Saturday 18 February 2012

Friday Fiction 6/52

Reviewed: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

A non-fiction (as far as I'm aware) account of Orwell's time fighting in the Spanish Civil War, why he joined the socialist militia is never really explained, just that he was in Spain at the time and a general 'Fascism is bad' kind of message. It covers his time at the front, and his experiences of trench warfare, as well as during a (the?) siege in Barcelona, and his not very dramatic injuries and escape from Spain.

Essentially, it was pretty boring. I found the lack of explanation behind his motivations to join the militia pretty bewildering, given that it wasn't his homeland or a country he appeared to have much connection with, so I would have been interested to read more about the reasoning behind his 'obligation' to fight fascism. It was interesting from a historic perspective - I didn't know anything about the Spanish Civil War prior to reading this - but other than the anecdote about teasing the enemy with talk of fictitious buttered toast, which really made me laugh, it was exceptionally dry. It became rather tedious after a while, dragging on to the point where I almost gave up with it I was so uninterested. Too factually detailed for only a passing interest in the topic, but could be great if that's your cup of tea. Definitely not for me though 3/10.


P.S. I realise it's not strictly Friday anymore, erm, anywhere, but I was still in holiday mode yesterday and the day just got away from me. Keep thinking it's Sunday today as well! So glad it's not. Hope you're having a lovely weekend x


No comments:

Post a Comment

I love receiving comments - I read them all! Leave a link to your blog (if you have one) because I love checking them out too xx

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...