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  • Down And Out In Paris And London
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Down And Out In Paris And London

Down And Out In Paris And London

byGeorge Orwell
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Connor Burnett
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful and Often Brutal Insight Into Its Time Period
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2020
I was brought to the attention of this book by the recommendation of Anthony Bourdain made in his book, "Kitchen Confidential" A good deal of Orwell's experience in the kitchen and the way that it is structurally written here, would inspire the same structure that Bourdain used. I ended up loving this book because of its depiction of the time period. So much was going on in the world during Orwell's life and his viewpoint in seeing how everyday people were living in it is certainly historic. The absolute ends that people would make just to survive day to day was incredibly gripping as the pages keep turning. I found myself incredibly liking George Orwell himself, as he comes off as a very likable narrator. Definitely a book worth reading.
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9 people found this helpful

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Cori
1.0 out of 5 starsHorribly proofread
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2017
Obviously, Orwell is a great writer. I gave this book one star because of the terrible editing. There were tons of really easy to correct typos, like i's and n's blurring into m's. Come on, it's not like Orwell is a new indie author. You guys couldn't find a better edition? Ridiculous. Amazon should take this one out of circulation.
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75 people found this helpful

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Connor Burnett
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Often Brutal Insight Into Its Time Period
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
I was brought to the attention of this book by the recommendation of Anthony Bourdain made in his book, "Kitchen Confidential" A good deal of Orwell's experience in the kitchen and the way that it is structurally written here, would inspire the same structure that Bourdain used. I ended up loving this book because of its depiction of the time period. So much was going on in the world during Orwell's life and his viewpoint in seeing how everyday people were living in it is certainly historic. The absolute ends that people would make just to survive day to day was incredibly gripping as the pages keep turning. I found myself incredibly liking George Orwell himself, as he comes off as a very likable narrator. Definitely a book worth reading.
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Connor Burnett
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Often Brutal Insight Into Its Time Period
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2020
I was brought to the attention of this book by the recommendation of Anthony Bourdain made in his book, "Kitchen Confidential" A good deal of Orwell's experience in the kitchen and the way that it is structurally written here, would inspire the same structure that Bourdain used. I ended up loving this book because of its depiction of the time period. So much was going on in the world during Orwell's life and his viewpoint in seeing how everyday people were living in it is certainly historic. The absolute ends that people would make just to survive day to day was incredibly gripping as the pages keep turning. I found myself incredibly liking George Orwell himself, as he comes off as a very likable narrator. Definitely a book worth reading.
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9 people found this helpful
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Guthrie McIllhennon
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent writing
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2019
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I am a fan of Orwell. There is nothing that I've read of his that I did not like, although I have only read a few things. So I was predisposed to like this book. This story is odd. The "plot" is very repetitive; it consists of Orwell's more or less daily account of his seeking work in Paris and London in the 1930s Great Depression, mostly unsuccessfully, and the seeking of work is woven through with his description of near starvation in the process. Even though the book is repetitive in its accounting of these experiences, the writing is clear, insightfully detailed, and down to earth, and it does not get tiresome to read; I read the book in about two days. It's a close look at the underbelly of a few English settings, cities during the late 20s and perhaps early 30s of the 20th century. Furthermore, the narrative is punctuated with some wonderful character profiles of the (mostly) men that he buddies with along the way. It has significant good humor, despite the horrible conditions that Orwell experiences and describes; the characterizations of the handful of men he tramps with are especially humorous: Orwell was good, apparently, at picking out good mates in similar circumstances, men he could count on in a pinch.
The first half of the book, set in Paris, is a bit more upbeat in tone than the second half, set in London. In the Paris section, much of the reportage is about Orwell's working as a dishwasher/busboy/gopher in a fancy hotel restaurant, and I found this reportage to be very accurate to what I know of current-day restaurants, which I know are still operated in the same chaotic way. The dining room is a different world from the kitchen.
The second half of the book, the London section, is much more "down and out." I discovered from this book that during this time and probably in the Great Depression as well, England managed its tens of thousands of unemployed, homeless men (mostly men: 10:1 men to women) by providing them room and board, but the "tramps" could only stay one night, and were forced to march up to fifteen miles the next day to the next "accommodation"; these large institutional shelters were called "spikes." The accommodations were vermin-infested and the food was usually "tea and two slices": two pieces of bread with oil slathered on them and a cup of tea. To my mind, this book reminded me of a long New Yorker-like article in which the writer goes undercover to expose the horrors of a situation. Apparently, however, Orwell was not undercover but instead an unknown unemployed writer who was truly forced into this degraded, dangerous, unhealthy lifestyle. I knew that Orwell died before he was fifty, and after reading the book I wondered if these harrowing experiences did not somehow contribute to his early physical decline. This book is touted as a minor masterpiece. I don't know if I agree with that but it is essential reading for one who is studying Orwell. It certainly must have drawn on his socialist thinking, and he makes some astute recommendations for how England might better deal with the problem of massive unemployment.
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Eric G
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, I sent it to a youngster who was soliciting funds
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2022
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A certain sensitive, creative, reflective nephew had been working on figuring out what to do to express his artistic vision. He had asked for aid, specifically cash. In thinking about this, I concluded that what would be more helpful than cash, would be a copy of Orwell's text about being down and out. If one did want to shove bank notes between pages, that would be an option, or write inspirational advice comments in the margins. It was tremendous.
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Cori
1.0 out of 5 stars Horribly proofread
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2017
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Obviously, Orwell is a great writer. I gave this book one star because of the terrible editing. There were tons of really easy to correct typos, like i's and n's blurring into m's. Come on, it's not like Orwell is a new indie author. You guys couldn't find a better edition? Ridiculous. Amazon should take this one out of circulation.
75 people found this helpful
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H. Schneider
5.0 out of 5 stars A tramp is nothing but an Englishman out of work: a metropolitan anthropology of the lower classes
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2008
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Orwell's first published book established a literary name for him and brought him some moderate success, which must have helped to escape the conditions that the book describes. It is a 'non-fiction' book with a lot of fictional spicing.
Roughly, the book has two parts, as the title indicates: the Paris part is dominated by work as minimum salary helper in restaurant kitchens, then the London part is exclusively given to trampdom, caused by homelessness and joblessness.
The two parts are oddly different in tone. The Paris adventures are, despite misery, darkly comical; the comedy aspect is clearly intended. The descriptions of lodging, eating, resp. not eating, working, partying are interjected with darkly funny tales about the types that populate the urban slums of the Paris of 1930. Some of them are quite disgusting, like the tales of drunken Charlie, who considers raping sex slaves as the ultimate in true love, while pitying them is base emotion. Or friend Boris, the ex captain of the White Russian army who considers Jews so far below a Russian officer, that they are not even worth his spittle. Less obnoxious is the tale of the miser who gets talked into investing some of his matress money into a load of cocain for transportation to England, gets arrested for possession, but freed when the police finds out it is 'face powder', whatever that is. The man dies of a broken heart.
(The Orwell of the Paris half has a contemporary successor in Germany, an investigative journalist named Guenter Wallraff, who has made himself a name as undercover serf in the worst paid jobs in Germany, and is honestly dreaded by German employers.)
The conditions in the two restaurants where Orwell works are so abominable that one would rather not eat in France any more. Of course that was nearly a century ago, and today everything is different. Right?
Orwell then had enough and had hopes for a job in London, so he went back, but found his hopes frustrated. He runs out of cash fast and spends weeks with the homeless crowd, tramping from one asylum to the other and writing 'hotel reviews'. There are few jokes in this part. An intriguing quote from this part: a clergyman and his daughter came and stared silently at us for a while ('us' being a group of tramps waiting for the shelter to open).
Orwell includes some theoretical chapters, like suggestions how to improve the legal situation, a typology of beggars, and a glossary on street language. This part lives mostly from his portraits of fellow tramps. The most impressive character is a pavement painter, who turns out to be a veritable philosopher. (An embittered atheist. He did not disbelieve in God as much as he disliked him.)
The book is highly readable, despite its uneven character. Of course it stood in a broad literary tradition, and Orwell added to it.
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Alastair Browne
5.0 out of 5 stars A True Account of How to Survive in Paris and London in the 1920s and '30s
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2017
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This is an autobiography of George Orwell, known in real life as Eric Blair, when he spent some time on the streets of Paris and London when he, in his early years (1920s or 30s) was destitute. Then, Blair, who I shall refer to Orwell as his real name, was starting out as a journalism/writer, after World War I (The Great War). Eric Blair doesn't explain how he ended up in this situation of poverty in the first place, but does provide a good account of his life on the streets of Paris and London, and his struggle to survive day by day.
It was rough. Blair live hand to mouth, and being among the tramps, beggars, the destitute, he always had to watch his back, for there was always someone out to take his money, clothes, food, anything, at the first chance he gets. Needless to say, Mr. Blair survived and was able to give a clear account.
The book is evenly divided between his stints in Paris, then London. He covers Paris first. Paris is pictured as the lap of luxury, fashions, French architecture. I've been there myself, and it is amazing. Deep down below, in the unseen sections, are the workers, the dishwashers, those who do the dirty jobs to keep Paris glittering. Blair worked as a dishwasher and other similar, back breaking jobs at luxurious hotels, where the work was hard, conditions were unsanitary, and the pay was low. He literally had to pawn his clothes, look for the cheapest rooms to rent, and worked sometimes for 18 hours a day, with very little time to sleep. There were tough bosses and tough landlords, and he had to be tight with his money, buying the cheapest, and lowest quality food. Blair did have buddies to team up with, looking out for each other, and being there for the other when he was starving. Survival produces enemies off the streets, but it also produces great friendships. Blair had to take whatever job was available, for one hotel was opening up promising good paying jobs, but there were delays, so one could not depend on any "promises," for anyone.
London had it own adventure. Here Blair was traveling from spike (a hostel like place where tramps could spend one and only one night, with strict rules with a jail sentence for violating them) to spike, with a partner named Paddy. Again, there are situations where one smuggles in food and money against the rules, where other tramps steal them, and their clothes. If the tramp complained, he would go to jail. There were religious sponsored hostels, with strict rules also, and this simply tells of the travels of Blair and his buddy, obtaining money and food and shelter for the night.
In this book, Orwell/Blair does sympathize with the tramp, where his present situation is not always his fault. These are situations where one loses a job, then his home because he was unable to pay for it, or could never find a job, or many other reasons. This is very similar to today's situations where people are evicted from their homes forcing them to live out on the street or in their cars.
This book is a chronicle of what these people go through, and their actions are a result of their desperate attempt simply to survive.
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Gregory Montez
5.0 out of 5 stars Orwellian TripAdvisor stories
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2015
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I bought this book because it was mentioned as being one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite stories in one of his books, and I am a big fan of his. It really is not as gruesome as I was believing, but some of the stories of the hotel industry in early 1900s Paris were eye-opening to say the least (and I am very sure that many of the practices are still in place even today). There is just so much detail to some of the subplots that I am convinced that Orwell lived through them personally. The end of the book deals with class struggles, Marxian thoughts and socialist issues which is what Orwell generally does. I would be very curious to know from a hotel manager or restaurant owner if the scenarios in this book have really changed all that much over a hundred years.
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Frederick McDermott
5.0 out of 5 stars Great view of the working class in these two cities before WWII
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2021
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This is what its like to have no money and try to find ways to eat and places to sleep in a metropolitan area. Well written and you can see how it contributes to Orwell's later works. Great place to start on Orwell, nothing fancy, straight ahead writing, clear, engaging.
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Penelope Weiss
5.0 out of 5 stars Laughter and Dirt, Depression Style
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2019
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I've read this book before and bought it this time to give to a young friend. Orwell provides a wonderful mix of the humor and dirt of daily life, along with acute observations about the political reality of the Depression in Paris and London. One of the best books I've ever read, as fresh and meaningful today as it was when it was written so many decades ago.
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Christopher Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Down and Out - A timeless classic
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2014
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Prior to serving in the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil war, George Orwell worked as a plongeur or dishwasher in Paris. He also wandered England as a homeless tramp staying in doss-houses. George Orwell transformed these experiences into the book Down and Out in Paris and London which was published during the great Depression in 1933. This was, to say the least, an unusual path for an "old Eton boy" to take.

Nietzsche once wrote, "Poets are shameless with their experiences: they exploit them." Orwell did not hesitate to exploit his experiences as a "plongeur" in Paris or a tramp in England.

If Trip Advisor Had been around in 1933 Orwell might have posted a review something like this: "Avoid all restaurants and hotels in Paris and beyond! The sanitary conditions are appalling. There is filth on the kitchen floors. Rats infest every kitchen. The staff could care less about their customers. How many Stars? Zero!"

Here is what Orwell actually wrote after working at the Hotel X in Paris, "The dirt in the Hotel X, as soon as one penetrated into the service quarters, was revolting. Our cafeteria had year-old filth in all the dark corners, and the bread-bin was infested with cockroaches. Once I suggested killing these beasts to Mario (he was in charge of the cafeteria). 'Why kill the poor animals?' he said reproachfully. The others laughed when I wanted to wash my hands before touching the butter...In the kitchen the dirt was worse. It is not figure of speech, it is a mere statement of fact to say that a French cook will spit in the soup--that is, if he is not going got drink it himself. He is an artist, but his art is not cleanliness. To a certain extent he is even dirty because he is an artist, for food, to look smart, needs dirty treatment. When a steak, for instance is brought up for the head cook's inspection, he does not handle it with a fork. He picks it up with his fingers and slaps it down, runs his thumb around the dish and licks to taste the gravy, runs it round and licks again, then steps back and contemplates the piece of meat like an artist judging a picture, then presses it lovingly into place with his fat, pink fingers, every one of which he has licked a hundred times that morning. When he is satisfied, he takes a cloth and wipes his fingerprints form the dish, and hands it to the waiter. And the waiter, of course, dips his fingers into the gravy--his nasty, greasy fingers which he is forever running through his brilliantined hair."

Orwell then moved on to work at a restaurant in Paris called the Auberge de Jehan Cottard as a plongeur or dishwasher. He wrote about his employer, "The Auberge was not the ordinary cheap eating-house frequented by students and workmen. We did not provide an adequate meal at less than twenty-five francs, and we were picturesque and artistic, which sent up our social standing. There were indecent pictures in the bar, and the Norman decorations--sham beams on the walls, electric lights done up as candlesticks, "peasant" pottery, even a mounting-block at the door--and the patron and the head Waiter were Russian officers, and many of the customers titled Russian refugees. In short, we were decidedly chic.

Nevertheless, the conditions behind the kitchen door were suitable for a a pigsty. For this is what our service arrangements were like.

The kitchen measured fifteen feet long by eight broad, and half this space was taken up by the stoves and tables. All the pots had to kept on shelves out of reach and there was only room for one dustbin. This dustbin used to be crammed full by midday, and the floor normally an inch deep in compost of trampled food...

There was no larder. Our substitute for one was a half-roof shed in the yard, with a tree growing in the middle of it. The meat, vegetables and so forth lay there on the bare earth, raided by rats and cats."

One of Orwell's colleague at the Auberge was a waiter named Jules. Orwell confides that 'Jules took a positive pleasure in seeing things dirty. In the afternoon, when he had not much to do, he used to stand in the kitchen doorway jeering at us for working too hard: 'Fool! Why do you wash that plate? Wipe it on your trousers. Who cares about the customers? They don't know what's going on. What is restaurant work? You are carving a chicken and it falls on the floor. You apologize, you bow, and you go out; and in five minutes you come back by another door--with the same chicken. That is restaurant work."

Has the restaurant world really changed much since 1933? One can certainly hope so, but there are many parts of the world where restaurant sanitation standards are little improved from the Paris of 1933.

Orwell then moved on to England where he tramped about the country moving from flop house to flop house. He survives on a "cuppa" and two slices with a bit of margarine. He is nearly molested at night by "Nancy" boys. He and other tramps are preached to by religious do-gooders and Salvation Army warriors.

He offers one piece of advice which is as sound for today's London as it was in 1933. Handbills were distributed on the streets of London by local merchants then as they are now. Orwell writes, "When you see a man distributing handbill you can do him a good turn by taking one, for he goes off duty when he has distributed all his bills."

Orwell writes with genuine understanding, sympathy and, often, humor in his descriptions of the grinding poverty of the working classes and those unfortunates who are unemployed and homeless. His account helps us to appreciate how fascism was able to exploit the suffering of so many throughout Europe during the Great Depression.

Check out George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. At minimum, you may never think of restaurants and hotels in the same way again. Has George Orwell's review been helpful to you?

If you like Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London you may also enjoy 
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