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A review by elsemma
Down and Out in Paris and London by Peter Hobley Davison, George Orwell
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
I have read many reviews of this book since finishing it yesterday and not one mentioned that the first chapter is essentially just a rape scene?? I knew what this book was about generally but this was very unexpected. I also don’t see what it added? Maybe this is a very modern perspective but I feel like a brutal attack should add something to the overall argument of the book and this didn’t? I felt like Orwell gave a better description of the characters throughout that this “scene setting”
Anyway, overall this book was okay. Like I said I knew the overall ideas of this book and so nothing overly shocked me. Orwell’s ability to describe is of course on show here and it as always is exemplary.
He also makes extremely valid points about poverty and the experience of it that I think this book can be used (even today) as a way to explain poverty to someone who has never felt it.
That being said, I feel like there were parts which were monotonous? This book shouldn’t have been shorter by any means but sometimes I feel like Orwell goes too simple.
Anyway, overall this book was okay. Like I said I knew the overall ideas of this book and so nothing overly shocked me. Orwell’s ability to describe is of course on show here and it as always is exemplary.
He also makes extremely valid points about poverty and the experience of it that I think this book can be used (even today) as a way to explain poverty to someone who has never felt it.
That being said, I feel like there were parts which were monotonous? This book shouldn’t have been shorter by any means but sometimes I feel like Orwell goes too simple.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, and Alcohol