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/lit/ - Literature

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2687440 No.2687440 [Reply] [Original]

what does /lit/ think of Down and Out?

call me pleb but it's probably my number 3 orwell, after 1984 and animal farm

thoughts?

>> No.2687444

It's grim, not really worth reading. Just watch blood, sweat and luxuries.

>> No.2687446
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2687446

>>2687444

>> No.2687449

>>2687440
Haven't read it yet, but I like me some low life literature. What is it comparable to?

>> No.2687462

>>2687449
>tfw haven't read enough books to compare it to

>> No.2687471

dubs

>> No.2687475

haven't read it. but homage to catalonia is one of my fave orwell novels. burmese days was aight. you better not be wrong, op.

>> No.2687479

>>2687475
Isn't Homage technically journalism?

>> No.2687485

>>2687479
not really. i would say it's a nonfiction narrative account of the spanish civil war. felt more like a novel than a piece of journalism although it did feel like the latter a bit.

>> No.2687488

Down and out is spectacular. When he got back to the UK and was lining up to scrounge food and a bed for the night my heart just sank knowing it was biographical. I think D&O is one of the most humbling books I have ever read. Being from the UK and having spent a lot of time in Paris I could relate to the references more than I could for, say, Raskolnikov.

My top Orwell:
1. Burmese Days
2. Catalonia
3. Down and Out
4. 1984
5. Aspidistra
6. Animal Farm
7. Clergymans daughter
8. Wigan

>> No.2687494

It's pretty much how we live now, but back then it was supposed to be a big expose on how hard low life work is.

And George was a bit of a poser, cheating by going to his liberal friends' houses and showering and doing his laundry.

>> No.2687499

>>2687494
>It's pretty much how we live now
Jesus, how bad is your life? Do you work for under £1 a day, have to steal your food from kitchens and go for a week with a loaf of bread?
Or maybe you live on the streets, and have for the last two years?

>And George was a bit of a poser, cheating by going to his liberal friends' houses and showering and doing his laundry.

I think in all of the years on the street he called on an old friend once.

>> No.2687510

>>2687499
Yeah I've been homeless and worked in factories. I've always gone to the city mission when hungry only been without food a few days.

I can't remember where I read he'd visit friends, but that's what I came away with. And they looked at him while he's changing, thinking WTF are you doing, idiot. But he had to write his novel!

>> No.2687528

>>2687510
Jesus, that's bad. How did you manage to get out of you situation? It must have been very hard getting and holding down that initial job while still living on the streets?

>> No.2687534

>>2687528
It's not that bad. I wasn't homeless while working, just when i was unemployed. It's like camping, actually the boredom and being alone is the worst part of it.

>> No.2687568

The first time I read it I hadn't slept, I gave up trying at 6am, went downstairs and picked it up and read it in one sitting.

I enjoyed it, I like Orwell's style and the fact that it was biographical. I know London fairly well so it's nice to have a picture of what it used to be like if you were poor.

What I'm trying to say is I liked it, I found it interesting and I recommend it. I tend to read fiction and find non-fiction dry so this was nice.