Orlando: A BBC 100 Novels Selection and Classic of 20th Century Modernist Fiction (Collins Classics)

The most brilliant portrayal of a transsexual experience in modern history. Even when Magnus Hirshfield was publishing his treatise on the transsexual phenomenah, Woolf relates an account of the intracies of gender identity undiscovered by social scientists and biologists. Published in 1928, Orlando has been billed as one of Woolf's best imaginative works however, such criticism was never seen in the light of reality but a surreal depiction of the writer's portrayal of a young man who wakes up one day as a woman, as if in the ordinary course of his life. As Woolf suggests of her character's reaction to the change "Orlando herself showed no surprise at it.(Woolf, 139. Modern transsexuals have explained only recently in their writings, their internal thinking stays the same, only the external body appears different to others. ALthough Woolf's work set the precedent for post modernist literature, infusing elements of fiction into biography, she weaves the internal stuggle of her former lover, Vita Sachville-West's life, together with her own perceptions of gender and sexuality, with an historical account of a young transsexual aristocrat's adventures over the span of centuries. Unlike a biography of her time, the action is secondary to the internal story. This is more of an account of how her lover (and as suggested by this author--Woolf herself), struggles with her own gender identity; a thinking so similar to transsexualism and conflict with a Eurocentric binary gender…

I could see how some would really enjoy this book, especially as a classical example of British Literature by Virginia Wolfe, an iconic British writer. That being said, I did not find it interesting and thought it progressed very slowly with an unclear plot and character progression. Stopped reading about halfway through. I'll still give it 4 stars, however, because it is definitely enjoyable by some.

I was struggling to read. V. W. Composes these lovely long descriptive pages Full of metaphors, etc. then it would spring back to passages that wouldn’t seem to be connected. Watching the film! helped enormously and I was able to finish the book. She’s an amazing writer.

Being English my second language, I had a little difficulty reading Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando'. Nevertheless, having seen both the movie and the Peruvian stage play, I didn't have any trouble understanding the plot. I think the problem was in the details --but it wasn't serious. In any case, I do consider this novel --or pseudo biography-- to be a masterpiece, a book that, despite being more than a hundred years old, has a lot to say about gender roles and class differences that should resonate with contemporary readers. Addictive, intriguing and undeniably weird, 'Orlando' is one for the ages. Truly memorable.

It is difficult for me to define my opinion of this book. I try to ignore the idol worship that happens with writers that have been declared "great" for several decades - they're fashionable, and it's fashionable to like them, but I try to form my own opinion. This is one of the few books that's actually been very difficult. There's a lot to really like about it, but there's a lot that just isn't my cup of tea. I like that the author quite obviously adores the main character, somehow that makes it very personal and lovely to read, but at the same time her portrayal of that character seems quite flat - nothing truly bad or negative happens or is described - yet somehow Orlando seems to grow as a character without much in the way of struggles. I like the way the author plays with time and gender and social norms quite a bit. The florid, romantic, stream-of-consciousness writing style did get horribly old in places, but just when I was ready to put the book down, she'd make fun of herself for writing that way. So much so, the author was almost her own character in the book, which I quite liked. But at the same time, a lot of the book I just didn't get anything from, because of the style maybe (I read and understood the words but they held no meaning on any level for me). I went back and reread a couple sections to make sure I wasn't just sleepy or distracted, and sometimes that was the case, but usually there just wasn't anything in that section for me. Maybe those were the…