The Pensieve

one month - one foot (ht of books) - one cup (coffee) - one exam…

PATHOLOGY STRIKES!!!

and that’s not all of it!

Mrs Dalloway is a book where nothing much really happens, but where there is really phenomenal undercurrents of emotion and thoughts. Woolf is so adept at describing every frown, every pause and every seemingly trivial thought that strikes us every single moment that this is one of the most ‘detailed’ book I’ve ever read!

Synopsis
Mrs Dalloway is a fifty-ish high society woman organising a party. She begins her day by going out to get flowers for her dinner, all the while reminiscing about her childhood friend Sally Seton, her fiery suitor Peter Walsh and her eventual marriage to Richard Dalloway. Later on she is paid a sudden surprise visit from Walsh, which catapults both of them into the good old times, yet full of bitterness at how things have turned out now.

There is a subplot in Mrs Dalloway which is about Rezia and Septimus. Septimus returns from the war, and faces depression. It’s quite exciting, as a medical student, to see how people describe the symptoms of depression during Woolf’s times. Woolf herself, is very familiar with these symptoms since she herself suffers from that disorder. The pages detailing the events leading up to Septimus’ suicide and the fatal jump he took are one of the best pages in the book!

We also get a very detailed account of her intimate friendship with Sally Seton. Possibly bordering on being ‘lesbian’… Then I realised that when I was younger I’d read other accounts of such ‘friendship’ between women but I just dismissed it as a close friendship between friends… Now, I think I might have thought too little of it. Heh.

I felt that the scene where Richard Dalloway buys some roses and tried to tell his wife that he loved her was worth mentioning. Ultimately, he did not manage to get the words out of his mouth, Clarissa simply forestalled him. ARGH. stupid guys! Doesn’t mean that if you haven’t said ‘I love you’ for 30+ years in your marriage, then it’s not significant anymore! *buggers*
Review
It’s difficult to use words to describe the varied tones of emotions in the novel. There’s no happy, sad, lost or bitterness… Virginia Woolf is especially talented in the art of describing people. I would attribute it to an exceptionally keen ability to observe. For example, she is able to write such pages and pages about a scene where a car (with darkened windows, and thus possibly carrying some royalty) goes through the city centre, and the subtle reactions and thoughts in all those present. HAHAHA okay, I think it sounds quite boring…

Her book can be quite boring, because there really isn’t much happening! LOLZ… But it’s good for temper control, if you read the book out aloud, there’s a rhythmicity and beauty in the words. Really comforting… Try it!

A paragraph in the book supposedly represents Woolf’s tribute to her parents:

For she was a child, throwing bread to the ducks, between her parents, and at the same time a grown woman coming to her parents who stood by the lake, holding her life in her arms which, as she neared them, grew larger and larger in her arms, untilit became a whole life, a complete life, which she put down by them and said, ‘This is what I have made of it! This!’

Actually I find it very hard to understand and review the book. The explanatory notes helped a bit, but it’s not enough. Actually I think to understand Woolf’s writing, one will have to read many more of her books, and preferably, her biography. It’s really exciting knowing how an author’s life affects her work.

In order to prevent further episodes of atopy leading to secondary viral infection which seems to exacerbate my airway hyperresponsiveness, thus necessitating a short course of oral corticosteroids to stop the vomit-inducing cough that plagues me… I’ve totally cleared out my room today!

Armed with a mask I nicked from the OT, the goggles (from our PPE) and slippers, I packed up the doghouse (my room), wiped all the books in my shelf, all the CDs, the printer, phone, files, TV and cupboard!!! And also use alcohol swabs on my notebook - a suggestion from a kind soul out there… But um… I think the alcohol erased the N from my keyboard!!!

Also had to pack up all my paeds stuff into this dusty-no-more black folder, chucked it into the paper carton under the window sill and sealed the stuff up! haha… shall reopen in yr 5! lolz…

Decided to pack my cupboards as well and unearthed… 5 tins and a folder of letters and knick-knacks given by all my friends from sec sch till now… 6 tins! Can you believe it?

Lina tops the list, by sending me 68 letters over a space of 10 years, while Sanz finishes a close second by sending me 45 over a period of 9 years!

This is my all-time favourite card, brought tears to my eyes when I remember how kind everyone was to me following a bout of severe illness when I was 16… See, so crowded! heheh

Do you see the beautiful designs on the right side of the card? Those were done by my lab partner, fellow accomplice in crime (haha, I still remember the mini explosion of chlorine plus dunno what, and a projectile of black foul smelling gooey stuff that almost hit Mrs Leong)

Haiz, so touching…

I also unearthed letters from friends… such as Melissa, Puay, Stef, Lizhen, Sab, Joce… All of whom I’ve lost contact with. *SOB* I shouldn’t have let that happen right???

Then I found a bundle of letters, and it’s really quite a significant lot of long rambly kind of notes from a ‘Raphael’, it’s either my angel/mortal in JC… Hmmm, I also feel very guilty for not keeping in contact with him. Sometimes it’s really hard to find someone who seems to understand what you say so well, it’s a real waste not to treasure such friendships.

Haiz, am I a lousy friend? Am I? Am I? Am I???

After all the grumbling, swearing that’s been coming from me, I felt that a review of the paeds posting was justified.

I still don’t particularly like paeds, but for a reason that I don’t even know. It’s not that I don’t like kids, or they’re irritating or hard to cope, or whether the over-anxious parents are difficult to manage… It’s not even the syndromes and genetics involved.

I just don’t really enjoy paeds.

But I might do a HO/MO posting in it. After all, it’s so important.

It’s scary, merely a year away from being let lose in the wards, and really holding the reins of your patients’ lives in my inexperienced hands. The sheer weight of that responsibility is enough to crumple any thoughts of shopping, dating or sleeping. -_-

*brrrr*

A sudden realisation hit me today, and it hit me pretty hard… There’s NO MORE CG6 already! No more prof yeo, rames, wenky and errol and his chicken! AHHHH!!!

Haiz, all these funny guys, sob, gonna miss them…

I suddenly feel that I should have treasured the time I had with them more… One year sure swings past faster than you can say ’salsa’!