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Keep the Aspidistra Flying cover art

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

By: George Orwell
Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
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Summary

Gordon Comstock loathes dull, middle-class respectability and worship of money. He gives up a 'good job' in advertising to work part-time in a bookshop, giving him more time to write. But he slides instead into a self-induced poverty that destroys his creativity and his spirit. Only Rosemary, ever-faithful Rosemary, has the strength to challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life. Through the character of Gordon Comstock, Orwell reveals his own disaffection with the society he once himself renounced.

©2011 CSA Word (P)2011 CSA Word

What listeners say about Keep the Aspidistra Flying

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    4 out of 5 stars

Classic Orwell, Classic Grant, Classic Cock-Up

A fairly simple story one man's deliberate self-destruction told in typical Orwell fashion. Not his best by a long shot but utterly believable and human nonetheless. What really brings it to life is the performance of Richard E. Grant. With hints of Withnail he subtly draws you into the dingy world of Gordon Comstock.
This recording could have been one of the best I've listened to.

Could have been.

If it were not for the fact that crass and sloppy production has let it down. It sounds as though someone has recorded this audiobook from a CD set, which they have, in fact, done so. How do we know this? Because Mr Grant frequently says, "End of CD x", "Start of CD x". Somewhere around the end of chapter 2 there is a fault with the CD and it skips in several places. There are no gaps between chapters; Richard finishes the final sentence of a chapter and then, without seemingly pausing for breath, blurts out "Chapter x" and forges on. It is all most disconcerting and spoils what should be a wonderful listening experience.

I have contacted Audible about the shockingly poor production quality but have yet to receive a reply. Disappointing.

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122 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Withnail fans - this is a must listen

What did you like most about Keep the Aspidistra Flying?

I picked this up in an audible sale and I am so glad I did. Firstly this has outstripped 1984 as my favorite Orwell novel. The writing is sharp, gives a great flavour for the period but as is always the case with a true classic - the themes and characters transcend the original era.But great books do not always make great audio books. Richard E Grant's performance is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. The talk of booze soaked poverty and frustrated creativity is pure Withnail and I (or Withnail is pure Orwell, you choose). As a long time fan of that film I was delighted by his reading.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gordon Comstock, the money obsessed creative snob whose every decision seems to bring him closure to the edge of self destruction. Thoroughly hateful and utterly sympathetic.

What does Richard E. Grant bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Grant brings every ounce of the drunken narcissistic creative kamikaze passion that made Withnail and I unforgettable to a generation of cinema goers.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Gordon's idiotic series of bad judgement calls when he finally gets paid for a writing assignment. Hearing him plunge into a self destructive frenzy as his loved ones look on and suffer is incredibly sad.

Any additional comments?

This is really good, you should give it a try!

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

As with any audio recording of a book, the choice of narrator is extremely important. I've been waiting for this particular book to come out in audio format for quite some time now (this is my favouritee Orwell novel), and it was worth the wait. The narrator does a brilliant job. This is a thoroughly enjoyable recording.

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16 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The mistake you make, don't you see,

is in thinking one can live in a corrupt society without being corrupt oneself. After all, what do you achieve by refusing to make money? You're trying to behave as though one could stand right outside our economic system. But one can't. One's got to change the system, or one changes nothing. One can't put things right in a hole-and-corner way, if you take my meaning.”
― George Orwell,


Orwell is still surprising me with, with his language and commentary on our society, in this book he gives us a semi satirical look at money or the things we do for money, the implications of living in a society and the cultural responsibilities that bind us to it; is devastating and revealing look at what hides in what we accept as the norm.

Social class and requirements of class are discussed in detail and to many it will seem as something of the period, but in reality it still stands in our present just with different shades I see it when middle class people protest about environmental issues while drinking a latte on a disposable cup and driving to the gathering. We are blind to the requirements of our social life, worst jet we do not want to see what is done for us without us having to ask and how complicit we are in the game, even the ridiculous anarchist that organize in Facebook to fight the MAN drop all their principle with that single action.

Gordon the main character wants to reject the money god, to live on this principle and not play the game of getting a good job, he wants to be a poet, he wants a woman, he rejects even the symbols of class like the Aspidistra that to him signifies the conformity of middle class, but even this minor desires are not granted. You need money to write poems, and you need money to have a woman or to have the woman he wants in his life. And so he tries to live by his principles while spiraling into disaster and squalor.

The descriptions of life in this period of british life are revealing and harsh no one comes out well from armchair socialist to the poor as those of a lower classes are referred to in this pages; but at the same time there are many passages that are truly funny and had my laughing out loud, Gordon is a brutal critic of all and everything and takes thing to the most illogical conclusions like all ideologist and fundamentalist believers.

This book deserves to be read more just to open questions about expectation and culture and for the simple joy of reading something that is so much more than the sum of its parts.



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14 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A world away but relevant

The account of genteel poverty in 1930s London in one sense seems a world away, yet in another feels strangely relevant. Gordon, high-minded, infuriating but also somehow admirable, rejects the 'money world' and pays the consequences. The ending is part redemptive and part depressing, as the money god gets his way by working on Gordon's better nature.

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12 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Unfairly neglected gem of a master novella!

What a finely sarcastic language and thought, what a fight human vs material world vision

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12 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful rendition...

Comstock is every writer and what every writer hates and fears to be...Orwell's book has never been recognised for the comic Classic it is.

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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George Orwell is a brilliant writer

Who was your favorite character and why?

Rosemary. She was so enormously selfless and patient in a genuine loving way.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The ending.

Any additional comments?

George Orwell portrayed Gordon Comstock as the most loathsome, weak-willed, self-pitying, selfish, moaning man I have ever encountered, yet by the end of the story Orwell creates a character that can do 'the right thing' and instantly becomes far more likeable. Brilliant prose.

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10 people found this helpful

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Richard E. Is Excellent G. Orwell is similarly so.

Captivating with an exceptional turn of phrase. Humorous, challenging, very good. Very entertaining. Harks back to an interesting epoch in time.

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8 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Hard going at times but a satisfying ending

The protagonist is not a particularly charming or likeable character. It is hard to see how he has any friends at all. The love interest in the story plays a key role in shaping his character but it is hard to see what she sees in him. I like listening to this story in short bursts as too much can be quite draining. I like the philosophical reasoning and the relationship between money and doing something meaningful with your life.

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6 people found this helpful