A failed experiment

Because it appears in the pantheon of writers who have made history, I wanted to read a book by Virginia Woolf: I had no a priori and I randomly selected. With Waves however, I believe not to be entered by the front door. In the vein of Ulysses (that of Joyce) and Proust (research), this novel / poem explores our relationship to time. Virginia Woolf literarily recreates the continuum, to force flow and flow, we dissolves into a vague infinity ... like the ocean. Nice find! For 200 pages, it clings to this poetic image.
In the end, the result does not convince me. The author is unable to truly embody the characters. They all seem terribly delicate and pitifully real. Progress is painfully to death of heroes and at no time does it feels attached.
By the admission of the author, the work had an artificial reflection. So I am surprised to read so many praises on what seems to be a failure, but criticism has appreciated and posterity still remembers: it must be a mystery of art!
The Waves is primarily an experimental text. It is experience that some will fail. So I persevere perhaps with other books of Woolf, but unless student or prospective letter writer, I do not recommend this read: too smoky.