Reviews

Why I Write by George Orwell

smuttea_matcha's review against another edition

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4.0

It's Orwell, how can I not like it? I love how he cites authors trying to be clever as a primary motive for writing. I feel like that's true to so many on GoodReads because the word "clever" and "witty" are thrown all over the place so that they lose their meaning. I also like how Orwell writes like he doesn't give a shit, but he really does. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone, but fuck you, it makes sense to me. He has this false sort of nonchalance. He knows he's had shitty writing and he also knows he's made choices that not many agree with, such as how his one book was pretty much a journal article and a mentor/friend(?) commented on it. But like Orwell said, if it wasn't what it was, he wouldn't have written it. He's happy with what he writes and he knows he doesn't write masterpieces (in his opinion). He's humble and honest. He knows his style of writing and he knows why people write. Not just himself. It's a motive-study of all authors in general, but it focuses on his primary reasons, which he links to the four primary motives of other writers. I love Orwell and it's always exciting to read something he's penned.

achilleanshelves's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was not what I was expecting it to be in the best way possible. I love how Orwell manages to objectively explain each political system especially seeing as he wrote this during the Second World War.

_saur0n_'s review against another edition

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challenging informative fast-paced

3.75

ericfheiman's review against another edition

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4.0

Probably most famous for its simple rules on the mechanics of good writing, but I’d argue that Why I Write’s relevance is instead its emphasis on writing about topics and issues that really matter—politics or otherwise. The what, not just the how.

bookman39582's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

sujuv's review against another edition

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4.0

One of the greats...

madrtz's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

mauro_german's review against another edition

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4.0

Orwell, para mi, uno de los escritores más honestos que he leído.

diego_duguo's review against another edition

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3.0

Heildar einkunn: 3.5

Why I Write : 4/5
Skemmtilegt lýsing á líf Orwells og ástæður eða áhugahvöt sem fengu hann til þess að skrifa greinar og bækur. Það kom mig á óvart að allar fjórar ástæðurnar eru eðlislíkar þeim sem kveiktu áhuga minn á lestur og höfðaði því greinin til mín

The Lion and The Unicorn: 4/5
Áhugavert innsýn í menningu Englands í seinni stríðs árunum. Orwell telur á þessum tíma að eina leiðin til að sigra Hitler og fasima væri sósalísk bylting í Englandi. Hann telur einnig að það hefði verið hægt að koma veg fyrir ris fasisma í Evrópu ef auðugir valdamenn Englands hefði ekki litið fram hjá eðli fasismans í nafni gróða. Nú er ég ekki sérstaklega fróður í þeim atburðum sem áttu sér stað fyrir WW2 og hef því enga hugmynd um hvort Orwell hefur rétt fyrir sér eða ekki. Greinin vakti áhuga á að skoða betur heimspólitíkini sem átti sér stað fyrir WW2.

A Hanging: 3/5
Ágætis prósi um reynslu Orwells að fyglja fanga að gálganum.

Politics and the English Language: 3/5
Ágætis punktar um mikilvægi góða tungumála notkun. Athugasemd hans við notkun orða sem gefa af sér vísindalegan blæ til þess að fela hlutdrægni staðhæfingunnar á ennþá við í dag.

lu_goodwin's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

had to read it for class - interesting but melodramatic to say the least