Down and Out in Paris and London cover art

Down and Out in Paris and London

Penguin Modern Classics

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Down and Out in Paris and London

By: George Orwell
Narrated by: Thomas Judd
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time living among the desperately poor and destitute, Down and Out in Paris and London is a moving tour of the underworld of society.

'You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them.'

Written when Orwell was a struggling writer in his 20s, it documents his 'first contact with poverty'. Here, he painstakingly documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris's vile 'Hôtel X', surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and a starving Russian ex-army captain. Exposing a shocking, previously hidden world to his audiences, Orwell gave a human face to the statistics of poverty for the first time - and in doing so, found his voice as a writer.

Public Domain (P)2021 Penguin Audio Historical

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All stars
Most relevant
A vivid account of the destitution and squalor among the very poor of society during the late 1920s. Orwell writes honestly and factually about his experiences, and as a piece of social history it is a good read.

Down and out...

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I loved this book when I first read it a few years ago, and the audio version didn't disappoint. It's a simple, unemotional account of Orwell's experience of extreme poverty in the 1930s.

This wasn't a journalistic experiment. He was destitute, living hand to mouth, going days without food and moving from one squalid bug-infested hostel to another each day. In both cities he met wonderful characters whom he delights in recounting - Boris, the eternally optimistic Jewish Russian refugee in Paris, being my fave.

Throughout it's peppered with Orwell's own observations - from capturing the swear words in favour at the time ('fuck' was in, 'bloody' was out), to the injustices that kept homeless people homeless. I particularly enjoyed these parts.

Although bleak - and frankly gross - at times, there's no self-pity. The conversational tone keeps this an easy read. It offers a fascinating glimpse into what it must have been like to live in squalor on the fringes of society at that time in the two cities. Big recommend.

Wonderful narration of Orwell's text - loved it

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This book shines light on the poor of the early 20th century. George Orwell, brilliant.

A Must Read

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Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Bleak story expertly narrated. Definitely worth a listen.

a classic

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It’s a shame the narrator couldn’t pronounce the French words and dialogue (which are very frequent!!) properly… I had to give up and buy the book so I could read and understand everything myself. He also sounded quite robotic at times - like an AI generated narration. Disappointing!

Really bad French pronunciation

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