I recently decided that I’m going to read all of George Orwell’s works this year. I’ve already read 1984 and Animal Farm (which I loved) and decided this would be the first book of his I tackled this year. Down and Out in Paris and London is semi-autobiographical. It’s about the time Orwell spent ...
There is so much in this book and it is actually really hard to know where to start, however I will start off by saying that it is not strictly an autobiography. Sure, Orwell did land up in a situation in Paris when all of his money had been stolen and had to work as a plounger, which is basically a...
Full of wretchedness and uncomfortable descriptions of trying to make ends meet. Really enjoyed the down to earth, realistic narrative, that lacked exaggeration, concerning poverty and dreadful living conditions.
Orwell's first published work, giving a slightly fictionalised account of his experiences of poverty in Paris and London.His time in London is made into an extraordinary and vital social document, preserving and bearing witness to the painful and shocking history of the tramps. I never realised that...
How many novelists have had their name turned into an adjective? Although there may be more, at the moment I can only think of three: Proust, Dickens and Orwell. The adjective “Orwellian”, of course, refers to the kind of totalitarian state Orwell depicted so brilliantly in [b:1984|5470|1984|George...
This book struck me on a number of levels. As a travel diary, which is how I preferred to read it, it was more relatable than many I have read. I'll not pretend to be in circumstances nearly as dire as those portrayed, but I'm closer to that than I am the books of other successful writers. Hemingway...
Various great writers have written books about poverty over the years, but there is something special and different about this one. It concentrates on destitution rather than poverty, which is something different and worse. One feels as one is reading the book, that it is really an extended piece ...
Do not read this book while eating! I've been told that this book is semi-autobiographical. If so, George Orwell had an even more interesting life than I'd imagined! This book was disturbing, insightful and also funny (great, great characters, some just plain weird!)The first half of the book depict...
This diary of sorts (semi-autobiographical we're told) tells the story of poverty-stricken British writer who takes on the job of an underpaid dish-washer (a plongeur) in Paris and then the life of a tramp in London. The brutal realism and honesty reminded me of Solzhenitsyn's Ivan Denisovitch and M...
Orwell's first publication, one in which he has yet to find his voice. Since this is exaggerated/fake autobiography, the anti-Semitism, presumably Orwell's though articulated by other characters, is wearisome. The argument that the sentiments in this book aren't anti-Semitic because Orwell later wro...
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