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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rest in peace Orlando. You would have loved being a genderfluid polyamorous baddie writing dark academic poetry at a Second Cup on a rainy tuesday afternoon.
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The story of a man named Orlando who lives for hundreds of years, transforms one day into a woman, and seems completely nonplussed about the whole thing, but then slowly changes as a person. The official explanation of this book is it's inspired by (about?) Virginia Woolf's lover. Orlando falls in love, gets married, writes a lot, expects writers to be the most compelling people in the universe (why?) and is disappointed when they're not, etc. And the book contains many lists like the previous. It's not particularly plot-driven.
Personally, I never felt that Orlando came close to appearing as a man - men are told that their identities are based on what they do; women are told that they're based on their relationships - and of course Orlando spends much of his time on relationships and reads and writes aimlessly, simply because that's who he is. But that's what much of the book is: very narrow in some ways. It has several themes: gender as experienced by women; writing and its changing appraisals; actually, I'm not remembering much else, but I think there were one or two others.
I'm used to complex, winding sentences in Modernist literature, and Woolf's go on for a while and use a broad variety of punctuation marks, but are never that difficult to read. And yet, I learned a decent number of words from this book. I can also see writing techniques that mid-20th century writers picked up on. There are lists that trail off, pictures in the text, and a certain vagueness. I wish the book had had settings, but it really didn't, which I was disappointed about. Overall, I had an ok time reading the book, but enjoyed it more after having read it as its ideas came together in my head. There's a lot of sophistication in writing a 'biography' and making it about someone living for centuries and changing genders mid-story. I just wish it had been a more entertaining trip for me.
Personally, I never felt that Orlando came close to appearing as a man - men are told that their identities are based on what they do; women are told that they're based on their relationships - and of course Orlando spends much of his time on relationships and reads and writes aimlessly, simply because that's who he is. But that's what much of the book is: very narrow in some ways. It has several themes: gender as experienced by women; writing and its changing appraisals; actually, I'm not remembering much else, but I think there were one or two others.
I'm used to complex, winding sentences in Modernist literature, and Woolf's go on for a while and use a broad variety of punctuation marks, but are never that difficult to read. And yet, I learned a decent number of words from this book. I can also see writing techniques that mid-20th century writers picked up on. There are lists that trail off, pictures in the text, and a certain vagueness. I wish the book had had settings, but it really didn't, which I was disappointed about. Overall, I had an ok time reading the book, but enjoyed it more after having read it as its ideas came together in my head. There's a lot of sophistication in writing a 'biography' and making it about someone living for centuries and changing genders mid-story. I just wish it had been a more entertaining trip for me.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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:
No
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
I'm truly not sure how I feel about this novel. Some parts of it I loved and felt very ahead of its time. Other parts felt very overwrought and difficult to follow. Some of this may have been an intentional device, but I'm still not sure how I feel about it. This may be one I need to read again to truly have a meaningful opinion.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
!!!!!! bisexuality, gender fluidity, transexuality!!!! AMONG OTHER THINGS! I LOOOOOVED VIRGINIA WOOLF'S PROSE! I DON'T CARE MUCH FOR THE HUGE BLOCKS OF TEXTS I LOVE HOW SHE WRITES AS IF SHE WANTS TO TRY AND ENCAPSULATE MOMENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, IN WORDS. even the anecdotes written inside parenthesis were such a treat to me. she has a different way of seeing the world shown through orlando and the biographer's eyes. i want to read this book again in the future.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
i wanted to like this so bad i really did. woolf’s prose is absolutely breathtaking per usual, but i just didn’t get invested in the story. orlando is a compelling character and the social commentary on gender is an interesting avenue to explore, especially in the time of woolf, but parts of it just felt lackluster. the time jumps were confusing, which perhaps were indicative of orlando’s sex change and her adjustment to a new place in society, but still made it hard to follow. also just don’t know if this era of historical fiction or even biographies is for me and that is totally okay. also woolf’s casual slur usage definitely turned me off from it!!! anyway! interesting concept with some really valuable ideas, but the actual execution aside from the objective quality of writing just fell short.
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No