MJ's Challenge ~ The Voyage Out

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Ribh said:
I just need to know from ACM if she is ready to move on. I can drivel on about chpt 1 indefinitely so it doesn't matter apart from boring you all silly & I'm sure none of us want anyone to feel left out or not able to contribute.
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I'm ready to discuss Chap 2. Mr Ambrose and Mr Pepper make me want to slap them! Such self important babies!
 
Ribh said:
The older I get the more I wonder why I studied literature, given how much I hate a lot of the classic writers. But then I was reading Shakespeare for pleasure as a child... 🤔 I think if I had it to do over again I would opt for forensic archaeology. ~ which I'm probably not qualified to study, lacking an essentially scientific brain. 😆
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Maybe after the full works of Virginia Woolf we can move on to share 'favorites' and read/re-read those together too. The trouble is you guys are all into fantasy and unless you count Tokein I just can't!
 
Ribh said:
And this is exactly why reading with detail oriented people helps me. :lau I never even thought to ask this very obvious question!
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Actually I don't think it is a detail oriented question at all. It is a big picture thing that the feeling of hope, dread, excitement about the voyage is completely missing.
I am probably misreading her intent but I increasingly feel like what she is doing is mocking. She mocks Rachel for being vacuous, the men for well that is obvious, and the laundry lady - Chailey - for her silly 'low-class' bits and pieces and devotion to the family.
And I guess she is mocking the system - women in their place and uneducated, the 'lower classes' etc.
 
Aussie-Chookmum said:
You're right. Being a bit Aspergery myself I like to know where I'm going and plan ahead of time. It makes me uncomfortably itchy not to know the reason for the voyage or the destination. 😖
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Funny, actually that doesn't bother me at all. I see it as a missing part of mood - I don't need to know where they are going or even why - but I would love to know how they feel about it - fear, anxiety, excitement, hope. No facts needed but don't they care? Apart from the evocative descriptions of water and being away from land they might as well be in a train carriage, or a house for that matter!
 
Aussie-Chookmum said:
I think I may have Jumped to the wrong conclusion. When Rachel's father is introduced near the end of Chap one it is :
"a tall burly man entered the room, came forward and shook Helen's hand with an emotional kind of heartiness, Willoughby himself, Rachel's father, Helen's brother-in-law."

I took this to mean that he was Mr Ambrose' brother but I think that Mrs Ambrose and Rachel's mother were sisters.

VW keeps switching between names too and the given names of the men sound like family names which I find a bit confusing.

Cast of Characters from the web


Helen Ambrose​

Helen is introduced at the beginning of the novel, and departs London for South America alongside her husband Ridley Ambrose, leaving behind her two children. She laments the fact she is leaving her children, feeling "misery for her children" as she prepares to leave.


Ridley Ambrose​

Helen Ambrose's husband, who is accompanying her on a trip [ISPOILERto a resort in South America.][/ISPOILER]


Willoughby Vinrace​

Helen's brother-in-law, who owns the ship Euphrosyne, which takes Helen and Ridley to South America.



Rachel Vinrace​

Rachel is Willoughby Vinrace's daughter, and therefore her family owns the ship Euphrosyne. She is described as having a talent for playing piano but is also thought of as being boring and bland by Helen.


[SPOILER="Other characters not yet mentioned"

St. John Hirst​

St. John Hirst is a neighbor of Helen and Ridley Ambrose while they are staying in South America. He is an Oxford scholar and judges Rachel as being unintelligent.


Terrence Hewet​

Hewet is a novelist and is also a neighbor of Helen and Ridley. He has a special relationship with Rachel, understanding her on an emotional level and helping her to overcome the judgment of other characters.
]
[/SPOILER]

Interestingly this site did not mention Mrs Chailey, the family servant or Mrs Theresa Vinrace, Rachael's mother either.
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That still doesn't settle which way around they become brother and sister in law. Theresa could be Helen's sister but is also mentioned as her closest friend (which doesn't preclude them being sisters).
 
RoyalChick said:
Actually I don't think it is a detail oriented question at all. It is a big picture thing that the feeling of hope, dread, excitement about the voyage is completely missing.
I am probably misreading her intent but I increasingly feel like what she is doing is mocking. She mocks Rachel for being vacuous, the men for well that is obvious, and the laundry lady - Chailey - for her silly 'low-class' bits and pieces and devotion to the family.
And I guess she is mocking the system - women in their place and uneducated, the 'lower classes' etc.
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She's very mocking! It makes her very dull. I liked her when she was sad to leave her children but then the mockery started and I realised her worldview was quite narrow and unsympathetic.
 
RoyalChick said:
Funny, actually that doesn't bother me at all. I see it as a missing part of mood - I don't need to know where they are going or even why - but I would love to know how they feel about it - fear, anxiety, excitement, hope. No facts needed but don't they care? Apart from the evocative descriptions of water and being away from land they might as well be in a train carriage, or a house for that matter!
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Helen mentioned "holiday" at one point and Ambrose's luggage was packed with books so he could keep working. She was asking someone to support her in making sure he relaxes on the voyage. Then she reconfigured a room for him so he could work. Evidently she's very passive, or has been obliged to become passive which helps me to make sense of her narrow mind.

A contemporary Helen would say "your not taking books on holiday" and be done with it. And she'd be more gracious in her attitudes towards others.
 
RoyalChick said:
Maybe after the full works of Virginia Woolf we can move on to share 'favorites' and read/re-read those together too. The trouble is you guys are all into fantasy and unless you count Tokein I just can't!
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I'm trying to broaden my horizon..so I can do non fantasy too!!! I do love Tolkien!
 
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MaryJanet said:
Helen mentioned "holiday" at one point and Ambrose's luggage was packed with books so he could keep working. She was asking someone to support her in making sure he relaxes on the voyage. Then she reconfigured a room for him so he could work. Evidently she's very passive, or has been obliged to become passive which helps me to make sense of her narrow mind.

A contemporary Helen would say "your not taking books on holiday" and be done with it. And she'd be more gracious in her attitudes towards others.
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I think that she is passive because of how she was raised and the times in which she is raised. It seems to me the only thing she takes any pleasure in are her children and she doesn't seem to have any inclination to truly learn and know anyone else, so in her private thoughts, she does not have to be gracious towards them!
 

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