Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Orlando

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

12 reviews

steven_anita's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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madzie's review

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challenging emotional reflective 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

3.0

There is no doubt that this is a work of a literary master. It is impeccably written. It has great and important insights into gender. However, it personally did not strike anything in me. Orlando is such an insufferable character; I found he/she hard to empathize with at all. In the end, it felt like the themes of the story would be better written about in an essay than a novel (though perhaps would not have been accepted in the 1920s). Overall, it's just not the book for me.

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I wanted to like this really badly but alas it is dry as fuck. i’d apologize to virginia woolf for saying that but she still owes me for several hours of awful class discussions on To The Lighthouse. let’s call it even

incredibly dense, wordy, garrulous — almost always on purpose, but there’s a certain point where the page-long paragraphs start blurring together despite the satirical point in having them. small parts of this got a chuckle out of me, I’ll give it that, but in general I had to push myself to pick it up again

I think this being billed as a capital q queer book is a bit of a trap: it is undoubtedly a book about a queer person directly engaging with their gender identity & performance, but you are also inundated with a lot of pithy jabs at multiple eras of eng lit and British society between the interesting gender bits. I’m sure people can write really interesting things with gender and the Victorians or something from this but as a casual read I think you could find much more engaging queer material.

I also just think the book is boring. As someone who spent much of her eng degree focusing on many of the poets & lit trends woolf has a go at here, i expected to get more kicks out of it. oh well

overall: a snooze, if a culturally important one. i don’t think i like virginia woolf

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puppygirl_cryptid's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

One of the best trans representations I have ever seen in media.

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acwhit17's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enjoyed it for the most part. Hadn't known there would be racism so didn't enjoy that. Everything else was really good.

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bearystarry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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teabrewer's review against another edition

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funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I want to start this review by saying that I feel like didn't fully understand this book. There were many lines that felt like a reference that I didn't get despite the many annotations that came with my edition. Be it because I'm not British, didn't live in the 1920's, wasn't part of the Bloomsbury group, am not Vita, or just because I'm dumb. Some of these may not even have been a real reference to anything and just randomness that comes with the "stream of consciousness" method. The "stream of consciousness" sections were amazing and interesting at first but did get tiring very fast. The author's writing is very funny though, in that way where it takes you a few seconds to realise there was a joke there but when you do it lights all parts of your brain. The book is full of reflections and commentaries, some interesting some not so much, many involving Orlando's legs. So many, I stopped reading to google Vita Sackville's to know what the author was talking about. The entirety of the text felt, just like Vita's son said, like a very long love letter to her. And I mean all kinds of love, be it friendship, be it romantic, be it admiration. All together in 200 or so pages.

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cassie_04's review

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mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

DEAR GOD. AN INFURIATING READ. TOOK ME 5 MONTHS TO FINISH. Great book though. Interesting takes on gender throughout. I also enjoyed the surreal passage of time and place throughout the book. Unfortunately, like much of Woolf's work it is incredibly racist. I enjoy her experimental style but this one was a little bit too loosey goosey and descriptive in places, as well as the frequent racism made this book difficult to read. Has historical and literary interest though, so in those regards, was worth a read.

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juniperpages's review against another edition

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4.75

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avocadotoastbee's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

"I am sick to death of this particular self. I want another."

Orlando, who was born as a man in the 16th century, lives 400 years and dies as a woman in 1928, when Virginia Woolf finished writing the book Orlando.

Virginia Woolf wrote this novel essentially as a love letter to her lover, Vita Sackville-West, who resembles Orlando. But Orlando is not just an homage, it is so much more. It is miles ahead of its time: exploring gender identity, addressing queer love, and questioning gender roles including men’s position of power in the 18th and 19th centuries - Orlando shows the fluidity and flexibility of time and gender. Orlando depicts love and loss and beauty in both. In addition, Virginia Woolf paints beautiful pictures with her detailed descriptions of nature and landscapes.

I loved reading about Woolf’s ideas and hypotheses about gender, time, love, and evolving and growing as a person. The only thing that interfered with the reading experience was the racially offensive language that was ever present.

I also want to note that it can be difficult at times to follow Woolf's stream of consciousness if you are not familiar with her writing style.

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