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A review by laurenjpegler
Coming Up for Air by George Orwell
1.0
I only know that if there's anything you care a curse about, better say good-bye to it now because everything you've ever known is going down, down, into the muck, with the machine-guns rattling all the time.
George Orwell's Coming Up for Air was published in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War Two. Our protagonist, George Bowling, fears modernity, "foreseeing food queues, soldiers, secret police and tyranny". He escapes to his idyllic hometown where childhood memories are still ripe and vivid - before War brought about tension, unease and modernity. However, the effects of War unfortunately haunt this place, emphasising how war changes everything.
I did not like this novel one bit. Initially, I thought it was a narrative which explored the effects that War and bombing had on such a small, quintessential and provincial English village. Instead, our protagonist spoke for half of the book about being a fat, forty-five year old man who hates his wife with a living passion and instead channels his love into fishing and drinking. I hated him. He is the worst character I've ever come across (probably an overstatement, but I've just finished it so it's fresh in my mind). He was just so dull and boring.
Also, I felt like War took a backseat in this, but it should have been discussed more. It would have made the narrative so much more interesting - I didn't care for George's moaning about irrelevant subjects.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this one.
George Orwell's Coming Up for Air was published in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War Two. Our protagonist, George Bowling, fears modernity, "foreseeing food queues, soldiers, secret police and tyranny". He escapes to his idyllic hometown where childhood memories are still ripe and vivid - before War brought about tension, unease and modernity. However, the effects of War unfortunately haunt this place, emphasising how war changes everything.
I did not like this novel one bit. Initially, I thought it was a narrative which explored the effects that War and bombing had on such a small, quintessential and provincial English village. Instead, our protagonist spoke for half of the book about being a fat, forty-five year old man who hates his wife with a living passion and instead channels his love into fishing and drinking. I hated him. He is the worst character I've ever come across (probably an overstatement, but I've just finished it so it's fresh in my mind). He was just so dull and boring.
Also, I felt like War took a backseat in this, but it should have been discussed more. It would have made the narrative so much more interesting - I didn't care for George's moaning about irrelevant subjects.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this one.