To The Lighthouse [1927]
By Virginia Woolfe
(188 pages from the Kindle Digital Edition)
Rating 4/5
Genres : classics, human relationships
This book is termed the 15th among the 100 best novels of the 20th century. This plot showcases the complexities of human relationships through interactions among the members of a Ramsay family and guests at their home. Father and mother, Mr and Mrs Ramsay, have their own quirks and marital problems which are laid bare to the reader through someone making an observation but the irregularities are smoothed out through compromise and a burst of love, duty and responsibility.
Mr. Ramsay is a tyrannical and authoritative parent who is needy and desirous of appreciation to his work which he fears doesn't amount to much in the world. He demands sympathy from his wife and others and he usually gets what he wants. He is a rambunctious person whom his children James and Cam (among others) hate the most and they dislike his mother always giving in to his demands. Love and hate, care and prevention, selfishness and indifference are juxtaposed next to each other in their interactions and their relationships.
The children's desire to visit the light house - deferred by the scrutiny of the father - is fulfilled many years later and towards the very end .. it feels like the father is giving up his hold on the realities of his children and settling down to fitting in .. at his old age and with his wife having long gone.
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