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Sarah's Reviews > Orlando
Orlando
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Vita Sackville-West's son may have called Orlando “the longest and most charming love-letter in literature�, but let me tell you: if someone wrote me a love letter like this, their ass would be getting dumped shortly thereafter.
This book was like the song that wouldn't end- it just goes on and on (yet it isn't particularly lengthy) without saying very much of interest. Despite the fact that reading it was a serious chore, for whatever reason I couldn't just give up and toss it aside (much like being unable to look away from a flaming car wreck). I pushed through, even though I often couldn't bring myself to read more than a few pages at a time. It took me several weeks to finish.
However odd the movie was (and in spite of the fact I have the distinct impression that Tilda Swinton wanted to eat my soul), I still enjoyed it more than the book (which is not a statement I make lightly- I almost never like a movie more than its source material).
I think part of the problem was the fact that Orlando was a boring, whiny, immature character who took hundreds of years to grow up. Since the book is pretty much entirely about Orlando, if one is not a fan, the book is not exactly fun to read.
This book was like the song that wouldn't end- it just goes on and on (yet it isn't particularly lengthy) without saying very much of interest. Despite the fact that reading it was a serious chore, for whatever reason I couldn't just give up and toss it aside (much like being unable to look away from a flaming car wreck). I pushed through, even though I often couldn't bring myself to read more than a few pages at a time. It took me several weeks to finish.
However odd the movie was (and in spite of the fact I have the distinct impression that Tilda Swinton wanted to eat my soul), I still enjoyed it more than the book (which is not a statement I make lightly- I almost never like a movie more than its source material).
I think part of the problem was the fact that Orlando was a boring, whiny, immature character who took hundreds of years to grow up. Since the book is pretty much entirely about Orlando, if one is not a fan, the book is not exactly fun to read.
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Reading Progress
June 27, 2010
– Shelved
July 20, 2010
–
Started Reading
July 20, 2010
– Shelved as:
50book-challenge
July 20, 2010
– Shelved as:
classics
July 20, 2010
–
9.52%
"I'm reading my roommate's copy from college, so it has all sorts of cryptic notes in it. It's like an added mystery."
page
32
August 4, 2010
–
45.54%
"It worries me that my brother, who's even more of a lit nerd than me, was unable to finish this book."
page
153
August 5, 2010
–
50.0%
"It's like in college, where the moment I picked up a textbook, I'd fall asleep. Orlando has similar soporific qualities."
page
168
August 6, 2010
–
57.74%
"Sometimes, I feel like I'm reading backwards, this goes so slow. I've also been distracted by the glories of vintage ho-yay, so my reading time has been cut down."
page
194
August 8, 2010
–
67.56%
"Just a little more than a hundred pages to go. No bets as to how long it will take me..."
page
227
August 9, 2010
–
Finished Reading
September 26, 2010
– Shelved as:
lgbtqa
August 18, 2020
– Shelved as:
fiction
Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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message 1:
by
Katarzyna
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rated it 2 stars
Mar 03, 2015 01:03PM
Finally someone who did not enjoy it. I thought I am the only odd one ;)
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I'm struggling. I couldn't agree more - Orlando is a spoilt, self absorbed candy-ass. I haven't gotten to the gender transformation yet, hopefully the woman Orlando can smarten up.
I love how you got this too, I was feeling odd that so many people have given it a 5 star rating!
Thank you for speaking my mind! Regarding the language there are quite a few gems, but overall I don't find the character attractive.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There were some beautiful passages but overall, dear God.
Woolf is the most overrated novelist I know. Besides that she was a nasty piece of work who seemed to think that her problems were the problems of the world.
Rosalía wrote: "I'm glad that I found your review between all the other ones praising this book. I had to stop reading Orlando as it was giving me headaches every time I tried. I thought it was because English is ..."It was a truly difficult book to get through.
I gave up on it halfway through. I still have it on my bookshelf, where it glowers reproachfully at me.
I've really tried to read this book. I find little of virtue, as far as I'm concerned. The story is convoluted and ridiculous, the characters of little interest, the English is archaic and burdensome, the whole thing seems stilted and of another era, in an unappealing way. Did I finish reading it? You had to ask?
I read it for a book club. To get through it, I doubled up with the Audible.
I couldn't agree more with this review. Except I gave it 3 stars since I usually love Virginia Woolf. This book was sadly disappointing and I also thought Orlando was insanely boring.
Seriously- I have loved some of Woolf's books, but this one was a serious bomb.
I couldn't finish the book, so boring and pointless she kinda says a lot to tell nothing by the end!
Lamyaa.Kechhotmail.Com wrote: "I couldn't finish the book, so boring and pointless she kinda says a lot to tell nothing by the end!"It was not ideal.
Far fetched, pretentious and totally self absorbed! I get that it was radical for the time and that she was LGBTQ, but I wasn’t really expecting this fantasy.
Helen Childs wrote: "Far fetched, pretentious and totally self absorbed! I get that it was radical for the time and that she was LGBTQ, but I wasn’t really expecting this fantasy."In my opinion, whiny, self-absorbed characters are never fun to read about, regardless of how radical the book might otherwise be.
I thought I was the only one complaining about this novel!! I feel like readers should be able to feel identified with or AT LEAST emphasize with the main character. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case and I couldn't feel any connection nor sympathy with Orlando whatsoever. He struck me as pretentious, immature, snobbish and self-absorbed brat. The story had potential but it ended up falling flat.
Ariadna wrote: "I thought I was the only one complaining about this novel!! I feel like readers should be able to feel identified with or AT LEAST emphasize with the main character. Unfortunately, this wasn't the ..."Indeed!
Wow someone that understands me! I am reading this book since january and i simply can’t finish it! But i was asking myself what was wrong with me since everybody seems to love it
I am reading this book now as it is apparently one of the 1001 books to read before you die. Not sure how it made its way onto that list. It is really hard going. Not much of a story. And pretty dull. I don't often give books one star but watch this space.
Tell me about it, I have to read it in days for uni
