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

"Get it down yourself, you old whore," I would answer. Such remarks seemed to be generated spontaneously from the air of the kitchen.

So far this book is great! I love Orwell's gripping testimony about poverty in a way that I had never thought of before!

"In all the modern talk about energy, efficiency, social service and the rest of it, what meaning is there except "Get money, get it legally, and get a lot of it" Written in 1933 and still very true today (apart from the social service and legally bits!)

"Fear of the mob is a superstitious fear. It is based on the idea that there is some mysterious, fundamental difference between rich and poor, as though they were two different races, like negroes and white men. But in reality, there is no difference. The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit

The sexist and xenophob undertones started irritating me

Find myself not wanting to put it down.

"One customer, from Pittsburgh, dined every night in his bed-room on grape-nuts, scrambled eggs and cocoa. Perhaps it hardly matters whether such people are swindled or not."

Ugh, typical Pittsburgh!

Once I suggested killing these beasts... "Why kill the poor animals?" he said reproachfully...Yet we were clean where we recognized cleanliness as part of the boulot. We scrubbed the tables and polished the brasswork regularly...but we had no orders to be genuinely clean, and in any case we had no time for it. We were simply carrying out our duties; and as our first duty was punctuality, we saved time by being dirty.

The customer pays, as he sees it, for good service; the employee is paid...for...an imitation of good service. The result is that, though hotels are miracles of punctuality, they are worse than the worst private houses in the things that matter. Take cleanliness, for example...Our cafeterie had year-old filth in all the dark corners, and the bread-bin was infested with cockroaches. ...

"Trust a snake before a Jew and a Jew before a Greek, but don't trust an Armenian."

Not what I was expecting by the title, more of a comical romp through the slums of Paris. Really enjoying this book.

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

It was, at any rate, notoriously impossible to starve in London, so there was nothing to be anxious about.

The Russians talked quickly and eagerly, with smiles and shrugs of the shoulders. I wondered what it was all about. They would be calling each other 'little father', I thought, and 'little dove', and 'Ivan Alexandrovitch', like the characters in Russian novels.

Every time I read Orwell, he astounds me. This time was no different.

Really need to finish this today

this book is just taking forever to read..

يا للبؤس الشديد

إنه لأمر ٌ ذو غرابة، ارتطامك الأول بالبؤس، لقد فكرت طويلاً بالبؤس -فهو الشيء الذي خشيته طوال حياتك، الشيء الذي تعرف أنه سيحصل لك عاجلاً أو آجلاً، لكن ما فكرت به مختلف كليةً، أنت ظننت أنه سيكون في غاية البساطة، غير معقدٍ جداً. أنت حسبته رهيباً، والحق أنه وسخٌ ومضجرُ فقط. إن ما تكتشفه أولاً هو الضعة الخاصة بالبؤس، الحيل التي يضعك فيها، الشحُ المعقّد ومسحُ الفُتات.

إن أحياء باريس الفقيرة مَجمعٌ للناس غريبي الأطوار - أنهم قومُ سقطوا في مهاوٍ للحياة، منعزلة، شبه مجنونة، وتخلذوا عن محاولة أن يكونوا عاديين أو مقولين. لقد حررهم البؤس من من المقاييس المألوفة للسلوك، تماماً مثلما يحرر المال الناس من العمل.

I'm reading this for a school assignment but that doesn't mean I didn't want to read this. I loved 1984 and I'm sure I'll love this one. It's good so far and I'm looking forward to diving into this quick read.

Page 113 & 119

Trampa Lampa Trampity-dee
I have a perfect riddle for thee

Apparently the most important thing for a successful restaurant is sharp knives. Not having hot water is irrelevant with sharp knives.

Liking the humanity that shines through despite (or because of) the lack of explicit opinions on the described events. i.e. the 'matter of fact style' helps me to empathise with the circumstances.

don't know why it went to just 20 pages...

Bozo is so great.

It's a slow read for me, not because it isn't great, it is so far. I struggled with poverty as a teenager, personal life stuff. Everything about that period frustrates me because it is a hard thing to get out of. The way you have to live is awful. I just struggle with any form of storyline that has money issues. So I have to keep having breaks to calm myself down. Still good and not even 30 pages in though!

Wish i had started this book earlier.

What the pants!