Adeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf
Taking us from 1925 to 1941, this novel of Virginia Woolf (whose given name was Adeline) is quietly fascinating. Written in a style reminiscent of Woolf herself, Vincent’s book brings us inside Woolf’s marriage to Leonard Woolf and her relationships with her sister Vanessa, her lover Vita Sackville-West, as well as T.S. and Vivienne Eliot, Lytton Strachey, and Dora Carrington.
The book is divided into five acts, each covering a brief time period, and each named after one of Woolf’s novels: Night and Day, The Waves, Between the Acts, The Years, and The Voyage Out. I would love to read all of these novels and then re-read Vincent’s work, because I’m sure that each of these Acts in Vincent’s book reflects its namesake in significant ways.
I have read a number of books about Woolf’s life, and this one feels intimate where many others feel voyeuristic. Vincent helps us empathize with her characters, even if we don’t always like them. We are suddenly privy to conversations between Virginia and Leonard that provide clues to their rather mysterious marriage. We get inside Virginia’s head, and learn what it is about her childhood that still haunts her.
At times, particularly in long sections of Woolf’s thoughts, Vincent’s message seems more like that of an academic scholar than a novelist. The style remains fairly consistent, but these places still feel like intrusions, as though Vincent is taking a stand on an academic argument of which readers of this novel are unaware. That said, it is a delightful and insightful read that I would recommend.
