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A review by kaiyakaiyo
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
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
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation