George Orwell

Keep the aspidistra flying

Ed Kay

I remember reading 1984 when much younger and being surprised at how readable it was. A simple story, well told, disguising some more thought-provoking ideas and clever satire.

So I should have been prepared to find the same with this book: also very readable, straightforward and funny, but discussing some darker truths.

My reaction to the main character kept veering wildly from frustration and annoyance to sympathy and affection, but this meant I was always engaged in one extreme passion or another. This is not a boring book. Add to that some comic moments and a general, overall amusing tone and rarely was the smile not on my face.

Orwell's writing is just so beautiful and controlled: it takes a lot of skill to make writing look this damn easy.

My favourite image is a description of a nursing home wherein the inhabitants have nothing to talk about except their diseases:

"All over the darkish drawing-room, ageing, discoloured people sat about in couples, discussing symptoms. Their conversation was like the dripping of stalactite to stalagmite. Drip, drip. 'How is your lumbago?' says stalactite to stalagmite. 'I find my Kruschen Salts are doing me good' says stalagmite to stalactite. Drip, drip, drip."

Genius.

Matthew Royal

Enjoyed the journey, even if it was a flight to nowhere. It's an early work, and an interesting lens to view 1984 through.

Aspidistra

Eylül Görmüş

Orwell’in en iyilerinden diyemem ama iyi bir kitap bu. Özellikle 1984’e giden yolun taşlarını görebiliyoruz sanki ufak ufak. Sevdiği konularda dolaşıyor yine; sınıf meselesi, yozlaşma, kapitalizm. Baş karakter Gordon bir protagonist değil, basbayağı antagonist bence, bu da biraz zorlaştırıyor kitabı. Kendi kendini imha etmeye odaklanmış bir karakter, sistem eleştirileri çok yerinde olmakla beraber “kendini batırarak sistemi değiştirmek” diye özetleyebileceğimiz hedefine giden yolda kendisini izlemek asap bozucu. Yazarın bir diğer eseri Wigan İskelesi Yolu ile beraber okunmalı diye düşünüyorum, anlattığı dönemki tabloyu daha doğru anlamak için. Bir de sevgili beyaz yakalılar – bu kitabı en çok siz okumalısınız sanki. Neredeyse 100 sene sonra içinde hala kendinizden bir şeyler bulacaksınız zannediyorum. Bu da içinde yaşadığımız dünyaya dair ne çok şey söylüyor. “Peki, öyleyse ne istiyoruz? Tanrı bilir. Bildiğimiz tek şey neyi istemediğimiz. İşte çağımızda bizim yanlışımız bu. Hepimiz kararsızız.”

"Money is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success." Gordon Comstock decides to live in poverty rather than compromise with the 'money god'. Disgusted by society's materialism, he leaves his job in advertising to pursue an ill-fated career as a poet.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Pallavi Tirkey

It is one of his lighter novels. A fun read and you will be amused at the extent of Gordon's refusal to kneel to money. Money is "one ring to rule them all". 
So he has declared a war on the money God. To really be free.
If having money is a prison and having none of it is too. it's simply a matter of choosing the easier one for Gordon. But he'll do anything to not become 'of' it. 
The novel is a constant trip of Orwell's political and social views. Interesting observations, and the lucid writing is a always a plus. 
Orwell has done well in illustrating that even the most persistent of anti capitalists cannot escape it.

lucy lou

Zeynep

Originally published in 1936, before Orwell achieved fame, Keep the Aspidistra Flying takes Money as its theme. Gordon Comstock gives up a good job in an advertising agency to become part-time bookshop assistant at a meagre wage, thereby gaining leisure for writing. However, after some modest success in the world of letters he eventually slides into the abyss, to be rescu by the faithful Rosemary. Ironically, Gordon's voyage of discovery leads him back to commercial security, marriage, and the unexpected pleasures of domesticity. But above all he learns of the courage of keeping up appearances despite hardships. The symbol of this is the potted aspidistras- the ugly, stubborn, organic emblem of social and biological survival. This new edition restores most of the material censored on first publication due to fears of action for libel, defamation and obscenity Of particular interest are the previously suppressed advertising slogans of the 1930s and, in light of the censorship he experienced, Orwell's ironic choice of surname for Gordon- Comstock.

Keep the aspidistra flying

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