Adeline was a book I really looked forward to reading. I read Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellers a few years back and I loved that book. When it comes to Virginia Woolf I have so far only read Mrs. Dalloway, but I have plans to read more books by Mrs. Woolf.

So believe me, I was quite happy when I got a chance to read this book. But unfortunately I just couldn't connect with it, nor the story or the characters. There were moments in the book when the text really spoke to me, but not nearly enough to make me truly enjoy this book. In the end, it just became a struggle to finish the book. Too much rambling for my taste. But as I said before, there were moments that were good, often when other characters interacted with Virginia, like Lytton or T.S Eliot or Yeats. But the moments were like gems in the sand, rare and hard to find.

I just want to say that this was a book that just didn't work for me. I hoped that I would get into the story, but it never happened.

I received this copy from the publisher in return for an honest review! ( )

Utterly superb recreation of moments in the life of Virginia Woolf; Written in an enfolding stream-of-consciousness style, reminiscent of Woolf's own work, it explores her relationships with husband Leonard, her sister and various literary friends.The struggle to express the human experience in words; and the ongoing mental and physical collapses that beset her life.
Unputdownable, an astonishing achievement. ( )

I think this would be an excellent read for those familiar with Virginia Woolf and her body of work. Having only read Mrs. Dalloway, and not being very familiar with Woolf or the Bloomsbury Group, I felt myself at a disadvantage. Many of the "characters" in this novel were familiar names; T.S Elliot, Vita Sackville-West, Yeats, Freud and many are names I feel I should know but do not. Their works are referenced; rarely by name and not being familiar with the novels/poems/essays made me feel I was missing connections and themes the author was trying to establish. Incidents in Virginia's life were often mentioned vaguely and in passing, as if I should know what she was talking about - but I didn't. Some facts were fleshed out as the novel progressed, some were not.

Reading this novel I constantly wanted to run to the library to check out other works and research the lives of people mentioned. That was annoying. I felt like I was sitting at a table with a group of people who all knew one another and were deep in conversation about past adventures I had not been a part of. That is not a bad thing, it is just a warning!

The novel seems to be trying to give insight into Woolf's writings, relationships and eventual suicide. Her mental problems are at the forefront. However until the final quarter of the novel when we hear her trying to justify her choices, there is not a real sense of how despairingly she feels. Instead we are told she isn't eating, won't leave her room, and that her husband is fearful for her mental state and safety. We see her having long discussions with her alter-ego/self as a mechanism to learn more about her life, but the conversations do not really show depression deep enough to lead to suicide. The author attempts to let us feel and understand what led Woolf to take her own life, but for me it was only Virginia's own words as she argued with friends, her frustrated sister and her friend/doctor Octavia that allowed me any understanding of how Woolf truly felt and why she chose to end her life.

I did enjoy the snippets of conversation between Virginia and her devout husband Leonard as well as those with the poet W.B Yeats. It was also astonishing how cruel the Bloomsbury Group of "friends" could be to one another - was it a by-product of being so bright or just too much time spent intellectualizing everything? I admired how even in the face of such biting remarks they could still admire the intelligence behind the insults. In such a dour novel these brief moment of humor were a relief.

I strongly suggest reading some Woolf and at least doing some research on the Bloomsbury Group before reading this novel. I think it will take this reading experience to a much more satisfying and enriching level.

All that being said I did find many of the passages where Virginia is debating issues with her husband, her friends or her doctor to be brilliant. Following Woolf's train of thought was quite exhilarating and I could tell that an enormous amount of research had been undertaken by the author. I am definitely inspired to read more Woolf.
( )

Adeline, by Norah Vincent, Virago, 2015

You don’t have to like Virginia Woolf or the Bloomsbury Group to be enthralled by this fictional biography delivered in an elegant pastiche of Woolf’s own style. The book follows her from 1925 to her 1941 suicide as she drifts through books and lovers, sheltered by a languid cloud of cigarette smoke. ( )

Adeline was Virginia Stephen’s given first name, but as it was her dead aunt’s name, it hurt her mother too much to use it. So she was Virginia from the start. In this novelized biography of the last fifteen years of Woolf’s life, Adeline exists inside Virginia her whole life as a separate personality to absorb the abuse she endured from her step-brother and to deal with emotionally upsetting events. Virginia talked to Adeline as if she existed outside of her body.

Written mainly from Virginia’s point of view in the present tense, Vincent has done a good job of allowing the reader a look at how Virginia might have felt at times when she held conversations with her younger self and with friends who had died. The times when mania was setting in are particularly suffocating and uncomfortable. Her novels tended to be based on experiences she or her friends & family had, and writing them was rather painful. In a lot of ways, Virginia Woolf never grew up and she needed people- mostly her husband, Leonard Woolf, and her sister Vanessa (Nessa) Bell – to take care of her even during her good times. Very fragile emotionally, she was treated like a precious egg that could break easily. From this book I get the feeling she never knew a moment’s peace from her demons.

The style of writing is rather wordy and full of similes; very unlike most prose of today. It put me in mind of Woolf’s own writing and I’m sure this was deliberate on the part of the author since we spend most of the novel inside Woolf’s head. While it made for rough going at times, I feel that ultimately it helped sustain the feeling of intimacy with Woolf’s thought. I have to say that while I’ve enjoyed other books about Woolf and the Bloomsbury group more than this one, I did enjoy this book and feel it’s a worthy addition to the growing shelf of books about that group. It also has given me an urge to know more about W.B. Yeats, as he comes off in this book as a jovial mystic. ( )