical, living book, blended of irony, romance, and mysticism. --first edition jacket
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Emily Brontë
1846 · 312 pages · 32 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveWuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's adopted son, Heathcliff. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction.
What made the match, strongest first
Virginia Woolf
1931 · 255 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveTracing the lives of a group of friends, this novel follows their development from childhood to middle age. Social events, individual achievements and disappointments form the outer structure of the book, but the focus is the inner life of the characters which is conveyed in rich poetic language.
What made the match, strongest first
James Baldwin
1956 · 224 pages · 10 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveConsidered an 'audacious' second novel, GIOVANNI'S ROOM is set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence. This now-classic story of a fated love triangle explores, with uncompromising clarity, the conflicts between desire, conventional morality and sexual identity.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itIt is a novel that again it's one of the books that I would like to be tattooed on me. I always deem the books that are my favorites of all time are the ones that can be put in the casket with me. and Mrs. Dalloway's definitely one of my casket books.
Mixedwhile this book was a bit of a struggle bust for me like I really had a hard time in terms of like taking in the writing style... I am leaving this book feeling happy that I read it and satisfied with it overall like I did really enjoy the process of reading this book.
Loved itMrs Dalloway is about post-war trauma and it's set over the period of 24 hours while this woman is preparing for and then hosts a party and Virginia Woolf was just the goat right she's just so good that's where she belongs.
Not a fanI had tried to read Mrs. Dalloway when I was younger and found it quite difficult
