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A review by booksjessreads
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
challenging
sad
slow-paced
3.25
I didn't quite know how to review this book. I was given it to read by a member of my partner's family, who said it was very readable and an insightful account of poverty in London and Paris in the 1930s. I do feel as though I learned a lot about poverty during this period and I will credit Orwell's exposition of his living conditions for being explicit so that we could understand his experience. I did find it generally quite readable, although through periods of the book, I found it hard to be drawn to and did not always feel motivated to read it.
Of course, this is a product of its time and does have open anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic language, especially towards the French and Irish. Despite Orwell being a democratic socialist, that doesn't always mean that he had liberal views of everyone. Furthermore, he also had an arrogant style of writing, especially making clear that he was never as low as those who were embedded in the lower-class world. He was always careful to evoke sympathy from the reader for himself, but not that of others.
Undoubtedly, this does offer an interesting and insightful perspective of Orwell's life, but not a book I am eager to return to.
Of course, this is a product of its time and does have open anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic language, especially towards the French and Irish. Despite Orwell being a democratic socialist, that doesn't always mean that he had liberal views of everyone. Furthermore, he also had an arrogant style of writing, especially making clear that he was never as low as those who were embedded in the lower-class world. He was always careful to evoke sympathy from the reader for himself, but not that of others.
Undoubtedly, this does offer an interesting and insightful perspective of Orwell's life, but not a book I am eager to return to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Antisemitism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Racism