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noemi_sc's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
ejkimberley's review against another edition
2.0
I must admit at the outset that the mannered prose of Woolf's pseudo-historical character portrait here does not send me into raptures. Very much the opposite. The sense of distance it creates from the subject (Orlando), with the work's very strong authorial voice but dearth of much voice at all on the part of Orlando himself/herself, is inimical to my tastes. And so I find it absolutely impossible to express my admiration of this work. I find it impossible to pretend a fictitious experience of its reading which imagines it as a "masterpiece". So as to avoid admitting that the the book was for me an arduous, joyless and lifeless exercise, which I force-fed myself out of sheer stubbornness.
Orlando is a book which is utterly focused on its subject character, and yet which, in its very Victorian mode, gives its subject little opportunity at all to really speak and express herself/himself. The author's biographical voice is the only one we really hear. And so I cannot help but read it as a character biography by an author possessed of a rather coldly collected anthropological curiosity rather than a passion for the subject of the work.
One can only so much criticise the prose style of an era, long after its time has passed, and the style abandoned by history. But for my part, I cannot find myself captivated by a work which consists more or less entirely of an authorial voice, speaking in an endless analytic monotone of a character who has almost no voice of her/his own.
It contains some small amount of good feminist and gender theory commentary, amidst the much larger chronicling of the life of a rather uninteresting man, who becomes a perhaps marginally less uninteresting (if still, as a character, rather hollow and lifeless) woman. Yet 10 pages of arguably satisfactory gender commentary did not merit the other 95% of this book, which was colourful description of scenery, amidst cold and joyless detailing of an utterly empty and forgettable character.
Orlando is a book which is utterly focused on its subject character, and yet which, in its very Victorian mode, gives its subject little opportunity at all to really speak and express herself/himself. The author's biographical voice is the only one we really hear. And so I cannot help but read it as a character biography by an author possessed of a rather coldly collected anthropological curiosity rather than a passion for the subject of the work.
One can only so much criticise the prose style of an era, long after its time has passed, and the style abandoned by history. But for my part, I cannot find myself captivated by a work which consists more or less entirely of an authorial voice, speaking in an endless analytic monotone of a character who has almost no voice of her/his own.
It contains some small amount of good feminist and gender theory commentary, amidst the much larger chronicling of the life of a rather uninteresting man, who becomes a perhaps marginally less uninteresting (if still, as a character, rather hollow and lifeless) woman. Yet 10 pages of arguably satisfactory gender commentary did not merit the other 95% of this book, which was colourful description of scenery, amidst cold and joyless detailing of an utterly empty and forgettable character.
laurbretz's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
5.0
altinn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
annnne's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
0.5
jrdnfrmn's review against another edition
4.0
Three centuries of historical satire & imaginative brilliance! To follow the transformation of this Byronic young hero from Elizabethan England into the 20th century, is a pleasure at every turn. Virginia Woolf truly understands the heart & just how good it is to eat!
steph72000's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
isablooo's review against another edition
Excuse me reviewing this such a long time after reading the book but Virginia Woolf's description of a dark cloud spreading over the sky as the 18th century made way for the 19th century gave me CHILLS, I'm still thinking about it months later! This book is a delightful, queer romp through history that very slowly reveals itself to be magical realism. Whilst I know I should always be prepared for casual racism when reading a text from almost a century ago, I must say, I didn't appreciate being jump-scared by the n word twice in the book.
ethorwitz's review against another edition
5.0
Orlando is a person so immersed inside of a profound internal life that centuries pass without an acknowledgement and genders are slipped in and out of like clothing. The literary equivalents of recitative and aria are reversed: physical events are treated with distance and dreamy conceptualization while matters of the mind are given a fierce urgency. It is a trick that annihilates time and subordinates reality to abstraction.
So yeah, I liked this book a lot.
So yeah, I liked this book a lot.