Reviews

Such Were the Joys by George Orwell

icanread17's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.0

shadybanana's review against another edition

4.0

Ah! I hadn't read any George Orwell in quite a while and I must say it was a pity. The book's title is bleeding with the irony between the content and the title. The book is about Orwell's school life. In the book, Orwell describes various events and characters in his school life. He talks about the concept of what was considered intellect at that time. He brilliantly sketches the mind of an innocent kid in a boarding school filled with horrors of mature world. The headmaster and his mistress are truly made detestable but at the same time in a cunning style of writing, Orwell clearly proclaims how he as a child found the caning as a suitable punishment as it helped him learn. Orwell also talks about the social issues crippling the societies worldwide back then such as the discrimination between rich and poor. He shows how such conflicts had invaded schools of then and how it affected his school life. The best part of this book is that every event and every story is concluded by a mature George Orwell analyzing the past and extracting a lesson from the memories for the readers. All this graveness however doesn't kill the comical approach George Orwell takes to his writings. Here I would reluctantly compare George Orwell with two great authors, those who equal or in some peoples' opinion are above his echelon: Roald Dahl and Charles Dickens. "Boy" by Roald Dahl was pretty much about his school life. There was a certain hilarity coupled with a strong intensity of disgust for the torturers of Roald Dahl as a kid in that book. This book offers much more than that, and this is what makes "Such, Such were the Joys" superior to "Boy". Next, Charles Dickens is probably one of the best author ever. However I usually tend to criticize his writings by saying that in the attempt to delineate social issues in his stories, Dickens made his work way more dark and depressing than it should be. George Orwell does the same BUT in a light tone. "Animal Farm", "Coming Up For Air" or "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" are all marvelous works showing the societies vices while keeping the whole environment humorous. I indubitably understand that Dickens had a rough childhood and Roald Dahl's books are mainly for kids (It rather accentuates the need to cut with the hilarity and add some practical reasoning and lessons to it) Anyway I give it a 4 star and not a 5 star because I found the end a bit too hard to digest after all that had been said.

readmetwotimes's review against another edition

4.0

Orwell saggista e giornalista che parla di politica, letteratura, politica nella letteratura e letteratura nella politica. Adoro tutto.
"A cinquant'anni ciascuno ha la faccia che si merita".
Con un'introduzione magnifica di Vittorio Giacopini ♡

sadplant's review against another edition

4.0

this was so good and I'm furious at myself for not having read 1984 and Animal Farm yet but now I am determined to.

sarasofraz's review against another edition

2.0

Well it's essentially about how horrible Orwell's life was when growing up. Maybe not the most interesting thing to read but Orwell has a way with words which still kept me going. Also the fact that it was only about 40 pages or something helped.

zkendall's review against another edition

3.0

Some of the essays were really interesting. Some I had no idea what he was talking about because they were about authors and book I have never heard of.

I particularly enjoyed the essay about his childhood at boarding school, and the essay on Charles Dickens was really good as was the essay on "Politics and the English Language" (of course).

rosekk's review against another edition

5.0

As always, Orwell's insight and observations impress me. His writing never fails to be captivating. This account of school life as he experienced it feels like a cross between Roald Dahl story, and a dystopian tale.

ben_smitty's review against another edition

4.0

No one told me Orwell was a dem-socialist?? Not even my high school teacher who praised him for defending democracy... but like dem-socialism is crucial to Orwell's oeuvre????

I need more Orwell.

incandenza's review against another edition

4.0

George Orwell's bitingly honest commentary on the corrupted British education system of the early 1910s combined with his very personal approach as to how the story was presented made for one of the best essays I've read so far.

kfrench1008's review against another edition

5.0

Excellent adaptation of one of my favorite Orwell essays.