Mrs. Dalloway

By: Virginia Woolf

Narrated by: Annette Bening

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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©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)

It doesn't get better than this

What made the experience of listening to Mrs. Dalloway the most enjoyable?

Annette Bening's performance of this classic book was masterful and so reflects the complex themes and beauty of Woolf's words.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mrs. Dalloway?

Her description of the descent into madness of one of the characters is so precise that it allows the reader to follow him into his vortex with complete understanding.

What does Annette Bening bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice is so perfectly modulated, she is such a pro....I often don't finish books on tape because the narrator's voice often becomes annoying. Not so with this performance.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end, when the point of view suddenly changes to Richard Dalloway, and so much more is revealed.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended, will purchase anything else narrated by Bening, and written by Woolf.

a powerful, fascinating book

The book is a classic, not a dusty classic that is a must read as a building block for today (as are so many 19th century works), but a modern work, a thoroughly modern work that can be read as an old classic & a contemporary one at the same time. Woolf's interior monologue technique is enormously effective, you live with the characters, or at least most of them, none of them are completely admirable (except, perhaps, the poor PTSD suicide, but you don't see him when he was healthy before WWI). The action takes a place all in a single day but with lots of flashbacks internally recollected by the characters. The narration by Annette Bening is terrific. I have put a couple of other Woolf books on my wish list.

Baffling Read

I can't imagine what might have prompted the reader, or the director, of this audiobook to pepper the reading with full stops. Full stops between verb and subject, between noun and adjective, between verb and adverb, after a preposition not incorrectly ending a sentence but in the middle of it, or splitting in half an idiomatic phrase. An apparently random word would hesitantly follow a sentence delivered as final an instant ago, opening it up for reinterpretation. Why? This choice baffled me throughout the length of this audiobook.

Great listening experience

I started to read Mrs. Dalloway a few years ago and never got very far, possibly because it was competing with other books and other responsibilities. Listening to this performance by Annette Bening has been the perfect way for me to experience this book and add it to my reading repertoire. It’s a wonderful book and Bening’s interpretation added to my understanding and enriched the quiet parts of my day.

There She Still Is

An excellent performance, Annette Bening is wonderful to listen to. I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as much without her narration. The story itself is interesting, but character perspective is sometimes hard to follow if you listen to the book in chunks. I enjoyed this more than To The Lighthouse, the themes were easier to follow and the story made a bit more sense to me. Reading about Woolf's history adds perspective. I'd recommend for the narration alone, but the book is also a classic and should be read regardless.

Not for me

I am so disappointed! This is one of the few books that I have added to my library that I am returning unfinished. Two paragraphs in I knew that I could not listen to the this voice for hours on end. I gave it a bit longer just to be fair but I just could not continue. Narrators make choices and unfortunately, I did not agree with any of them --not the voice, not the phrasing, not the pace--it all got in the way of the story.

Narration disappoints

While a fine actress, Ms Bening's performance here is lackluster. I was bored and wanted more narration of the story and less of her "dramatic" interpretation.

The story has been on my "to read" list for some time, and I will find time to read the book as I suspect I simply missed much of it.

Beautifully written and performed very well.

This a very artfully written book, and the performance was nice. Interesting look into the lives of English society at the height of Empire. Well developed characters.

Annette Bening is spectacular

The power of this piece is well known but the contribution of Annette Bening’s performance makes this recording very special.

Not overwhelmed by Mrs. Dalloway

First off, Annette Bening is excellent. I just did not at all get into this story. I wanted some big revelation at the end of this novel. Maybe there was one, but it just fell flat for me. Life in this book is so boring and tedious. There is much thinking of when life was not boring and tedious, but I just find it depressing. Probably like real life! Worth the listen for Ms. Bening's performance, probably great if you love the novel.