Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell

This book has been my Metro-commute-read since I arrived in Paris. I was enthralled with the story of this man and his experiences scrounging for existence in the slums of Paris and then London. He tells his tale of unfortunate circumstances (losing countless job opportunities, pawning all his belongings, moving from lodging to lodging, going days without any food, the list goes on...) and paints wonderful descriptions of the characters he meets in his time as a "plongeur"-parisian hotel dishwasher/"tramp"-english homeless wanderer. In addition, he incorporates the great bizarre stories about these quirky people living in both economically-polarized cities.

George Orwell is such a great writer, in fact, I must admit, he writes so well that for over half the book I was under the impress

George Orwell is such a great writer, in fact, I must admit, he writes so well that for over half the book I was under the impression that the book was non-fiction! Orwell embodied his character as narrator so well that I really thought he was telling real accounts of his life experience. Not such a bright moment on my part, I seem to have overlooked the tinny-tiny label "fiction" in the corner of the coverpage, but all the more credit to Orwell for his literary skills!

Every few pages, the main character is reporting how many francs or pence he has left to make it through the day, and on most days, it is just enough for a meager meal and on a good day, a little tobacco. All of his mental energy was devoted to figuring out how to survive (what to eat and where to sleep). This may seem dramatic, but found my self in an inconvenient circumstance while reading this book that made me ponder and helped me understand the book's themes more deeply. My wallet was taken from me at the Eiffel Tower (as a result of my own negligence) and so I was left without any immediate resources for couple of days- euros. (Of course I had many people who would lend me money, until I could pay them back (I've come to realize that I dread asking people for money ). Ok so it's an extreme comparison, but when you're walking around all day long, and the person you're with says "Phew! I'm so thirsty! I think I'll sit and have a tasty 3 euro CocaLight, how lovely!," and you're forced to say, "Go ahead, but I have no money to enjoy such a comfort," It shows you have much you take for granted the certainty of your next meal. Down and Out in Paris and London is such a humbling book. I get too comfortable, I know all too well what its like to be clean and well fed, so much so that those things seem normal and simple. People should not ignore the pain in poverty because it's real. Orwell reminds us of that.

"I am only saying that they are ordinary human beings, and that if they are worse than other people it is the result and not the cause of their way of life" p. 202