Rating: 
Summary: Looking for something good to read? Check this one out...
Review: John Irving ("World According to Garp") wrote an essay on Charles Dickens book "Great Expectations" in which he said that that book was the first book he had ever read that he wished he had written. For me the first book that I had read that I wished I had written is "Orlando" by Virgina Woolf. It blew me away. I had seen the movie version a few years ago, and recently found it in a bookstore, so I decided to check it out. It's subtitle is "A Biography" and although it is based (very loosely, I'm sure) on someone's actual life, it becomes clear to the reader that this is definitely a work of fiction. The reason that I enjoyed it so much is, well, let me put it this way...Charles Dickens and John Irving were and are storytellers, very wonderful, brilliant storytellers, but Virgina Woolf is (well, was) an amazing artist. I don't go for poetry that much, I'm a prose kind of guy, but "Orlando" for me, was the very best kind of poetry but written as a narrative. Read this book. And let me know what you think...
Rating:
Summary: Looking for something good to read? Check this one out...
Review: John Irving ("World According to Garp") wrote an essay on Charles Dickens book "Great Expectations" in which he said that that book was the first book he had ever read that he wished he had written. For me the first book that I had read that I wished I had written is "Orlando" by Virgina Woolf. It blew me away. I had seen the movie version a few years ago, and recently found it in a bookstore, so I decided to check it out.
It's subtitle is "A Biography" and although it is based (very loosely, I'm sure) on someone's actual life, it becomes clear to the reader that this is definitely a work of fiction.
The reason that I enjoyed it so much is, well, let me put it this way...Charles Dickens and John Irving were and are storytellers, very wonderful, brilliant storytellers, but Virgina Woolf is (well, was)
an amazing artist. I don't go for poetry that much, I'm a prose
kind of guy, but "Orlando" for me, was the very best kind of poetry but
written as a narrative. Read this book. And let me know what you think...
Rating:
Summary: she's so brilliant
Review: just read this book. gender issues are so fascinating, especially when addressed by one of the masters.
Rating:
Summary: Biting social commentary, fabulous love story, great fantasy
Review: Just saw the movie with Tilda Swinton for the 4th time, for my Gender and Sexuality in Film class. Visually lush, intelligent and thought-provoking, with so much to say about gender roles, it can make us question what we think we know about how men and women are supposed to be. Watch the movie, read the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Delight from the Belle of Bloomsbury
Review: Oh, what a romp this is! When Virginia Woolf isn't feeling sorry for herself, she can be a delight. Don't read this book as a treatise on sexual identity or societal roles. Woolf describes the book as a biography, and that's what it is. Orlando makes his (then her) way through the world, trying to make sense of it and, from time to time, trying to fit in. It wreaks havoc with your love life when you don't age over the centuries (just ask Anne Rice's vampires). But it does give you perspective, and that is why we read.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare to have your mind expanded.
Review: On top of the beautiful imagery and quirky central character, that tricky Virginia Woolf brings us scary, unusual ideas and makes us listen...and care...and laugh...and see the world in a new way. Isn't that what art does?
Rating:
Summary: good
Review: Once you get into the flow of Woolf's tangled web of a world, this book is at the same time poetic, philosophical, and a beautiful social commentary. I love it!
Rating:
Summary: Glorious piece of art work
Review: Once you get into the flow of Woolf's tangled web of a world, this book is at the same time poetic, philosophical, and a beautiful social commentary. I love it!
Rating:
Summary: good to eat
Review: Orlando is a mock biography of a woman born a man, spanning from sometime in 1500 to 1928. Why? How? Of course, we don't know. This is just a biography, and the biographer just tells the truth as it's been recorded. Orlando was a man to the age of 30, and from then on has been a woman (after all, a court of law proved it).While being funny in its absurdity, the plot lets Woolf comment on the development of literature through the ages, the (humorous) differences between men and women, how human nature has really changed very little, and the constant struggle of every writer to express themselves (and failing utterly). All handled with the wit and style of Virginia Woolf in all her erudition and insight. If you're going to read Virginia Woolf, this is the work to start with. The writing is standard prose most of the way through, with only a few moments of stream of consciousness; making it one of her most accessible works. Orlando is so so good to eat.
Rating: 
Summary: Why I prefer Mrs. Dalloway, and Why You Might Too
Review: Orlando is broad and wide (time-wise and subject-wise). It's a costume drama, and although the plot is interesting, I felt like I needed to cross-reference English literary history books while reading. Woolf varies her prose style with the time period, and although the idea is novel and she explores gender questions expertly, I am always more interested in small, emotional stories than sprawling epics.
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