Mrs. Dalloway

By: Virginia Woolf

Narrated by: Annette Bening

Mrs. Dalloway, perhaps Virginia Woolf’s greatest novel, follows English socialite Clarissa Dalloway as she prepares for a party in post-World War I London. Four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening (American Beauty, The Kids Are All Right) performs Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness style of storytelling brilliantly, exploring the hidden springs of thought and action in one day of a woman’s life.

When we first meet Clarissa Dalloway, she is preoccupied with the last-minute minutiae of party-planning while being flooded with memories of long ago. Clarissa then examines the realities of the present as the story travels forwards and back in time and in and out of different characters’ minds.

Mrs. Dalloway is daring not only in its stream-of-consciousness form, but also in its content. Woolf’s depiction of Septimus Warren Smith brings to light the ugly and often ignored truth of how the brutality of war can drive men mad. We also get to see in depth how our main protagonist, Clarissa Dalloway, suffers from her own form of psychological damage: the more subtle, everyday oppression of English society.

Explore more titles performed by some of the most celebrated actors in the business in Audible’s Star-Powered Listens collection.©1925 The Estate of Virginia Woolf (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Bening's work here is fine…her tone offers its characteristic grace…both this narrator and this novelist offer tremendous gifts.” (AudioFile)

Superb narration

Narration brought life to the characters. My first reading of a book by Virginia Woolf. Audible was definitely better than trying to read it.

Great Book!

I really loved this book. I read along and also had some supplementary materials to make sense of it, but it was a great read, meaningful, and beautiful. The narration was also great!

The unique writing style and the way that everything fell into place by the end of the story.

Not the most exciting or interesting book. Not very easy to understand. All that being said I really liked the actual book itself. It was a nice quick read.

I now remember I don't like V. Wolf!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not at all. I kept waiting for something to happen. It was dull I sped up the voice to get it over faster. There was a lot of talking but she really didn't have anything to say.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something more fun, like War and Peace

Which character – as performed by Annette Bening – was your favorite?

None. Though she was good.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Nope.

Exquisite, poetic prose

I was almost scared away from this book by reading some of the reviews, but I'm glad I wasn't. I've read and disliked some books that have been described as "stream of consciousness" before, but I totally loved this one - I guess it just depends on whose consciousness you're streaming. Virginia Woolf's communicates the beauty and terror of existence as fully as the best poetry, even while sticking to the realm of everyday life.

I'm glad I listened to it instead of just reading it, because I was able to hear more of the lyric beauty in the sounds of the language than I would've in print. Still, I'm not sure Annette Bening was the right choice for this one. Her reading was too breathy and precious, I think a delivery with more frankness and straightforwardness would've let the beauty of the writing shine through better, rather than getting in the way. Still, this is definitely one I'll listen to again.