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Title: Burmese Days: A Novel (Harbrace Paperbound Library, Hpl 62) by George Orwell ISBN: 0-15-614850-1 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: May, 1974 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.15 (27 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A treat for Orwell fans
Comment: When most people think of George Orwell they think of Nineteen Eighty-Four and perhaps Animal Farm. Many people don't realize that he also wrote a number of other books and essays that were successful before he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. One of these books that Orwell wrote before Nineteen Eight-Four is 'Burmese Days.' This book was published originally in 1934. The subject is appropriate for Orwell since Orwell spent time in Burma as an Imperial Policeman. 'Burmese Days' is about a man in a remote British outpost in Burma when Burma was still a British Colony. The man, named Flory, works for a British timber company harvesting timber from Burma.
Many issues are raised in this book. The main issues are the attitudes of the British toward the Burmese. Burmese attitudes towards the British are looked at. Issues of friendship are explored. One of the biggest issues is idealism, honesty, and loyalty vs. greed, excessive materialism, and selfishness.
The issue of Burmese vs. British relations is explored in the relationship between the main character Flory and his friend Dr. Veraswami. Other characters such as Ellis are used to illustrate the stupid and immature nature of most of the Englishmen's attitudes toward the Burmese.
The book also shows how most people are really just slaves to their inner instincts and the social constructs that they are indoctrinated into. One of the points related to this that most people don't really understand new ideas or are cultured unless it benefits them personally.
The book uses Dr. Veraswami and U Po Kyin to symbolize the struggle between idealism, honesty, loyalty and greed, excessive materialism, and selfishness. This is done in a very intresting way as Dr. Veraswami and U Po Kyin struggle and position to get the best of eachother through the book.
The style of the book isn't the greatest I've ever read but it's adequate. Orwell could have been more descriptive at various points in the book with how characters are feeling and thinking. Orwell also has a tendency to tell rather then show in this novel. Over all though it is a good book with many complex issues that Orwell exposes and explores very well.
Rating: 5
Summary: excellent and still relevant.
Comment: this book follows mr. flory, a man of contradictions living and working in burma. the story really is that of love, imperialism, race and blackmail. the ending is one of the best i have read, just when you think it's going to go all sloppy we come across the most depressing and brilliant endings imaginable. among the most hated characters in the book we find mr. ellis, u po kyim and elizabeth who is mr. florys love interest. elizabeth arrives in burma to live with her aunt and uncle as her mother has recently died and she is penniless. her uncle repeatedly tries to rape her and her aunt simply wishes to marry her off. elizabeth is again a mass of contradictions but is wicked, rascist and vile. she is simply unlikeable. this book is interesting, extremely well written and highly relevant still. read and enjoy.
Rating: 4
Summary: Something Nasty in Burma
Comment: In up-country Burma, in the small village of Kyauktada, the British community represtents the outer edge of the Empire. John Flory, a timber merchant, stands out from the rest of the community, as he tries to maintain his contacts with the Indian doctor Veraswami, and as he does not share the others' blatently racist view of the locals. While the magistrate U Po Kin plots to distrupt the British, Elizabeth Lackersteen, niece of one of the British officials, arrives from Paris. Will the community be able to survive the (inevitable) disruption that will follow?
"Burmese Days" is a very readable novel, full of excellent descriptive passages and sharply-observed humour. It is also a savage indictment of British imperialism:
"... the lie that we're here to uplift our poor black brothers instead of to rob them. I suppose it's a natural enough lie. But it corrupts us, it corrupts us in ways you can't imagine."
The awfulness of the British community is in its "exclusiveness" and its petty snobbery. The racism runs deep too - especially in the truly terrible Ellis.
The novel fits into the tradition of British writing on the last days of the Empire - relfecting the sheer disillusionment with the imperial idea (not least on the part of the imperial administrators themselves). One thinks of such works as Forster's "A Passage to India" and Scott's "The Jewel in the Crown". It's interesting that in each of these works, the arrival or presence of a young British female is the major disruptive factor for the communities, bringing out into the open the absurdity of imperial rule.
Although "Burmese Days" is interesting for all the reasons outlined above, it is not as accomplished as it might have been. Orwell's shifts from bitter critique to comedy, then again to high drama are at times uneven and are not always assured. Other parts of the novel are slightly overdone - for example the passages centred on U Po Kyin, which are far less convincing than the rest of the novel. Nonetheless an interesting part of the imperial epitaph.
G Rodgers
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Title: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell ISBN: 015626224X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: March, 1972 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell ISBN: 0156421178 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1969 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell ISBN: 0156767503 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 1973 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell ISBN: 0156468999 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 19 March, 1969 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Coming Up for Air (Harvest Book) by George Orwell, George Crwell ISBN: 0156196255 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1969 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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