Reviews

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

willowufgood's review against another edition

4.0

Found quite hard to read due to the narrative, but very glad I have read this. Virginia Wolf is a great celebrated author. Orlando was also one of the books on the BBC’s novels that changed the world programme.

edatuten's review against another edition

3.0

"thought she herself was a woman,it was still a women she loved; and if the consciousness of being of the same sex had any effect at all, it was to quicken and deepen those feeling she had as a man."

hmwendt's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted to love this more, but I just didn't. Typically gorgeous sentences and details, but I wasn't moved by the plot at all.

caecilia's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

alexpler's review against another edition

4.0

"Había sido un muchacho melancólico, enamorado de la muerte, como son los muchachos; después había sido enamoradizo y exuberante; después había sido animada y mordaz; y a veces había ensayado la prosa, y a veces había ensayado el drama. Pero a través de todos esos cambios había seguido siendo, se dijo, fundamentalmente la misma. Había tenido el mismo carácter pensativo y reconcentrado, el mismo amor a los animales y a la naturaleza, la misma pasión por el campo y las estaciones."

jbrown2140's review against another edition

4.0

http://www.originalpositions.com/2016/05/the-novels-of-virginia-woolf-6-orlando/

ridderdavid's review against another edition

4.0

Weird AF. In a good way.
In Orlando beschrijft een biograaf het over vier eeuwen uitgesmeerde leven van de persoon Orlando, die halverwege zijn/haar leven een transitie maakt van man naar vrouw.
Uitgegeven in 1928, wat uiteraard te merken is aan het ouderwetse taalgebruik. Maar tegelijk zo verfrissend als het gaat om Woolf haar kijk op gender, de positie van de vrouw, de moderne tijd etc.
Soms prachtig poëtisch, soms onbegrijpelijk (poëtisch), dan weer simpel en droogkomisch geschreven.

boronguyen's review against another edition

4.0

Ok that’s enough of Woolf for me in my 23. Waves will probably be next, perhaps in my 30s?

hmn's review against another edition

4.0

This was an interesting "love letter" to Vita Sackville-West, one of Woolf's lovers. Orlando goes on to live centuries, from the Elizabethan Age of Reason to Queen Victoria's romanticized era, crossing boundaries of politics and gender. The stream of consciousness style allowed me, as a reader, to get lost in Orlando's world, as he and she faces challenges to his/her identity. It is beautifully written, as Woolf is wont to do, and one can't help but become enraptured by Orlando as a character who transgresses all expectations. It's a powerful testament to the power of societal pressure and the need to find oneself beyond such threats.

Memorable quote: "At one and the same time, therefore, society is everything and society is nothing. Society is the most powerful concoction in the world and society has no existence whatsoever."

robin_jong's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0