To the Lighthouse
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To the Lighthouse
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Narrated by:
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Nicole Kidman
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By:
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Virginia Woolf
About this listen
To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.
Split into three parts, the story observes Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsey, and their children at their vacation house on the Isle of Skye. While the novel follows seemingly trivial events between the family members, the plot takes a backseat to philosophical introspection, which gave the novel its fame as an icon of modernist literature. The Ramseys’ quest to recapture meaning creates a powerful allegory of man’s impermanent battle with the tangible world.
©1927 Virginia Woolf (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
I mean, it doesn't get better than this!
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Would you listen to To the Lighthouse again? Why?
Definitely not as although it was an ultimately fulfilling listen it was hard work and demanded a lot of concentration and perseverance.What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Loved the quality of the writing.Have you listened to any of Nicole Kidman’s other performances? How does this one compare?
I have not listened to Nicole Kidman narrate an audiobook before but think she is an amazing actor. She narrates this book perfectly and evokes the perfect, mesmerising atmosphere.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Definitely not! Could only listen in half an hour sittings.Any additional comments?
I really think this would be an easier read than a listen. I first read this almost 30 years ago and felt it was time to revisit it. The writing is beautiful and I could listen to Nicole Kidman read the beautiful prose for hours. However in order to keep focused and keep up with who was who I had to listen in short bursts.Worth persevering!
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Disappointing :(
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Stream of etc
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Woolf often writes long sentences with nested clauses which you cannot necessarily correctly parse at the first pass. The reading suggests that neither Kidman nor anyone charged with directing her performance has taken the time to mark up the text to ensure correct stress and emphasis are used to deliver the correct sense. When, as a listener, you have to rerun a sentence in your mind to discover the correct sense, you can’t simultaneously bring your full attention to the next sentence. Breaking the flow this way in any book is unfortunate, in a stream-of-consciousness novel, it’s unconscionable.
I persevered, but this failure to parse was an ever present feature of the reading that, combined with eccentric pronunciations of place names, and odd stresses confusing adjectival and verb forms, significantly detracted from the original work making the experience something like reading an imperfect translation.
I suspect the near monotone delivery style was chosen to minimise the need to understand the read text. Such a shame for the reading to overshadow the text rather than illuminating it to bring out its light and shade, as the best readers do.
The narration gets in the way of the text.
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Beautiful writing read seamlessly
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What the story is actually about is the individual thoughts and their thought process. It is a book which is entirely in the moment and with the strange random thoughts that often ping into people’s minds.
For me what brought the book alive was Woolf’s masterful use of language; the beauty and weird nature of words which can evoke so much. I loved the sometimes rhythmic words, the use of poems and reiteration of the same word. The impact of these was lovely and I found at times that I just wanted all these words to wash over me. The impact of this was that I found that I sometimes did not pay enough attention to listening to the story and found that I was a bit lost as to what was happening.
I think this is a book which requires repeat listening to both fully understand the linear story and also to begin to get to grips with each characters individual consciousness.
A tough book but one which is worthwhile!
Masterful use of language
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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Only for a lover of Woolf. I find her stream of consciousness works dreary.Has To the Lighthouse put you off other books in this genre?
Not really.What didn’t you like about Nicole Kidman’s performance?
Everything. I thought, since she played Woolf in The Hours, she would nail it, but it was very bad and very boring to listen to. Firstly, she assumes her natural American accent, which I found unfitting for a book taking place in Scotland and by an English author. Secondly, her voice is very mellow, it wasn't clean enough to make the performance stand out, it seemed as if she were murmuring the book to herself. There were many instances in which she resorted to vocal fry, which I found particularly unpleasant to listen to. I think she killed the book with her performance.Any additional comments?
Never ask Nicole Kidman to narrate anything again!Bleak performance
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Superb performance
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Beautiful narration
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