Orlando - Virginia Woolf

Orlando is Virginia Woolf's playful mock biography about a young nobleman who lives through centuries of English history, both as man and woman. I have up to this point managed to avoid Virginia Woolf thus this is the first book I've read by her. I was not looking forward to reading it but God told me to and I dare not disobey his literary requests. My apprehensions were well-founded, for it turned out to be an intolerable bore. The book starts off bracing enough, recounting the adventures of Orlando in male form as he moves from one love affair to the next, even serving as favourite squire of Queen Elizabeth I. After having his heart broken by a Russian princess, Orlando turns very mopey and the book grinds to philosophical ruminations.

In the second half of the book, for no reason at all, Orlando turns into a woman and stays that way for its duration. She leaves Turkey after a brief stint as a gypsy, and returns to her country estate in England, which she must now fight to regain possession of. There are plenty of dry commentaries and quips on the social inconveniences of being a woman, and no doubt many academics find the whole thing very clever, modern and feminist. I just couldn't stand it; the writing is dull, tedious, and held no interest for me. Described as one of Woolf's more accessible and lighthearted novels, I shudder to think what her more highbrow ones are like. The introduction by Sandra Gilbert is full of the verbose diarrhea one expects from Woolf fanatics.

Rating: 1/5