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jeremy_felt's review against another edition
5.0
Such a fascinating story. It's been 15 years since my first read. Very much worth the repeat. Orwell's observations on skewed perspectives, foreign press reporting, and facism—among many other things—are still relevant 80 years later.
christianholub's review against another edition
4.0
One of the first things I did after the election was pick up this book. Trump's coming administration (and those of similar hard right-wing nationalist leaders coming into power across the globe) will not look exactly like the fascism of the 30s and 40s, but nevertheless there's a lot to be learned from taking a look back at those struggles - not least because the ruinous left/liberal in-fighting Orwell witnessed firsthand in Spain is a problem those of us planning to resist the aforementioned governments will have to overcome.
jordi's review against another edition
4.0
Deberia haberlo leído hace años.
George Orwell se paso por españa para hacer un reportaje y acabo varios meses pegando tiros en el frente de la guerra civil.
Hay un momento que están en un edificio, hay un gran ruido abajo, van a mirar y dice alguien, nah, no es nada, unos tirando unas granadas de mano.
nicolemaestas's review against another edition
5.0
This book is incredible. I much prefer this over Orwell's most famous fiction works. He's funny and deeply reflective, capturing not only his own experience but the overtones of revolutionary Spain from the position of a foreigner and a soldier. This book made me yearn for something I haven't experienced and was both heartbreaking and fulfilling at many times. It's an incredible snapshot of this time and told so beautifully.
uncertainorigin's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
5.0
The book is wonderful. Very educational on the Spanish Civil War, and Orwell's personal experiences form a highly engaging backdrop. The introduction by Lionel Trilling is worthless. I didn't read it until the end because I didn't want it to give anything away. It would have done so, but not only that; it just sucks. He spends most of it talking about other, more obscure authors who he admits he knows more about and how Orwell compares to them, constantly hedging because he hasnt done the research. Very lazy. He makes a strange argument that Orwell is not a genius and places a lot of importance on that. I've never read anything else by Trilling but this piece makes him seem like a very annoying hack.
emleemay's review against another edition
3.0
“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”
[a:George Orwell|3706|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450573063p2/3706.jpg] is one of my favourite writers. [b:1984|40961427|1984|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532714506s/40961427.jpg|153313] and [b:Animal Farm|170448|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1325861570s/170448.jpg|2207778] were game-changers for me when I first picked them up at 12 years old, and they fostered an interest in politics that would stay with me for the rest of my life. [b:Homage to Catalonia|9646|Homage to Catalonia|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394868278s/9646.jpg|2566499] never quite affected me in the same way, but I decided it was time to do a reread of it as an adult. In July, I will be visiting Catalonia-- again, my first time doing so as an adult --so it seemed especially appropriate.
Orwell is a great writer, but it's just a shame that the material here is not that exciting. I found it interesting reading about how his experiences fighting Franco and the fascists during the Spanish Civil War shaped his personal and political beliefs; it's just that his extensive detailing of trench life is repetitive and largely uneventful.
The place where Orwell was stationed actually saw very little action. He describes a bunch of raggedy boys stood around shivering in the cold, smoking any cigarettes they could get hold of, and mostly just waiting for something to happen. [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441227765s/355697.jpg|2662852] documents trench warfare - the filth, the cold, the rats - and it is a far more compelling account. Here, it gets quite tedious, even with Orwell's accessible and conversational style.
It's not just a memoir, though. He also attempts to explain the history of the conflict, and separate out the different groups involved. He explains how the Anarchists and Communists were in conflict with one another but were, in this case, technically on the same side against Franco. How well Orwell understands this history is not clear, and his explanation of all the political differences is rather convoluted (he packs a lot of information into a couple of chapters), especially when he turns his attention to the trade unions involved.
What it is possible to gather from the complex web that Orwell portrays is that the political landscape at this time was a complete mess. He often uses his trademark humour to comment on the ridiculousness of the war, and it was indeed a ridiculous situation. I did some outside reading on the Spanish Civil War, and it is easy to see why Orwell's two chapters of background info are lacking. It was such a complex conflict that had in part been building for close to a hundred years.
One of my favourite aspects of the book - and, in truth, probably why I like Orwell quite a lot - is that he never really portrays any person as his enemy. His enemy remains fascism throughout. He speaks highly of those he meets and claims that while his memories of Spain were "most evil" he had “very few bad memories of Spaniards.” He was, as far as I can tell, a humanist. And in the midst of all that chaos, that was no small thing.
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