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emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.75/5
Audiobook narrated by Clare Higgins.
I first learned of this book when visiting Sissinghurst Castle, home of the late Vita Sackville West. Vita and Virginia were lovers and Virginia wrote this book with the character of Orlando inspired by Vita.
Orlando follows the titular character from their beginning as an Elizabethan lord as they live through centuries until the twentieth century. During this long life Orlando changes from a man to a woman how that transition affects them in different ways.
-This is the first Woolf book I've read so I have no comparison but the prose seems very dense, sometimes superfluous. Albeit part of the plot, the book transitions from regular descriptions of events and characters to poetic verse, sometimes mid paragraph. This works to an extent as part of the book but was slightly confusing listening to the audiobook.
- As someone who exists outside the gender binary, I really appreciated the meditations and insights by and of Orlando around their transition. They contemplate how different their experiences were as a man to a woman, what opportunities are changed for them, how they interact with others, how they perceive themself. I have thought some of these things myself on occasion and considering this was published 1928, was very progressive and forward thinking in this way.
- Some books are about the destination. This book is very much about the journey and more centrally the character. Orlando is written as if a biographer were telling Orlando's story and this it achieves well. However, sometimes the prose becomes bizarre, dull or confusing and it can be hard to pin point what is going on. I feel audio may not have been the best format for this book as a physical or ebook version may have allowed for the reader to flick back and remember.
Ahead of its time, deeply reflective and a different way to think about gender, society and one's place within it. I would recommend as a classic book with good queer representation.
Audiobook narrated by Clare Higgins.
I first learned of this book when visiting Sissinghurst Castle, home of the late Vita Sackville West. Vita and Virginia were lovers and Virginia wrote this book with the character of Orlando inspired by Vita.
Orlando follows the titular character from their beginning as an Elizabethan lord as they live through centuries until the twentieth century. During this long life Orlando changes from a man to a woman how that transition affects them in different ways.
-This is the first Woolf book I've read so I have no comparison but the prose seems very dense, sometimes superfluous. Albeit part of the plot, the book transitions from regular descriptions of events and characters to poetic verse, sometimes mid paragraph. This works to an extent as part of the book but was slightly confusing listening to the audiobook.
- As someone who exists outside the gender binary, I really appreciated the meditations and insights by and of Orlando around their transition. They contemplate how different their experiences were as a man to a woman, what opportunities are changed for them, how they interact with others, how they perceive themself. I have thought some of these things myself on occasion and considering this was published 1928, was very progressive and forward thinking in this way.
- Some books are about the destination. This book is very much about the journey and more centrally the character. Orlando is written as if a biographer were telling Orlando's story and this it achieves well. However, sometimes the prose becomes bizarre, dull or confusing and it can be hard to pin point what is going on. I feel audio may not have been the best format for this book as a physical or ebook version may have allowed for the reader to flick back and remember.
Ahead of its time, deeply reflective and a different way to think about gender, society and one's place within it. I would recommend as a classic book with good queer representation.