after reading the book...

i recently finished reading To The Lighthouse and while some sections were so intricately written and amazingly detailed, i got lost and confused by the plot sometimes. its so different that virginia woolf would choose to write in a way that i can remember portions so vividly but not really be able to explain the story line from start to finish. in so many class discussions we talked about how she often looked to change the way people viewed literature, and i think that this book has altered slightly the way i think about normal text. to the lighthouse has so many contradictions and ins and outs that as the reader, you get enveloped and lost in the story before you realize that the story itself isn't that intracate. its the way she uses words and manipultaes sentence structure that creates an air of intertwinededness (word?).

the way the book ends also makes me question stereotypical literature. it is not well explained at the end and, while the family gets to the lighthouse, woolf makes the decision not to include information once they enter, but ends when they get there. and the actual ending of the book doesn't actually deal with the long awaited trip to the lighthouse at all, but instead ends with lily briscoe having her vision be completed in her painting. there are many different ways that i have interpreted the ending of both sections of the book, but the fact that woolf leaves so much up to the imagination of the reader frusterates me. i would be lying if i said i loved when things were open ended, for while every once in awhile its good to be able to end a book for yourself, in a book like this, which is so complex and challenged me so much, all i wanted was for an ending that clarified everything.