false 22290061 168809 9648 0141183721 9780141183725 83 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166031281m/9648.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166031281s/9648.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9648.Keep_the_Aspidistra_Flying 3.88 916 Keep the Aspidistra Flying, George Orwell has created a darkly compassionate satire to which anyone who has ever been oppressed by the lack of brass, or by the need to make it, will all too easily relate. He etches the ugly insanity of what Gordon calls "the money-world" in unflinching detail, but the satire has a second edge, too, and Gordon himself is scarcely heroic. In the course of his misadventures, we become grindingly aware that his radical solution to the problem of the money-world is no solution at all--that in his desperate reaction against a monstrous system, he has become something of a monster himself. Orwell keeps both of his edges sharp to the very end--a "happy" ending that poses tough questions about just how happy it really is. That the book itself is not sour, but constantly fresh and frequently funny, is the result of Orwell's steady, unsentimental attention to the telling detail; his dry, quiet humor; his fascination with both the follies and the excellences of his characters; and his courageous refusal to embrace the comforts of any easy answer. --Daniel Hintzsche]]> 3706 3.88 406559 14102 1936 0 0 false Thu May 15 06:30:29 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 13:49:32 -0700 2008