Status Updates From Down and Out in Paris and L...

and quarrelling. Indeed the quarrels are a necessary part of the process, for the pace would never be kept up if everyone did not accuse everyone else of idling. It was for this reason that during the rush hours the whole staff raged and cursed like demons. At those times there was scarcely a verb in the hotel except "foutre". A girl in the bakery, aged sixteen used oaths that would have defeated a cabman.

reason. Hotel work is not particularly hard, but by its nature it comes in rushes and cannot be economised. You cannot, for instance grill a steak two hours before it is wanted: you have to wait till the last moment, by which time a mass of other work has accumulated, and then do it all together, in a frantic haste. The result is that at mealtimes everyone is doing two men's work, which is impossible without noise

In a few days I had grasped the main principles on which the hotel was run. The thing that would astonish anyone coming for the first time into the service quarters of a hotel would be the fearful noise and disorder during the rush hours. It is something so different from the steady work in a shop or a factory that it looks at first sight like mere bad management. but it is really quite unavoidable, and for this

“It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you.”

She was some peasant girl, doubtless, whom her parents had sold into slavery.
Without another word, I pulled her off the bed and threw her onto the floor. And then I fell upon her like a tiger! Ah, the joy, the incomparable rapture of that time!
WTF

There were eccentric characters in the hotel. The Paris slums are a gathering-place for eccentric people--people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work. Some of the lodgers in our hotel lived lives that were curious beyond words.

This book is honestly fascinating so far! Orwell keeps the pace brisk yet still packs immense detail into the squalor of every scene. So far, seeing the way he was forced to live as he struggled to find the launchpad of his writing career has been a complete reality check. Yes he was privileged in his childhood but by no means did he fall back on this and rely on his fortune.

Just jotting this eloquent insult down for future reference:

"Well, mon cher monsieur l'Anglais, may I inform you that you are the son of a whore?"

yoooo this book is really good if not a bit moderate to severely sexist but is all good yknow

Hard to believe that the writer of this went on to write Animal Farm and 1984. It's a really good, if depressing read, but is very naturalistic in style. Encouraging for all of us.

I love this so much already. Can’t wait to get back home and read more

I love this so much already. Can’t wait to get back home and read more

End of Chapter 31 is a discussion of why begging is despised. Spoiler: it’s despised because it’s a terrible way to make money.

Note to self: reread chapter 22.

Oh wow.

São muito impressionantes as descrições que Orwell faz dos personagens que ele encontra ao longo de sua vida de lavador e mendigo. Incrível a forma como ele aborda a utilidade do trabalho e a utilidade dos trabalhadores.
É impressionante também como Paris e Londres eram tão sujas e imundas, é difícil acreditar que as lindas e europeias cidades que conheci tivessem sido (e talvez ainda sejam) tão sujas

“It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level.”

Don't eat in a restaurant while reading this.

Such a fine piece of writing.

This Boris is hilarious.

دور از افق اجتماعى!!!

“You have thought so much about poverty—it is the thing you have feared all your life, the thing you knew would happen to you sooner or later; and it is all so utterly and prosaically different. You thought it would be quite simple; it is extraordinarily complicated.”

Rereading 20+ years on and enjoying it very much.

Но все же кое-что, слегка хватив бедняцкого лиха, я усвоил. Я никогда уже не буду думать о бродягах, что все они пьяницы и мерзавцы, не буду ждать благодарности от нищего, которому я кинул пенни, не буду удивляться слабоволию тех, кого выгнали с работы, не буду опускать монеты в кружку Армии спасения, отказываться на улице от рекламных листовок и наслаждаться угощением в шикарных ресторанах. Начало есть.

Любопытна человеческая уверенность в праве поучать, наставлять вас на путь истинный, едва доход ваш падает ниже определенной суммы.

Мечта о скором блаженном житье очень подогревала патриотизм.

Действительно, многое зовет вернуться на английскую землю: ванные, кресла, мятный соус, должным образом приготовленный молодой картофель, хлеб с отрубями, апельсиновый джем, пиво из настоящего хмеля – великолепно, если есть чем заплатить. Англия восхитительная страна для того, кто не беден.

Но капающий со лба труженика пот еще не гарантирует полезности трудовых действий. Масса сил, вполне вероятно, тратится лишь на роскошь, которая зачастую и роскошью-то не является.

Неопрятность присуща отелям и ресторанам, цель которых не накормить, а сразить шиком. Работник слишком занят подачей пищи, чтобы помнить, что эту пищу едят. Еда для него просто une commande, вроде того как чья-то смерть от рака для врача просто «случай»

Грубо говоря, чем выше цена в меню, тем больше пота и слюны достанется вам бесплатным гарниром