A review by softstarrynights
Decline of the English Murder by George Orwell

2.0

Decline of the English Murder is a short collection of eight essays by George Orwell. The design of this book, as part of the Penguin Great Ideas series, is gorgeous as it mimics a newspaper down to the ghostly outline of the back of the sheet. I say this not only to draw your attention to it but also because it is my favourite thing about the book. The contents were somewhat lacking. The essays chosen for this particular collection had very little in common, which made the collection as a whole feel disjointed. Being short, I find that having some commonality is all the more important. Why did the editor choose these essays in particular? Orwell was a prolific essay writer so there would have been plenty to choose from. As with any collections, there were some that I liked more than others, but I did find there to be this overarching sense of a man with privilege. Even in the essays which dealt with what could be considered as lower-class topics, such as 'Clink' and 'Hop-Picking Diary' is seemed obvious that Orwell's experiences were coming from a privileged position. This seemed to be contrary to what Orwell was trying to achieve, and resulting in dissatisfaction on both ends. Ultimately the lack of cohesion between these essays kills this as a collection.