To the Lighthouse

By: Virginia Woolf

Narrated by: Nicole Kidman

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.

Split into three parts, the story observes Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsey, and their children at their vacation house on the Isle of Skye. While the novel follows seemingly trivial events between the family members, the plot takes a backseat to philosophical introspection, which gave the novel its fame as an icon of modernist literature. The Ramseys' quest to recapture meaning creates a powerful allegory of man’s impermanent battle with the tangible world.

Explore more titles performed by some of the most celebrated actors in the business in Audible’s Star-Powered Listens collection.

©1927 Virginia Woolf (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"If Virginia Woolf herself can’t narrate her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse, then Nicole Kidman - who won an Oscar for her role as Woolf in 'The Hours' - is the next best thing. With her cut-glass Australian enunciation, Kidman skips nimbly between the minds of each character at the Ramsays’ Scottish summer cottage, slowing and softening to convey the sobriety of Mrs. Ramsay’s maternal guilt ('she was certain that he was thinking, we are not going to the Lighthouse tomorrow; and she thought, he will remember that all his life'), and tightening her voice to reiterate time and again one houseguest’s sneer that women 'can’t paint, can’t write.'” (The New York Times Book Review)

To the Lighthouse

This is my second time reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. The first time was for my undergraduate project. Now, two years late I’ve read it a second time as this novel is the subject for my Master’s thesis. The narration in beautiful and compliments Woolf’s masterpiece very well, even when the speed is increased.

A Quiet Read for a Quiet Place

I had a very hard time staying focused and simply hearing the reading during this book. I tend to listen to audiobooks while driving or clattering around in the kitchen. Stories with action that are read loudly are great, but this book was too quiet. Nicole Kidman does a great job at the quiet narration, but it is almost as if she is sitting at the foot of my bed reading me to sleep. I did get very sleepy while driving once, and had to stop listening and put on dance music to wake up.

The story is very Virginia Wolf. It quietly builds throughout.and was well done and well read. Not much happens, but then everything happens: life, love, death, missed chances, regret and memory. My lifestyle doesn't allow me to listen in the manner this book is intended.

Brilliant. Dense. Poignant.

Nicole Kidman reads this like she is just reading the words on the page, not as if she understands the material.

Ms. Woolf, however, is just masterful.

I noticed that there were two speakers...

i love this book and story and really looked forward to hearing Nicole Kidman read it. Some of the editing was not flawless - I noticed another voice sometimes.

Doesn't take away from a great story!

My first Virginia Woolf book

I have always been afraid of Ms Woolf. So I intrepidly decided to listen to this. I fell in love. I agree with others that her voice or the prose is so mesmerizing. I just let the book flow through me and I was captivated. She said things that I have never been able to put into words. Such insight and wisdom! I am now a fan.

Excellent

Beautiful to listen to this read by Nicole. Love the way Virginia writes, it’s like listening to poetry.

A mesmerizing work of intimate brilliance

This is only the second work of Woolf's I've read, and overall it presents an intimate portrait of a family who lives near a lighthouse. The frail assumptions, the insecurities, the tiny triumphs, the rare moments of insight are all captured here with a stream of consciousness technique that is as lovely and flowing as the sea. The many wars play a fundamental role in shaping the narrative as male and female characters explore the meaning of the opposite sex and both fail to understand the needs and desires of the other. These inner conflicts are amplified by the moment to moment actions of this story's cast. A loving experience, I wish I could have experienced this work with fewer daily distractions myself. I can't wait to read the rest of Woolf's all too short bibliography.

Simply Beautiful.

One is struck by the knowledge that this work of art would be best left on the page in its original form. Where the reader can slow down or stop at times to let the depth and beauty of Ms. Woolf’s creation resonate. It truly is a masterpiece.
I am unaware of how a narrator is chosen, but Ms. Kidman’s voice, accent, cadence, and pace is wonderfully symbiotic to Ms. Woolf’s poetic stream of consciousness driven narrative in the characters created. The two forces together create an environment where one could actually “tune out” and rest enjoyably, or “hone in” and concentrate on every syllable. My favorite part about this book is that it’s true purpose and depth is cloaked in seemingly mundane affairs of epic proportions. Underneath the simplest events one is presented at times with so much depth, and meaning that it feels like the crescendo of a symphony.
Thank you Audible.

Virginia Woolf masterpiece To the Lighthouse

Woolf's intense stream-of-consciousness work with almost no dialogue is far from ideal material for an audio version. Although Nicole Kidman manages many poignant moments in her rendering, her Australo-American accent doesn't suit this very English novel, and often she reads too fast for the reader to take in the meaning. Nonetheless there is much to admire.

Beautiful

Deeply introspective, beautifully poeticly worded, this book was on the list of greatest novels ever written and in my mind it certainly is that