What a great day the Book Club had at Monk’s House in the village of Rodmell, Virginia Woolf’s former country home.
We started our trip with lunch in the local pub, The Abervagenny Arms, where, over tea and coffee, we discussed Virginia Woolf’s last novel, Between the Acts.
Unfortunately, this was not a book enjoyed by most (if any) members of the group, some of whom had no desire to finish it. We generally felt that the writing was over-complicated, too descriptive and the stream of consciousness difficult to follow. The characters were not developed enough, you felt little, if any, empathy for them and you kept on waiting for something to happen.
A couple of the members commented that it was like studying an A-level English text, you know that it must have some merit and you will be able to write a good essay about the themes and symbolism within the book, but you are just not enjoying reading it. A page-turner this was not.
However, we were still able to have a good discussion and there were some aspects of the book that were liked. It definitely created an atmosphere of a bustling village pageant with all class groups and their differing interactions represented. There were a couple of comical moments and it conjured up a nostalgic feeling. It is a book of its time.
The views from Monk’s House were similar to those described in the book, as you could see the rolling hills and the church spire, both recurring references in the book.
The house itself was modest, but full of interesting artworks given to them by family or friends from The Bloomsbury Set. The garden was lovely and as we had such good weather on the day of our visit we were able to fully enjoy it. There were several ponds (also a feature in Between the Acts), statues, lots of places to sit and contemplate, flower borders (with quite a few flowers still in bloom) and Virginia’s writing room.
This was a successful day out for our group, and although Virginia Woolf and her life, friends and family fascinated us more than her novel, we would still recommend trying one of her books (just maybe not Between the Acts).
The next book to be read will be "The Last Word" by Elly Griffiths.
This will be discussed on Friday 8th November.
