I read The Road to Wigan Pier a while back. The first part of that has stayed with me and I think it always will. I was shocked and humbled by the lives of the very poor in society, especially the horror of mining for a living in the 1930s. This book was also really good but not quite as good. The sadness is that I don’t feel much has changed in today’s society....which is exactly how I felt about Wigan Pier. Written in a poverty stricken time doesn’t mean real people don’t face the same challenges now. The book had some really funny sections despite the grime and misery. The Paris section especially. The London section sometimes showed such warm humanity in the face of adversity...but safe to say this isn’t a snuggly warm book overall.
A couple of things I don’t agree with, first he uses anti Semitic language a few times. It really stands out ...but I think this isn’t unusual in a good number of older books...e.g. Shakespeare, Dickens, and many other classics. This doesn’t, of course, make it ok..but thankfully we are getting slowly better I hope.
Having recently read The Five about women in poverty, I don’t agree with Orwell about the easier time women have.

But these points are what they are and of the time. Overall the book was illuminating. Her writes of forgotten people...not the razzle dazzle lives of the rich and privileged....and boy do I thank him for that.