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What Members Thought
Fun, vibrant, modern and rich with live
Green in nature is one thing, green in literature another. Nature and letters seem to have a natural antipathy; bring them together and they tear each other to pieces.
General
The sheer fun and vibrancy that Virginia Woolf brings in this book is tremendous.
I can only compare it to the typical English humor found while reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first few whimsical pages of The Once and Future King, while the lyrical nature of the work m ...more
Green in nature is one thing, green in literature another. Nature and letters seem to have a natural antipathy; bring them together and they tear each other to pieces.
General
The sheer fun and vibrancy that Virginia Woolf brings in this book is tremendous.
I can only compare it to the typical English humor found while reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first few whimsical pages of The Once and Future King, while the lyrical nature of the work m ...more
Somewhat recently I was having one of those moments where I thought I was having a brilliant thought that no one had ever thought before which, as everyone knows, is not likely going to happen, everything is derivative, and oh, I'm just not that brilliant. But I had this idea of writing a fictional biography, and seeing how long it could be played off. Again, obviously not original. But in my thought process, I hadn't even considered Orlando as being exactly that.
Stupid Virginia Woolf, beating m ...more
Stupid Virginia Woolf, beating m ...more
I recently re-read (listened, the Legamus! recording available on LibriVox for free) Orlando, and the second time is even better than the first.
The 30 something Orlando has lived for four hundred years, first as a man, then as a woman. I love the way Woolf makes the impossible seem so natural that it needs little explanation. The writing is serious and seriously funny. Woolf truly knows the frivolity and eccentricity of the literature circle where she also belongs.
My absolute favourite comes aft ...more
The 30 something Orlando has lived for four hundred years, first as a man, then as a woman. I love the way Woolf makes the impossible seem so natural that it needs little explanation. The writing is serious and seriously funny. Woolf truly knows the frivolity and eccentricity of the literature circle where she also belongs.
My absolute favourite comes aft ...more
I've never yet got to the end of a book by Virginia Woolf. Maybe this will be the one. We'll see!
Added May 7th 2017
Well, I finished it but it wasn't for me. It wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I expected it to be, but I really didn't see get the point of it. I preferred the final two chapters to the rest of the book.
2.5 stars ...more
Added May 7th 2017
Well, I finished it but it wasn't for me. It wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I expected it to be, but I really didn't see get the point of it. I preferred the final two chapters to the rest of the book.
2.5 stars ...more
Beautifully written and thoughtful book about a character with many selves who survives centuries, switching genders in between. There is a manor house to anchor him/her, a lot of reflection, and thoughts extrapolating and fondling themselves into a pitch. It can be transporting if occasionally tedious.
“Then she called hesitatingly, as if the person she wanted might not be there, ‘Orlando?' For if there are (at a venture) seventy-six different times all ticking in the mind at once, how many dif ...more
“Then she called hesitatingly, as if the person she wanted might not be there, ‘Orlando?' For if there are (at a venture) seventy-six different times all ticking in the mind at once, how many dif ...more
I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I suspect that my star rating reflects what I perceived to have gotten out of this book, rather than it's actual potential or excellence.
I highly enjoyed little sparkles of wit and insight throughout this book, particularly Woolf's (meta) thoughts on the writing life, as well as Orlando's reflections on what it means to be female, having already experienced the Other Side (though I honestly expected much more of this!). As a whole, though, the work l ...more
I highly enjoyed little sparkles of wit and insight throughout this book, particularly Woolf's (meta) thoughts on the writing life, as well as Orlando's reflections on what it means to be female, having already experienced the Other Side (though I honestly expected much more of this!). As a whole, though, the work l ...more
Jul 26, 2020
Pamela
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
guardian-1000-read,
boxall-1001-read
Entertaining fictional biography, based on the family history of Woolf's friend and lover Vita Sackville-West, which sees the hero Orlando move from the Elizabethan age to contemporary 1928, awaking mid-novel from a deep sleep in Constantinople to find he has become a woman, and strive endlessly to write the perfect piece of literature.
The opening chapters read like a playful and fantastic fairy tale, with beautiful and exotic descriptions interspersed with witty satirical asides. The second hal ...more
The opening chapters read like a playful and fantastic fairy tale, with beautiful and exotic descriptions interspersed with witty satirical asides. The second hal ...more
I'm not fully on board with Woolf's prose style. Sometimes it leaves me amazed, but at other times goes too theatrically precious. Loved the first few chapters when poem-dissed Orlando was mooning around his castle like a goth kid.
...more
Oct 09, 2010
Lori
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
19th-century,
modern-history,
literature,
historical,
z-reviewed,
zy-calibre,
18th-century,
z-read-2020,
zy-text,
fiction
Knowing that it is meant to be hyperbolic and illogical makes the book a lot more fun. It's still rather difficult.
...more
aka Isabel Allende goes British.
...more
Better the second time through at 52 than the first time through at an impatient 22. It is playful and fun, and biting at times, and self-aware and shrewd, but also a bit like a joke that goes on too long. A lot like VW herself, I believe, at times.
Dec 29, 2016
Dianne
marked it as to-read
Mar 20, 2021
Rosana
marked it as to-read
Jun 06, 2021
Susan
marked it as to-read
