When I saw this video come up in my feed, I thought, ‘Eric’s going to talk about The Waves’. Love when people are passionate about a book. I read this one because of your influence. 😊💙
I'm finally going to read my copy of The Waves that's been sitting on my shelf for so long! I have always been intimidated by Woolf's work and you made it seem not so daunting!
Yay! Many people in my book club found it easiest to let it wash over them rather than trying to follow a plot or interpreting its meaning. Its resonance will follow naturally (I hope)
What a beautiful tribute to this book! It was one of my mother's favorites, but she was not able to articulate her love for it the way you do. I find Virginia Woolf's conceptual piece to defy my reading ability, but you inspire me to give this one a try.
Until now I had never heard of The Waves. Years ago I read Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. Now with your wonderful discussion and endorsement I plan to read The Waves when I have the opportunity to really devote myself to it. Your enthusiasm for it is contagious, thank you.
My favorite as well. And how she describes the external passage of time along with the internal journey of those personalities. Just lovely. In answer to your question, sadly Rhoda. But I believe Ms Woolf intimated we are all amalgamations of these personalities and didn't intend for these to be 6 distinct characters. Your summary is wonderful and I enjoyed it so much.
I read it ! Thanks for the nudge. It was poetic and beautiful but so elegiac. I liked many sentences but particularly the birds, ‘they came descending, delicately declining, dropped down and sat silent on a tree ‘. It reminded me of Joyce’s Ulysses ( which is much funnier ) . I could also hear T S Eliot in the poetic prose.
I am 13 minutes into this video - I thought to wait until the end to leave this comment, which I will try as much as possible to make brief and succinct despite the torrent of emotions I feel about this book, but I haven’t much discipline, and my pleasure at having found someone else for whom this book has such profound meaning, means that I may, in dialling up the voices of the characters in my head, miss some things in your absolutely wonderful video. “The Waves” is my first introduction to Woolf. “Is” because I am currently reading it, and have been reading it for about three weeks now, if not more. I have known about Woolf for years and have “To the Lighthouse” and “Mrs Dalloway”, but for some reason I never got round to reading them. I have recently developed an inveterate tendency not to finish anything I begin due to some distraction or another, and soon enough I am off to the next venture, leaving behind a trail of promises to someday return and finish the earlier ones. I made it far into Oscar Wilde’s “De Profundis”, also my first introduction to him, with the realisation that never before had a writer so masterfully attained the feat of delighting me with their use of language. Wilde has since left an indelible print on me. And so too has Woolf in these three weeks we have been getting to know one another. I did not find it difficult getting into the book or its style. I think I have always gravitated towards such books - my favourite author had a knack for experimenting with style and disassembling and reassembling the English language that I thought nothing else could surprise me. I was wrong. After the first brief series of internal monologues Louis stood out to me. I was jarred when he said, “I hold a stalk in my hand. I am the stalk. My roots go down to the depths of the world, through earth dry with brick, and damp earth, and veins of lead and silver. I am all fibre. All tremors shake me, and the weight of the earth is pressed to my ribs.” It is very unusual that someone his age could render a complex thought so simply, so economically, without having it lose its power; but that is one of the many beautiful things about this book: that, Louis’ precocity aside, Woolf manages to describe fluently the train and mechanics of thought, and in such a way that elevates a book nearly bereft (so far) of dialogue. Then Susan stood out to me. I felt her anger and frustration at Louis and Jinny’s betrayal, and over time, related with her desire for an ordinary life without any grand ambitions. But Rhoda and Neville are whom I relate to the most. Their insecurities and their desires which society has made them feel ashamed about, are, sadly, the same insecurities and desires that I have today, at 27 - particularly Neville’s. It is astonishing how the bulk of these take root in childhoold and endure the rest of our lives even in the face of accomplishments and an earnest quest for resolution - but there remains that immitigable sense that there are no real resolutions in life. Events on their own aren’t central to our understanding of and relationship with the world; our response to them, most likely influenced by childhood trauma, is. And these demons we yet remain “resolute to conquer”, as Louis would say. I must admit, though, that certain parts of the book so far have moved too quickly for me to grasp. My slow pace is in part because of the reasons above and my habit of re-reading each line, each phrase, each sentence that leaves me gasping for breath, of which the book is not in short supply. If there is one certainty that exists outside of this book since I have come to know it, it is this: Like you, I will return to it several times over the course of my life. There is probably more to say. I now return to the video. Neville was right: In everything about this book, “the normal is abolished”.
I find it so interesting that the character you related to most was Neville, when I read the book I felt I could grasp what each character was about, except for him, I had to re read some passages to understand him more, and even now I don't think I could describe him as well as the others. I always felt the characters I related to the least were Rhoda and Neville, so I find it fascinating to read this point of view. Also responding hoping to hear if you managed to finish it, and if you haven't, let this be a reminder to do so! It is so so worth it!!
@@cinnamoncito- I did finish it! Thanks for asking. I’m not sure any other book has moved me this much. And I will return to it quite soon. Concerning how I related to Neville: I’m afraid I can’t describe it. Perhaps one of the reasons was his being the most withdrawn of the lot, along with Rhoda, and that his withdrawal was, among other things, due to patterns and affections that the world at his time did not accept.
8 месяцев назад+2
I do not live in London anymore, but a woman friend gave me ' The Waves ' just before my first attempt to live there, and I read it on the train not understanding but understand it at the same time. It is now a much read old Penguin copy and it is always by my bed. I am old, and between the waves of life I have lost many people. I will read it and treasure it until I reach the last final words. I was seventeen when I was on that train, and through your words I can see that journey with the book in my hands.
How cool!! I read this a couple years back, at the time i was obsessed with autofiction and wanted to find the oldest forms of it.. was taken by it’s style but challenged/confused by a lot. Your video now serves as a companion to it- thank you!
It has been argued that Percival is somehow the alter ego of Virginia's brother Thoby who died at a very young age and whom she was very close to as she herself is somehow represented in the character of Rhonda. I first read the Waves when I was 16 or 17 and I remember what impressed me the most was that the impression that each character believes the others have about him or her proves somehow to be worse than what it later on is revealed to be. I think that this is especially true for the female characters or at least I saw it this way because I m a woman and was actually a teenager when I first read it and thought all the world revolved around me and my emotions and what others thought about me at the time.
Although I have never read a book by Virginia Woolf, I knew from the thumbnail The Waves would be your favourite. How you talk about this book, it does seem to me that this book is not only your favourite. It is your life companion.
The Waves is my all time favourite too, along with A Tale of Two Cities and Catch-22. Before I read Waves my favourite was To The Lighthouse. If I were a writer, I would have desired to write the Waves. But I can't believe that the writer who wrote such a beautiful book and expressed her love for this world, could commit suicide, depression must be very daunting disease.
She was abused throughout childhood. Including SA by her stepbrothers. She writes about the effect it had on her in her diaries and how difficult it became to live.
The Waves is one of my all time favorites too! I feel like having such extreme sensitivity to the world makes one capable of great artistic/literary achievement because of the deep connection and outpouring of emotion but also makes one more vulnerable to the pain and ugliness too. At a certain point, the pain became just too much of a burden to carry and she broke. She's such a poetic soul and the sensitivity required for beautiful poetry that touches us beyond language is a challenging gift to carry all of one's life
Aww loved this ❤I have a feeling this will be my favourite Woolf and I really really want to read it but I've self-imposed on myself reading her books chronologically so I still have to get through a few :DDD
Thanks for this video! I have been reading The Waves for a few months now but I've been feeling a bit "stuck" with it, not particularly compelled by a story I wasn't really understanding, and struggling to find the motivation to explore these inner worlds I couldn't even distinguish much from one another. Your video made me excited again to read it like I was when I first started (I adored Mrs Dalloway and really enjoyed the Lighthouse) because it made me look at it through a new lens. You do a great job at showing its potential, hidden layers, and complex beauty. Now I'm really excited to see where it goes! And I am looking forward to coming back to it when I grow older :))
this video made me so happy! I finished reading The Waves maybe like a month ago and I just adored it, I could relate so much to your description of it, sometimes I didn't get what she was saying but it just felt really good to read it, I found it hard to advance in it but I never wanted to stop and I loved how eventually you become more familiar with each character, I even played a game with myself where I would open up random pages and see the passages I had highlighted and tried to guess who said what before actually checking who it was. I wanted everyone in my life to read it but I feel it is a hard book to recommend because it is very strange and tho it connected with me because I read more poetry, I can understand someone not liking the style. So I'm just really happy I get to watch this video of you talking about it as excitedly as I would. Oh my god, and when you asked what character I could relate more to and said who you related to more I was so excited, that's what I want to ask everyone I know, I want to know who they relate to, why, what their favorite quotes were, I want to live in this book. Ahhh you made me so happy!!! Btw, I think I relate most to Jinny and Bernard, I love interacting with people, I am an extrovert and just love sparking up a chat with anyone anywhere, plus the way Bernard thinks of language and how he uses it, how he becomes other people through it, like when he goes on about being Byron and therefore writing like him, I love it, and also Jinny cause, I'm a woman, and I love flirting, when it's in this vibrant space, this vibrant moment she describes, it feels like liquid gold, hot and thick. But I also love Susan, I was so interested when you said you related to her most, I definitely feel I have Susan inside of me as well, but I always saw her as someone I would aspire to be, she was so motherly and I would want to be that but sometimes I feel I'm still to childish, still too much of a Jinny hahaha. I think I could go on and on, so I'll stop myself now haha. Thank you so much!
I’ve wracked my brains trying to get off the ground with The Waves… but I’ll give it another shot … it could be challenging literature like Joyce that if one weathers through they’ll reap the rewards…
I went and bought this book this morning but the front cover on your copy is so much nicer. I've put aside the novel I was reading to read this, you have me hooked with your passion for The Waves ❤
Thank you for sharing. This book has struck me at my first read, I’m 22 years old. I can’t wait to continue to read throughout life. If anyone could recommend a video or article that focuses on character analysis please share! I want to hear more perspectives on these interesting characters as individuals and then as a sort of chosen family…
I don't remember which came first, The Waves or To The Lighthouse in my Virginia Woolf reading experience. It was a time in my life I was also discovering James Joyce for the first time. His books took up much of my reading time then. I liked Woolf, moving on to Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando. Excellent writer. It's been decades since I read The Waves, maybe deserves another read, as do the aforementioned books by her. I can't imagine picking a favorite book of all time. Respect though the effort on your part to find one.
They’re definitely worth a revisit. I reread Orlando a few years ago as well and found so much more than what I got when I’d first read it in my early 20s.
I did not know about Orlando until I read an admiring piece by Anthony Burgess. It's a remarkable work. It was made into a good film too. @@EricKarlAnderson
I just listened to this video for the second time. I was in a bookstore today and looked for it…this smaller store did not have it, but I am going to read it. Your passion about it has convinced me. I am an older woman, almost 70, so I don’t know if my thoughts will not encompass my younger times. I’m hoping that my strong introspective piece will be helpful. I will try to come back here after I finish to write about some of my take aways in respect to my own life.
I'm so happy I listened to your review. I've just started reading The Waves. AND, I'm finding it very challenging. Stream of Conscience is hard for me. I'm sure I'll appreciate the reading because you discussed it so enthusiastically.
First: my favourite book ever is The Recognitions by William Gaddis, which I read even after having read Ulysses and other 'difficult' books ... there is something in the Recognitions that just catches me like a wave and sends me on a lovely tube ride to the beach ... I've only read To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf for some reason, but I've just ordered a copy of The Waves and look forward to it. To The Lighthouse had a lingering impact on me, the massive, but completely understated and unexpected event that happens at some point in the middle area of the book just so jarring and unique to me at the time as a reader.
I’ve never read The Recognitions but it’s on my list now. Thank you! I hope you find The Waves as powerful as I do. Woolf has a way of making shocking revelations in sub clauses.
Reading The Waves with you was one of the highlights of my reading year. I wouldn’t have believed it, but it now rivals To The Lighthouse as my favorite Virginia Woolf. I love your passion for the book and author and I was teary eyed right there with you as you shared your thoughts on this amazing work. Thank you ❤
Hello! It is great that you were 19 when you read The Waves for the first time! I just turned 18 and I loved Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando, but was a bit intimidated with this novel. Now I am excited to read and re-read it as I get older! Also, now knowing about the book's discussion of suicide, and knowing that Virginia Woolf commited suicide by drowning... it makes me look at the title of this book in a different light
The is the current chellenge in front of me, yet the first few pages were DEADLY. Best reason to listen to this video! Or maybe I'll try again before viewing...
I love to read and came upon this book on the internet - a picture of a chair, a table, a book, & cup of coffee on a balcony with a beautiful view of water. Waves by Virginia W. Then I listened to Eric review of The Waves & I plan on buying the book. Now, I don't particularly enjoy challenges of reading a book - I prefer to understand what I'm reading otherwise I become anxious & irritated - just like how a puzzle makes me feel - irritated/anxious - whereas others enjoy & find a calming sense with a puzzle! Anyway, I will give this book a try....
Thank you for reminding me about this book - and for your impressions of it. I read this first at 26 (I think). Had read Woolf before but this one really got to me. Have read a lot of her work since then, but not reread this. Think it might be time now, at 37.
The Grandmothers by Glenway Wescott. I recommend that you read it……he’s an amazing author who seems to be overlooked. It’s a book that I read as a teenager and often return to it as one of my favorites. Thank you for this video.
Yes, Eric, all the info you've shared about "The Waves" makes me want to read it. So, thanks. (I'm gonna borrow a digital copy of the novel from my library and start it on my train ride home for Christmas. It'll give me something to look forward to, to counteract my dread of that long ride.) By the way, I, too, was blown away by JCO's "Mysteries of Winterthurn", over thirty years ago, and have read her nonstop ever since. (A story in "Marriages and Infidelities", I don't remember which, is where I first encountered her. I had some kind of visceral experience, reading that story; I felt the top of my head heat up intensely or something, poring over her writing, too absorbed in it, her wordpower/brainpower. I remember exactly where I was at the time, of course.) She's my favourite author, too. (I sometimes wonder why she hasn't won more (all of the) major literary awards, and the thought has crossed my mind a few times that her GENIUS may intimidate the voting committees, or whoever decides these things? I've read very talented writers, but she's truly a genius, eh, both artistically and intellectually. I love Munro and Atwood, say, but I'm EXCITED to be living in a world where Joyce Carol Oates is writing! It's like being a contemporary of Jesus, or someone. Bad example, but you know what I mean.)
That’s great to hear and glad you’ll be reading The Waves. Let me know what you think when you get a chance to. And it’s so fantastic to hear you’re also a fan of Mysteries of Winterthurn. I know, I feel so lucky to be living in a time when she’s still going strong!
I have to be honest with you,Eric. My attempt to read this book was one of the worst reading experiences of my entire life.However I'm always curious how someone can have entirely opposite experience with a text than myself.My intellectual history prof.did his doctoral thesis at Harvard on Virginia Woolf.Idid have a similar experience with War& Peace that you describe with " The Waves"
As much as I like Virginia Woolf, which is a lot, she's still too much of a stylist for me. Oh, I'll prolly read the Waves at some point, but the one thing Woolf lacks in her fiction is the action and passion that makes a story worth telling. It's one thing to be a great writer and something else to be a storyteller, like for example Ray Bradbury. I think that if you're going to write a novel you should have a story to tell, and that story should hold my interest without looking for reasons to like it. Well, I'm glad it means a lot to you, and I especially like that it's neither Mrs. Dalloway nor To the Lighthouse, which are the two VWs everyone reads and gushes over. Thanks
Well if you read the book she gives a compelling argument against this perspective actually. You may disagree but to me it felt more authentic and from the heart the way she writes.
@@juliafraa6419 I'm sorry your reply lacks the substance to which I can use the permission you grant to disagree. Thank you very much - your input is important!
Great timing- should I take your release of this video on my birthday as a sign that I should make next year a deep dive into Virginia Woolf? I read this book two years ago as I wanted to start with the most masterfully experimental work of hers and it deeply moved me from the first read. It put my mind into such an interesting space of more feeling than thought that few books achieve because words necessitate thought and obscure feelings to an extent. I look forward to rereading it in a couple years. Thank you soooo much for this video- really enjoyed hearing your thoughts as I feel so similarly.
I loved the propulsive-ness of Mrs. Dalloway…& how she bends time in To the Lighthouse… I didn’t get that into Orlando…the abrupt transitions took me for an uncomfortable illogical turn …
Hey, I have recently finished writing my short stories book. Really happy to have found your channel. Can we recommend books so you can read them and give a review to us?😊 I was struggling to comprehend 'The Waves', so I decided to see if anyone has reviewed it. You have done a great job 💯
Am I the only one who didn’t love this book? Maybe I’m just not smart enough. It kind of felt like reading English if English was my second language. I constantly would have to go back and re read sections because I realized I’d spaced out trying to follow her stream of consciousness style. And then even after reading it again realize I still didn’t understand it. Each sentence kind of makes sense on its own but put together into a paragraph they don’t really mean anything. It’s also way too hard to follow who is talking. The death of Percival didn’t even make any sense to me. I feel like even people who love this book don’t really understand it. But maybe that’s the point? I don’t know. I found this really difficult to read and not particularly enjoyable and I wasn’t able to take much meaning from it. Now I feel worse about myself because so many consider it to be the greatest book ever written, so clearly something is wrong with me.
Ok your having read this book so many times and still finding passages too complex to fully understand gives me a nudge to read onwards. I feel a bit lost about a third in, but I’m supposing it’s all about the vibes and feelings rather than the concrete bones of a story. So far I feel so much like Susan ! It’s a wee bit confronting
When I saw this video come up in my feed, I thought, ‘Eric’s going to talk about The Waves’. Love when people are passionate about a book. I read this one because of your influence. 😊💙
That’s so great to hear! 💜 Honestly, this video could have been 3 hours long if I let myself go. 😅
The Waves was amazing. My favorite VW novel
I'm finally going to read my copy of The Waves that's been sitting on my shelf for so long! I have always been intimidated by Woolf's work and you made it seem not so daunting!
Yay! Many people in my book club found it easiest to let it wash over them rather than trying to follow a plot or interpreting its meaning. Its resonance will follow naturally (I hope)
What a beautiful tribute to this book! It was one of my mother's favorites, but she was not able to articulate her love for it the way you do. I find Virginia Woolf's conceptual piece to defy my reading ability, but you inspire me to give this one a try.
Thank you so much! 💜
Always great to hear RUclipsrs so passionate about a book. 🌊🌊🌊
😊❤️
This is such a difficult book and I was about to give up but you so wonderfully explained everything. I’ll give another try!
Ahhhh. I’m so excited to read this. I’ve read To The Lighthouse and Orlando and love both of them so much.
It’s sublime! Hope you enjoy it!
Until now I had never heard of The Waves. Years ago I read Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. Now with your wonderful discussion and endorsement I plan to read The Waves when I have the opportunity to really devote myself to it. Your enthusiasm for it is contagious, thank you.
That’s great to hear! I hope you find it as impactful and meaningful as I have. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thank you, Eric, for sharing your love of books and authors.
😊📚
Just updated next years reading plan to include this one... Thanks Eric, great video
Fantastic! I’d love to know what you think of it when you get time to read it.
My favorite as well. And how she describes the external passage of time along with the internal journey of those personalities. Just lovely. In answer to your question, sadly Rhoda. But I believe Ms Woolf intimated we are all amalgamations of these personalities and didn't intend for these to be 6 distinct characters. Your summary is wonderful and I enjoyed it so much.
I read it ! Thanks for the nudge.
It was poetic and beautiful but so elegiac. I liked many sentences but particularly the birds, ‘they came descending, delicately declining, dropped down and sat silent on a tree ‘.
It reminded me of Joyce’s Ulysses ( which is much funnier ) . I could also hear T S Eliot in the poetic prose.
Waves has been on my bookshelf for a while - thinking it’s time to read it soon. I loved Mrs. Dalloway!
I am 13 minutes into this video - I thought to wait until the end to leave this comment, which I will try as much as possible to make brief and succinct despite the torrent of emotions I feel about this book, but I haven’t much discipline, and my pleasure at having found someone else for whom this book has such profound meaning, means that I may, in dialling up the voices of the characters in my head, miss some things in your absolutely wonderful video.
“The Waves” is my first introduction to Woolf. “Is” because I am currently reading it, and have been reading it for about three weeks now, if not more. I have known about Woolf for years and have “To the Lighthouse” and “Mrs Dalloway”, but for some reason I never got round to reading them. I have recently developed an inveterate tendency not to finish anything I begin due to some distraction or another, and soon enough I am off to the next venture, leaving behind a trail of promises to someday return and finish the earlier ones. I made it far into Oscar Wilde’s “De Profundis”, also my first introduction to him, with the realisation that never before had a writer so masterfully attained the feat of delighting me with their use of language. Wilde has since left an indelible print on me. And so too has Woolf in these three weeks we have been getting to know one another.
I did not find it difficult getting into the book or its style. I think I have always gravitated towards such books - my favourite author had a knack for experimenting with style and disassembling and reassembling the English language that I thought nothing else could surprise me. I was wrong. After the first brief series of internal monologues Louis stood out to me. I was jarred when he said, “I hold a stalk in my hand. I am the stalk. My roots go down to the depths of the world, through earth dry with brick, and damp earth, and veins of lead and silver. I am all fibre. All tremors shake me, and the weight of the earth is pressed to my ribs.” It is very unusual that someone his age could render a complex thought so simply, so economically, without having it lose its power; but that is one of the many beautiful things about this book: that, Louis’ precocity aside, Woolf manages to describe fluently the train and mechanics of thought, and in such a way that elevates a book nearly bereft (so far) of dialogue.
Then Susan stood out to me. I felt her anger and frustration at Louis and Jinny’s betrayal, and over time, related with her desire for an ordinary life without any grand ambitions. But Rhoda and Neville are whom I relate to the most. Their insecurities and their desires which society has made them feel ashamed about, are, sadly, the same insecurities and desires that I have today, at 27 - particularly Neville’s. It is astonishing how the bulk of these take root in childhoold and endure the rest of our lives even in the face of accomplishments and an earnest quest for resolution - but there remains that immitigable sense that there are no real resolutions in life. Events on their own aren’t central to our understanding of and relationship with the world; our response to them, most likely influenced by childhood trauma, is. And these demons we yet remain “resolute to conquer”, as Louis would say.
I must admit, though, that certain parts of the book so far have moved too quickly for me to grasp. My slow pace is in part because of the reasons above and my habit of re-reading each line, each phrase, each sentence that leaves me gasping for breath, of which the book is not in short supply.
If there is one certainty that exists outside of this book since I have come to know it, it is this: Like you, I will return to it several times over the course of my life.
There is probably more to say. I now return to the video. Neville was right: In everything about this book, “the normal is abolished”.
I find it so interesting that the character you related to most was Neville, when I read the book I felt I could grasp what each character was about, except for him, I had to re read some passages to understand him more, and even now I don't think I could describe him as well as the others. I always felt the characters I related to the least were Rhoda and Neville, so I find it fascinating to read this point of view. Also responding hoping to hear if you managed to finish it, and if you haven't, let this be a reminder to do so! It is so so worth it!!
@@cinnamoncito- I did finish it! Thanks for asking. I’m not sure any other book has moved me this much. And I will return to it quite soon.
Concerning how I related to Neville: I’m afraid I can’t describe it. Perhaps one of the reasons was his being the most withdrawn of the lot, along with Rhoda, and that his withdrawal was, among other things, due to patterns and affections that the world at his time did not accept.
I do not live in London anymore, but a woman friend gave me ' The Waves ' just before my first attempt to live there, and I read it on the train not understanding but understand it at the same time. It is now a much read old Penguin copy and it is always by my bed. I am old, and between the waves of life I have lost many people. I will read it and treasure it until I reach the last final words. I was seventeen when I was on that train, and through your words I can see that journey with the book in my hands.
Thanks for sharing that.
How cool!! I read this a couple years back, at the time i was obsessed with autofiction and wanted to find the oldest forms of it.. was taken by it’s style but challenged/confused by a lot. Your video now serves as a companion to it- thank you!
It has been argued that Percival is somehow the alter ego of Virginia's brother Thoby who died at a very young age and whom she was very close to as she herself is somehow represented in the character of Rhonda. I first read the Waves when I was 16 or 17 and I remember what impressed me the most was that the impression that each character believes the others have about him or her proves somehow to be worse than what it later on is revealed to be. I think that this is especially true for the female characters or at least I saw it this way because I m a woman and was actually a teenager when I first read it and thought all the world revolved around me and my emotions and what others thought about me at the time.
Yes, that biographical interpretation makes a lot of sense. And it’s so interesting to hear how you reacted to the book as a teenager. Thank you!
Although I have never read a book by Virginia Woolf, I knew from the thumbnail The Waves would be your favourite. How you talk about this book, it does seem to me that this book is not only your favourite. It is your life companion.
Definitely! 😊📚
You made me curious and I will try to get my hands on acopy.
The Waves is my all time favourite too, along with A Tale of Two Cities and Catch-22. Before I read Waves my favourite was To The Lighthouse.
If I were a writer, I would have desired to write the Waves. But I can't believe that the writer who wrote such a beautiful book and expressed her love for this world, could commit suicide, depression must be very daunting disease.
I’m so glad you feel the same! 🌊
She was abused throughout childhood. Including SA by her stepbrothers. She writes about the effect it had on her in her diaries and how difficult it became to live.
The Waves is one of my all time favorites too! I feel like having such extreme sensitivity to the world makes one capable of great artistic/literary achievement because of the deep connection and outpouring of emotion but also makes one more vulnerable to the pain and ugliness too. At a certain point, the pain became just too much of a burden to carry and she broke. She's such a poetic soul and the sensitivity required for beautiful poetry that touches us beyond language is a challenging gift to carry all of one's life
Can't wait to try this one. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hope you enjoy it! 📚
Aww loved this ❤I have a feeling this will be my favourite Woolf and I really really want to read it but I've self-imposed on myself reading her books chronologically so I still have to get through a few :DDD
Thanks for this video! I have been reading The Waves for a few months now but I've been feeling a bit "stuck" with it, not particularly compelled by a story I wasn't really understanding, and struggling to find the motivation to explore these inner worlds I couldn't even distinguish much from one another. Your video made me excited again to read it like I was when I first started (I adored Mrs Dalloway and really enjoyed the Lighthouse) because it made me look at it through a new lens. You do a great job at showing its potential, hidden layers, and complex beauty. Now I'm really excited to see where it goes! And I am looking forward to coming back to it when I grow older :))
this video made me so happy! I finished reading The Waves maybe like a month ago and I just adored it, I could relate so much to your description of it, sometimes I didn't get what she was saying but it just felt really good to read it, I found it hard to advance in it but I never wanted to stop and I loved how eventually you become more familiar with each character, I even played a game with myself where I would open up random pages and see the passages I had highlighted and tried to guess who said what before actually checking who it was. I wanted everyone in my life to read it but I feel it is a hard book to recommend because it is very strange and tho it connected with me because I read more poetry, I can understand someone not liking the style. So I'm just really happy I get to watch this video of you talking about it as excitedly as I would.
Oh my god, and when you asked what character I could relate more to and said who you related to more I was so excited, that's what I want to ask everyone I know, I want to know who they relate to, why, what their favorite quotes were, I want to live in this book. Ahhh you made me so happy!!!
Btw, I think I relate most to Jinny and Bernard, I love interacting with people, I am an extrovert and just love sparking up a chat with anyone anywhere, plus the way Bernard thinks of language and how he uses it, how he becomes other people through it, like when he goes on about being Byron and therefore writing like him, I love it, and also Jinny cause, I'm a woman, and I love flirting, when it's in this vibrant space, this vibrant moment she describes, it feels like liquid gold, hot and thick. But I also love Susan, I was so interested when you said you related to her most, I definitely feel I have Susan inside of me as well, but I always saw her as someone I would aspire to be, she was so motherly and I would want to be that but sometimes I feel I'm still to childish, still too much of a Jinny hahaha. I think I could go on and on, so I'll stop myself now haha. Thank you so much!
I’ve wracked my brains trying to get off the ground with The Waves… but I’ll give it another shot … it could be challenging literature like Joyce that if one weathers through they’ll reap the rewards…
Just when I needed recommendations..... thank you Eric 😊❤️
Hope you find it as inspiring and life affirming as I do. 💜
Thank you for this moving deep dive.
Thank you for watching! 💜
I went and bought this book this morning but the front cover on your copy is so much nicer. I've put aside the novel I was reading to read this, you have me hooked with your passion for The Waves ❤
Oh good! It’s a novel to be patient with but I hope you develop as much love for it as I have.
Thank you for sharing. This book has struck me at my first read, I’m 22 years old. I can’t wait to continue to read throughout life. If anyone could recommend a video or article that focuses on character analysis please share! I want to hear more perspectives on these interesting characters as individuals and then as a sort of chosen family…
I don't remember which came first, The Waves or To The Lighthouse in my Virginia Woolf reading experience. It was a time in my life I was also discovering James Joyce for the first time. His books took up much of my reading time then. I liked Woolf, moving on to Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando. Excellent writer. It's been decades since I read The Waves, maybe deserves another read, as do the aforementioned books by her. I can't imagine picking a favorite book of all time. Respect though the effort on your part to find one.
They’re definitely worth a revisit. I reread Orlando a few years ago as well and found so much more than what I got when I’d first read it in my early 20s.
I did not know about Orlando until I read an admiring piece by Anthony Burgess. It's a remarkable work. It was made into a good film too. @@EricKarlAnderson
I just listened to this video for the second time. I was in a bookstore today and looked for it…this smaller store did not have it, but I am going to read it. Your passion about it has convinced me. I am an older woman, almost 70, so I don’t know if my thoughts will not encompass my younger times. I’m hoping that my strong introspective piece will be helpful. I will try to come back here after I finish to write about some of my take aways in respect to my own life.
Thank you! I hope you’re able to get a copy and that you enjoy it as much as I do. I think it’s worth discovering and reading at any age.
I'm so happy I listened to your review. I've just started reading The Waves. AND, I'm finding it very challenging. Stream of Conscience is hard for me. I'm sure I'll appreciate the reading because you discussed it so enthusiastically.
Thanks, I'm glad I could help! 😊
First: my favourite book ever is The Recognitions by William Gaddis, which I read even after having read Ulysses and other 'difficult' books ... there is something in the Recognitions that just catches me like a wave and sends me on a lovely tube ride to the beach ... I've only read To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf for some reason, but I've just ordered a copy of The Waves and look forward to it. To The Lighthouse had a lingering impact on me, the massive, but completely understated and unexpected event that happens at some point in the middle area of the book just so jarring and unique to me at the time as a reader.
I’ve never read The Recognitions but it’s on my list now. Thank you! I hope you find The Waves as powerful as I do. Woolf has a way of making shocking revelations in sub clauses.
@@EricKarlAnderson You MUST read The Recognitions! And then let me or better, everyone, know what you think.
Reading The Waves with you was one of the highlights of my reading year. I wouldn’t have believed it, but it now rivals To The Lighthouse as my favorite Virginia Woolf. I love your passion for the book and author and I was teary eyed right there with you as you shared your thoughts on this amazing work. Thank you ❤
Thank you! That’s so wonderful to hear and glad to hear it’s in the top Woolf books for you now! 💜
Hello! It is great that you were 19 when you read The Waves for the first time! I just turned 18 and I loved Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando, but was a bit intimidated with this novel. Now I am excited to read and re-read it as I get older! Also, now knowing about the book's discussion of suicide, and knowing that Virginia Woolf commited suicide by drowning... it makes me look at the title of this book in a different light
I read The Waves last year and it's definitely one of the best books I've ever read. Probably my favourite Woolf novel this far too
All the characters resonate a lot with me, but I see myself the most in Rhoda and the least in Jinny
The is the current chellenge in front of me, yet the first few pages were DEADLY. Best reason to listen to this video! Or maybe I'll try again before viewing...
Rhoda
There was a star riding through clouds one night, and I said to the star, ‘Consume me’.
💜
I love to read and came upon this book on the internet - a picture of a chair, a table, a book, & cup of coffee on a balcony with a beautiful view of water. Waves by Virginia W. Then I listened to Eric review of The Waves & I plan on buying the book. Now, I don't particularly enjoy challenges of reading a book - I prefer to understand what I'm reading otherwise I become anxious & irritated - just like how a puzzle makes me feel - irritated/anxious - whereas others enjoy & find a calming sense with a puzzle! Anyway, I will give this book a try....
Loved this, Eric. Have just bought The Waves on Kindle as I’m intrigued. Currently 99p. 🏃🏼♀️
Thank you! And that’s such a bargain!
Thank you for reminding me about this book - and for your impressions of it. I read this first at 26 (I think). Had read Woolf before but this one really got to me. Have read a lot of her work since then, but not reread this. Think it might be time now, at 37.
Thank you! I’m sure it will have a different impact reading it now.
Many thanks for sharing your reading experiences
I tried to read it years ago but it defeated me. I will try again after watching your enthusiasm for it. 🤞
Just let the experience of it wash over you and hopefully it’ll acquire more resonance.
The Grandmothers by Glenway Wescott. I recommend that you read it……he’s an amazing author who seems to be overlooked. It’s a book that I read as a teenager and often return to it as one of my favorites. Thank you for this video.
I keep thinking about Virginia Woolf, but I struggle with stream of consciousness.
Thank you for this lovely discussion of a monumental work. 😊
Thank you! 😊
Yes, Eric, all the info you've shared about "The Waves" makes me want to read it. So, thanks. (I'm gonna borrow a digital copy of the novel from my library and start it on my train ride home for Christmas. It'll give me something to look forward to, to counteract my dread of that long ride.) By the way, I, too, was blown away by JCO's "Mysteries of Winterthurn", over thirty years ago, and have read her nonstop ever since. (A story in "Marriages and Infidelities", I don't remember which, is where I first encountered her. I had some kind of visceral experience, reading that story; I felt the top of my head heat up intensely or something, poring over her writing, too absorbed in it, her wordpower/brainpower. I remember exactly where I was at the time, of course.) She's my favourite author, too. (I sometimes wonder why she hasn't won more (all of the) major literary awards, and the thought has crossed my mind a few times that her GENIUS may intimidate the voting committees, or whoever decides these things? I've read very talented writers, but she's truly a genius, eh, both artistically and intellectually. I love Munro and Atwood, say, but I'm EXCITED to be living in a world where Joyce Carol Oates is writing! It's like being a contemporary of Jesus, or someone. Bad example, but you know what I mean.)
That’s great to hear and glad you’ll be reading The Waves. Let me know what you think when you get a chance to. And it’s so fantastic to hear you’re also a fan of Mysteries of Winterthurn. I know, I feel so lucky to be living in a time when she’s still going strong!
I have to be honest with you,Eric.
My attempt to read this book was
one of the worst reading experiences of my entire life.However I'm always curious
how someone can have entirely
opposite experience with a text
than myself.My intellectual history
prof.did his doctoral thesis at Harvard on Virginia Woolf.Idid have a similar experience with
War& Peace that you describe with
" The Waves"
I completely understand but for me I think my fav of Wolf is either The Voyage Out or To the Lighthouse. The Waves is a close third. Tough decision!
Finished it today. I found myself identifying with all 6 characters at points.
As much as I like Virginia Woolf, which is a lot, she's still too much of a stylist for me. Oh, I'll prolly read the Waves at some point, but the one thing Woolf lacks in her fiction is the action and passion that makes a story worth telling. It's one thing to be a great writer and something else to be a storyteller, like for example Ray Bradbury. I think that if you're going to write a novel you should have a story to tell, and that story should hold my interest without looking for reasons to like it. Well, I'm glad it means a lot to you, and I especially like that it's neither Mrs. Dalloway nor To the Lighthouse, which are the two VWs everyone reads and gushes over. Thanks
Well if you read the book she gives a compelling argument against this perspective actually. You may disagree but to me it felt more authentic and from the heart the way she writes.
@@juliafraa6419 I'm sorry your reply lacks the substance to which I can use the permission you grant to disagree. Thank you very much - your input is important!
I ordered it. I wrote my thesis on Mrs. Dalloway. So this must be intriguing.
Great timing- should I take your release of this video on my birthday as a sign that I should make next year a deep dive into Virginia Woolf? I read this book two years ago as I wanted to start with the most masterfully experimental work of hers and it deeply moved me from the first read. It put my mind into such an interesting space of more feeling than thought that few books achieve because words necessitate thought and obscure feelings to an extent. I look forward to rereading it in a couple years. Thank you soooo much for this video- really enjoyed hearing your thoughts as I feel so similarly.
My favourites are Rhonda and Bernard.
Ah! 💜
Rhoda* :-)
Haven't read it yet : ( tho who knows? Maybe I'll find the time soon. Thx for the video.
I loved the propulsive-ness of Mrs. Dalloway…& how she bends time in To the Lighthouse… I didn’t get that into Orlando…the abrupt transitions took me for an uncomfortable illogical turn …
Hey, I have recently finished writing my short stories book. Really happy to have found your channel. Can we recommend books so you can read them and give a review to us?😊
I was struggling to comprehend 'The Waves', so I decided to see if anyone has reviewed it. You have done a great job 💯
Books change through time.
Am I the only one who didn’t love this book? Maybe I’m just not smart enough. It kind of felt like reading English if English was my second language. I constantly would have to go back and re read sections because I realized I’d spaced out trying to follow her stream of consciousness style. And then even after reading it again realize I still didn’t understand it. Each sentence kind of makes sense on its own but put together into a paragraph they don’t really mean anything.
It’s also way too hard to follow who is talking. The death of Percival didn’t even make any sense to me. I feel like even people who love this book don’t really understand it. But maybe that’s the point? I don’t know. I found this really difficult to read and not particularly enjoyable and I wasn’t able to take much meaning from it. Now I feel worse about myself because so many consider it to be the greatest book ever written, so clearly something is wrong with me.
Mine too. Since I was 18.
I'm going to order it ❤🏃🏃🏃🏃
Beautiful 🙏🏽
Ok your having read this book so many times and still finding passages too complex to fully understand gives me a nudge to read onwards. I feel a bit lost about a third in, but I’m supposing it’s all about the vibes and feelings rather than the concrete bones of a story.
So far I feel so much like Susan ! It’s a wee bit confronting
This guy said a lot without saying anything.
🌊🌊🌊❤