George Orwell Omnibus

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The collected fiction of a great writer - horrible edition, though - Rated
I have huge admiration for Orwell's work as a writer and I am a strong admirer of his fiction, although apart from his last two novels I don't think it was the field he was best at. I urge any reader interested in his stuff to seek out his novels and read them. However, this is definitely not the best edition to read them in. Orwell's work was only subjected to proper editorial scrutiny in the late 1980s, with the release of Peter Davison's magisterial Complete Works. This book is a modern reprint of much earlier collection of uncorrected texts of his novels. The type is so tiny that the book is hard on the eyes, plus the texts of the novels are in most cases very corrupt.

If you want to read these books, the only reason you should get this edition is that you are very young, new to Orwell, have really good eyesight, and are too broke to afford buying each novel in the current individual Penguin editions, which are corrected texts. Otherwise, get them all individually; this book is both unreliable and almost unreadable.

The greatest writer? - Rated
Orwell has always been my favorite writer. Animal Farm and 1984 are his best known works but my own personal favorite is Coming Up For Air. By the way you will notice if you read that story carfeully that it has no semi-colons! Now isn't that comment worth a 'helpful' on your voting buttons?!! Anyway this is an excellent collection and well worth the money. An excellent way to savour Orwell.

Real Ability - Rated
It is always a pleasure when you discover someone who can actually write.

Many authors today try to write, but sadly they do not flow, they have no ease, they are not natural.
Many writers can of course write very well, but really good writers are not that common.
P.G.Wodehouse would be another really good example.

You can live in Orwells writing. It may not be all nice and pretty, but it is for real.
I get laughed at when I say this, but here goes, George Orwell may turn out to be the most prophetic author that ever lived.

One other thing..A true sign of greatness, may be the ability to re-read someones books, after a short gap, and still be entranced by them.
You can do that here.

Genius George - Rated
Prior to picking up this book i had only read snipets of george orwels work. This collection is a must read!!! Animal farm is pure genius and one of the few novels it is difficult to put down. while 1984 is thought provoking and simultaneously captures the imagination and shows what good writing is all about. This is the collection that all others aspire to be. A MUST BUY!!!

One of the finest writers of the Twentieth Century - Rated
George Orwell and Graham Greene are, for me, the two finest British writers of the twentieth century. Here Orwell's five novels are collected, and are well worth reading (get his non-fiction too). 1984 and Animal Farm are possibly the two finest pieces of fiction of the last century. The other novels are a mixed bag but still worth a look. BURMESE DAYS is a superb exposition of the reality of colonial rule in the early 1930s. A small group of English ex-pats forced together in a remote station in Burma. Gin soaked and bitter they lead miserable lonely lives. Local political machinations and the arrival of a young woman from England combine to shatter the fragile framework that holds them together. THE CLERGYMAN'S DAUGHTER is altogether a different piece and not quite sure what it is. It starts in the style of a D H Lawrence novel - the spinsterish daughter of the vicar; then it takes a comic turn as she loses her memory and ends up picking hops; then we have a Dickensian description of a grim private girls school; finally we return where we started. The tone is downbeat and the fact that nothing really happens is disappointing, though it is fun and interesting in parts. COMING UP FOR AIR is a nostalgic piece - an enjoyable description of life at the turn of the twentieth century, and the pointlessness of living in the past. KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING I find tedious. It is a long rant against the "money god" featuring a dull and self-obsessed young man. I am not sure what the purpose of it is, except to warn us against becoming too self-absorbed that we ignore reality.