Name: Die Fahrt zum Leuchtturm
Rating: 3.901428571428571 (350 reviews)
ISBN: 9783596221196

Virginia Woolf

Herberth Egon Herlitschka

Roman

Die Fahrt zum Leuchtturm

To the Lighthouse

beautifully written. A timeless piece of work. short read too :)

aemouh

Christian

This book had a stream-of-consciousness style that takes a few pages to get used to. Some sentences are so long and convoluted that I had to read them several times to understand them. I liked the first part best, centered on Mrs Ramsay's afternoon and evening preparing for dinner at her island vacation home with several guests. <br /><br />The second part jumps about a decade into the future, with the characters back at the vacation house for the first time in years. The focus is now on one of the returning guests, and Mr Ramsay at long last completing a sailboat journey out to the lighthouse with two of his kids. <br /><br />Nothing much happens in a narrative sense, and in the end I wondered what I could take away from the book. Still I enjoyed spending time with the Ramsays in the first part, and would be happy to end my reading there.

Romy

To the lighthouse

read in a terrible, tender daze, mostly by the sea. today i finished the book at jacob riis beach surrounded by loving friends. what a terrible thing it can be to love and to be curious about another. and what a beautiful thing. 

i've pages dog-eared, and manymany words underlined. i know i'll remember how i feel forever, even if the details are a blur. 

aisha

read in a terrible, tender daze, mostly by the sea. today i finished the book at jacob riis beach surrounded by loving friends. what a terrible thing it can be to love and to be curious about another. and what a beautiful thing. 

i've pages dog-eared, and manymany words underlined. i know i'll remember how i feel forever, even if the details are a blur. 

To the Lighthouse, considered by many to be Virginia Woolf's finest novel, is a remarkably original work, showing the thoughts and actions of the members of a family and their guests on two separate occasions, ten years apart. The setting is Mr and Mrs Ramsay's house on a Scottish island, where they traditionally take their summer holidays, overlooking a bay with a lighthouse. An experimental work that pushes the limits of what we know about the world and ourselves, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is one of the most beautifully crafted of all novels written in the English language. This Macmillan Collector’s Library edition features an afterword by Sam Gilpin. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

This book demands your full attention and time when reading it, it is really quite challenging and Woolf's meandering sentences often require revisiting to interpret the point. However you are rewarded for this with one of the most interesting and visceral explorations of human thought. 

The omniscient narrator storytelling gives you an insight into the psyche of the characters and delves into the opposing inner monologue of people in shared experience. 

A story in which so little happens would likely not be so gripping in someone else's hands. 

Liam Richardson

This book demands your full attention and time when reading it, it is really quite challenging and Woolf's meandering sentences often require revisiting to interpret the point. However you are rewarded for this with one of the most interesting and visceral explorations of human thought. 

The omniscient narrator storytelling gives you an insight into the psyche of the characters and delves into the opposing inner monologue of people in shared experience. 

A story in which so little happens would likely not be so gripping in someone else's hands. 

I think I may have to read it again.

Could not disassociate while reading; had to pay attention the whole time; clearly written before tiktok 

Eli Alvah Huckabee

"Will you fade? Will you perish?"—scarcely disturbed the peace, the indifference, the air of pure integrity, as if the question they asked scarcely needed that they should answer: we remain."

Like waves folding into themselves—soft, relentless, inevitable—To the Lighthouse is a quiet current of memory, time, and the spaces between people. It moves without warning, without plot-bound urgency, yet every sentence pulses with interior life. A gentle exploration of perception, motherhood, family dynamics, love, and gender principles—both spoken and silent.

To the Lighthouse, for me, is a startling reflection of how much we live inside our own minds while reaching, imperfectly, for connection. It’s about the fragility of roles we inherit, the beauty of moments too small to name, and the lingering weight of what’s left unsaid. It left me with a certain ache—the kind that comes from recognizing something deeply, wordlessly true.

Woolf, with this timeless masterpiece, evinces a graceful style of consciousness that moves like light across water. An utterly absorbing but subtle beam of the inner life.

Rien

"Will you fade? Will you perish?"—scarcely disturbed the peace, the indifference, the air of pure integrity, as if the question they asked scarcely needed that they should answer: we remain."

Like waves folding into themselves—soft, relentless, inevitable—To the Lighthouse is a quiet current of memory, time, and the spaces between people. It moves without warning, without plot-bound urgency, yet every sentence pulses with interior life. A gentle exploration of perception, motherhood, family dynamics, love, and gender principles—both spoken and silent.

To the Lighthouse, for me, is a startling reflection of how much we live inside our own minds while reaching, imperfectly, for connection. It’s about the fragility of roles we inherit, the beauty of moments too small to name, and the lingering weight of what’s left unsaid. It left me with a certain ache—the kind that comes from recognizing something deeply, wordlessly true.

Woolf, with this timeless masterpiece, evinces a graceful style of consciousness that moves like light across water. An utterly absorbing but subtle beam of the inner life.

i am obviously so late to the party on this one but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lucy rosenthal

Mais uma prova clara da eloquência de Virginia Woolf e a sua capacidade assombradora de lidar com os pensamentos e a fluidez consciente de cada uma de suas personagens — a facilidade com que a narrativa se constitui e subsiste de si mesma é particularmente fascinante. A premissa é simples o suficiente: uma família, o relato da sua vida diária e dos seus amigos. 

Mas o casal vive em constante tortura, a mulher e o marido vivem cada um limitados por si próprios e pelos desejos que possuem, o que idealizam um do outro mantendo-os presos, incapazes de avançar no relacionamento. Os filhos falecem graças a imposições sociais: um, na guerra, outra, no parto (as prisões dos sexos, seria?). Os que permanecem, como o Farol, parecem impassíveis à passagem do tempo; nunca mudam, presos ao passado, a eles mesmos, a quem foram. E vão ao Farol. Aquela figura grandiosa que se impõe na paisagem marítima, que assombra a narrativa lenta mas eficazmente. 

dyonisos.

Mais uma prova clara da eloquência de Virginia Woolf e a sua capacidade assombradora de lidar com os pensamentos e a fluidez consciente de cada uma de suas personagens — a facilidade com que a narrativa se constitui e subsiste de si mesma é particularmente fascinante. A premissa é simples o suficiente: uma família, o relato da sua vida diária e dos seus amigos. 

Mas o casal vive em constante tortura, a mulher e o marido vivem cada um limitados por si próprios e pelos desejos que possuem, o que idealizam um do outro mantendo-os presos, incapazes de avançar no relacionamento. Os filhos falecem graças a imposições sociais: um, na guerra, outra, no parto (as prisões dos sexos, seria?). Os que permanecem, como o Farol, parecem impassíveis à passagem do tempo; nunca mudam, presos ao passado, a eles mesmos, a quem foram. E vão ao Farol. Aquela figura grandiosa que se impõe na paisagem marítima, que assombra a narrativa lenta mas eficazmente. 

fæ 

Set in the summer home of an English family, this novel unfolds through shifting perspectives of each character's stream of consciousness, recalling childhood emotions and highlights of adult relationships.

Maureen

“About here, she thought, dabbling her fingers in the water, a ship had sunk, and she muttered, dreamily half asleep, how we perished, each alone.”

***

Heralded as one of the best modernist texts, To the Lighthouse delves into the complexities of human emotion—particularly the dynamics of power among human relationships. On the surface, the novel centers around the Ramsey family and their plans to go to the lighthouse. Literally and metaphorically, however, the lighthouse remains elusive. By the end, only a few the members actually make the trip. In all truth, I failed to appreciate this novel in its entirety, as its modernist sentiment didn't really resonate with me. Nevertheless, Woolf’s mastery of the stream of consciousness is apparent, for she deftly inhabits a character's thought and shifts to another's in a heartbeat.

The relationship between Mr and Mrs. Ramsey is intriguing. The former is a cold-hearted philosopher, while the latter is the perennial homemaker. Although Mr. Ramsey doesn’t seem to show remorse whenever he belittles his wife’s capacities, he nevertheless openly demands her sympathy. For all his stoicism, he depends on her constant reassurance. On the other hand, Mrs. Ramsey cannot bring it upon herself to tell her husband the three words he so desperately wants to hear. Her love language was not words of affirmation but acts of service. The complexity of their relationship is best captured at the end of Part I, wherein Woolf assiduously discloses the thoughts of each. It is revealed that despite all their marital troubles and miscommunications, the love they have for each other is undeniable. 

Overall, I must confess that I had to force myself to finish this book, so it was not much of a pleasant read. It is, however, sprinkled with good quotes. Though some would declare that To the Lighthouse is Woolf’s greatest novel, I would much prefer Mrs Dalloway over this.

Sajiya Chaudhary

I bought this and A Room of One's Own together, when I was going through a very tough time. It felt like these two books would help me understand the difficulty that comes with being too anxious, an overthinker, someone who communicates with themselves excessively in their own head. And it took me three attempts to get going with this one. Every time I started, it felt difficult to understand what is going on here. Now being stuck at our homes, living our life in the same monotonicity, and having to talk to ourselves, this book made a lot of sense. It seemed less complex. Helped understand how complex human emotions, and how tangled human thoughts are, and the effects they can have on life their own and everyone around. Woolf has given some really beautiful metaphors in this one. I know I would require many more reads to get acquainted with the complexity here, but it was worth the many reads.

a compelling melody of the complexities of family dynamics, artistic unity, & the meaning of life that i never wanted to end

marlisa

my review: Stunning. 200 pages of pure poetry. 

jake's review: snoozefest

Jim Hagan

Finished this after reading it about 6 years ago, and pleased to say it still garners 5 stars. Glad I reawakaned my memory to this startling book. The middle part particularly stood out to me as excellent this time around.

To The Lighthouse

No rating since I would like to sit with this a bit and maybe revisit in a different format.

Reading this as an audiobook may have been a bit of a mistake; it is just not the kind of book that lends itself well to the format. However, the prose was beautiful and Ruth Wilson's narration was incrdibly lyrical and enchanting.

No rating since I would like to sit with this a bit and maybe revisit in a different format.

Reading this as an audiobook may have been a bit of a mistake; it is just not the kind of book that lends itself well to the format. However, the prose was beautiful and Ruth Wilson's narration was incrdibly lyrical and enchanting.

It's a fascinating and moving story, but I struggled with the writing style - it was difficult sometimes to understand what I was reading

Alina

Jamieson

“What is the meaning of life? That was all- a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.” 


I had the most unusual experience reading this where I enjoyed every page but simultaneously was wishing and hoping something would happen. There's very few actual lighthouses in this book, most of it follows various characters over an afternoon and evening as they ponder their relationships with eachother and their various anxieties about life and love and family are slowly explored. 

Woolf is a phenomenal writer and that can't be argued. Her prose is stunning, and this book feels like something only one person could write. Woolf manages to capture the transient nature of time and the flow and ebb of time between one moment to the next and that is no easy feat. Part two, "Time Passes", especially, stood out to me in this book. The death of the characters so unceremoniously announced in bracketed footnotes was a unique choice, and a uniquely modernist choice, and I found that I kind of liked it. 

I think I'd like to read more Woolf for sure, Orlando might be up next. This is not what I expected, and I can't explain it to you because it's not about what its ABOUT but I enjoyed reading in nonetheless and could even see myself rereading it in the future. 


  “And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees
and changing leaves.”

Die Fahrt zum Leuchtturm Roman

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