The Waves

Where did you do most of your reading of this one, and did you need a blanket, a quiet room, or a second cup of something to settle into it?

Whose voice did you find yourself most relieved to come back to, like hearing a familiar person in the next room?

The book keeps returning to the sea and the changing light of a single day. Which of those interludes felt most like a comfort to you, and which felt lonely?

Woolf lets us hear what people think but rarely say to each other. Did that feel intimate and warm to you, or a little like eavesdropping?

The six friends circle back to a handful of childhood images for the rest of their lives. What small early image from your own life has stayed with you the same way?

There are scenes of these friends simply sitting together at a table. Did reading those make you want to call someone, and who came to mind?

By the later sections, the voices have carried their younger selves a long way. Did following them that far feel consoling to you, or quietly sad, and was that a feeling you wanted to stay in?

The book suggests we are partly made of the people we grew up alongside. Reading it, did you feel more like one of those six voices or like a blend of everyone you have loved?