New York Times Book Review
Virginia Woolf stands as the chief figure of modernism in England and must be included with Joyce and Proust in the realization of experiments that have completely broken with tradition.
—New York Times
Publishers Weekly
It's wondrous to listen to a fine reading of a long-loved novel. Leishman makes masterly use of volume, timbre and resonance to distinguish between characters and draw us into the emotional swings and vibrations of the internal musings of each. She creates not a new but a more nuanced reading, following the interwoven streams of consciousness in a British English that lends authenticity to each voice. Leishman swims smoothly through Woolf's sentences that ebb and flow with numerous parenthetical thoughts and fresh images. These passages are interspersed with quick, sharp, simple sentences that gain strength in contrast. Leishman also draws our attention to Woolf's poetic prose: her rhythms and images, her use of hard consonants in monosyllabic words in counterpoint to long, soft, dreamy words and phrases. To The Lighthouse plays back and forth between telescopic and microscopic views of nature and human nature. Mrs. Ramsey is both trapped in and pleased in her roles as wife, mother and hostess. The introspective Mr. Ramsey is consumed with his legacy of long-since-published abstract philosophy. This is a book that cannot be read-or heard-too often. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
The New York Times Book Review - Lauren Christensen
If Virginia Woolf herself can't narrate her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse, then Nicole Kidman…is the next best thing. With her cut-glass Australian enunciation, Kidman skips nimbly between the minds of each character…
From the Publisher
Radiant as [To the Lighthouse] is in its beauty, there could never be a mistake about it: here is a novel to the last degree severe and uncompromising. I think that beyond being about the very nature of reality, it is itself a vision of reality.” — Eudora Welty
“A classic for a reason. My mind was warped into a new shape by her prose and it will never be the same again.” — Greta Gerwig, director of Lady Bird and Little Women
“To the Lighthouse is one of the greatest elegies in the English language, a book which transcends time.” — Margaret Drabble, author of The Witch of Exmoor
“I reread this book every once in a while, and every time I do I find it more capacious and startling. It’s so revolutionary and so exquisitely wrought that it keeps evolving on its own somehow, as if it’s alive.” — Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home
“Without question one of the two or three finest novels of the twentieth century. If you’re like me you’ll come back to this book often, always astounded, always moved, always refreshed.” — Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm
New York Times bestselling author Eudora Welty
Beyond being about the very nature of reality, it is itself a vision of reality.”
AudioFile
Beautiful…somber…Law’s rhythmic, poetic reading renders it with finesse.”
Booklist
Law admirably narrates…easily moving from one character to another and keeping listeners engaged…Through stream-of-consciousness prose, the characters ponder family relationships, art, literature, and the roles of men and women.”
Eudora Welty
Blessed with luck and innocence, I fell upon the novel [To the Lighthouse] that once and forever opened the door of imaginative fiction for me, and read it cold, in all its wonder and magnitude.”
Oscar nominated director Greta Gerwig
A classic for a reason. My mind was warped into a new shape by her prose and it will never be the same again.”
NOVEMBER 2008 - AudioFile
This classic character study takes on new life with Juliet Stevenson's masterful narration. She lends cohesion to the stream-of-consciousness passages, making them easier to follow. As Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe explore life's questions, Stevenson applies vocal traits to each character, reflecting personality and values. Both women speak in clear, kind tones, while gruffness captures Mr. Ramsay's essence and sarcasm dominates Mr. Tansley's. Light, airy notes accompany the children's words. Young James Ramsay's lighthouse journey and Lily's painting of Mrs. Ramsay tie the book's opening to its conclusion ten years later. Longed for in the beginning, both endeavors are completed in the end, bringing resolution to the characters' inner struggles. J.J.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
