Orlando: A Biography

Probably more of a 4 or a 4.5 for me personally, but bumped to a 5 for Woolf's grasp of gender and identity in 1928.

Orlando is hard to review without acknowledging Woolf wrote this about her lover. Above all, it's filled with love and affection and playful ribbing. But, also above all, it's filled with clever insights about what it means to experience gender and identity. I feel these are equally important to enjoying the novel. Orlando certainly meanders, but as a love letter to and about Sackville-West, I can hardly hold it against the text.

Really just a fascinating, unique book. I had to ease into reading Woolf's style, but found it easy and smooth to read after getting the hang of her writing.

The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity.