Burmese Days

A Novel

De: George Orwell

Narrado por: Frederick Davidson

Colonial politics in Kyauktada, India, in the 1920s, come to a head when the European Club, previously for whites only, is ordered to elect one token native member. The deeply racist members do their best to manipulate the situation, resulting in the loss not only of reputations but of lives.

Amid this cynical setting, timber merchant James Flory, a Brit with a genuine appreciation for the native people and culture, stands as a bridge between the warring factions. But he has trouble acting on his feelings, and the significance of his vote, both social and political, weighs on him. When Elizabeth Lackersteen arrives - blonde, eligible, and anti-intellectual - Flory finds himself the hapless suitor.

Orwell alternates between grand-scale political intrigue and nuanced social interaction, mining his own Colonial Indian heritage to create a monument of historical fiction.

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. He was born in India and educated at Eton. After service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living by writing and became notable for his simplicity of style and his journalistic or documentary approach to fiction.

©1934 George Orwell (P)1992 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A well integrated, fast-moving story of what life was like in a remote backcountry Asiatic station.” (Chicago Tribune)

Amazing narrator.

It’s a story of the end of the British colonial days in Burma, with the white skinned overlords ruling over the dark skinned native savages. Meanwhile the protagonist is trying to get a woman to marry him. I enjoyed it, thanks to the amazing narrator...

Orwell's first novel, published nearly 90 years ag

To this day, Burma (Myanmar) has never known peace. Many of the British despised them, not training them to run an independent country. Orwell captures this extremely well in his early 1930's depiction of life in an out-the-away upcountry station in Burma that then was a part of India. The novel at times is repetitive and could have used a good editing, which probably was not available to an unknown author during the depression. The audiobook is enhanced by a fine narration Fredrick Davidson.

Surprising Gem

This is really an excellent work. Like most people, I had largely associated Orwell with 1984 and Animal Farm, knowing nothing of his background in the then colonial India. Even though it appears that he did not continue thematizing the British India and Burma in his later works, Burmese Days displays impressive insight into the daily dealings of those who governed and were governed in the early twentieth-century colonies. I can understand the difficulty that some contemporary reader-listeners might have in connecting with the plot in the twenty-first century, but for those (like myself) who have spent many decades of their lives in Asia yet outside of their own countries of birth, the plot themes remain astonishingly - if not eerily - real today, even as they were a century ago. Orwell captures the nuances of these themes remarkably well.

I don't really understand or agree with criticisms lodged by previous reviewers. The plot is steadily paced, the characterization extremely astute (regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, age, ideological position, etc.), and the crude, ironical (in)justice befalling so many protagonists rings aggravatingly true to those who have experienced (and hopefully survived) the machinations of psychopathic schemers, bigoted colleagues, mercenary opportunists, two-faced lovers, and self-pitying, victimized-victimizers on all sides of the political/socio-economic divide. Many lessons can be drawn from Orwell's fictional(??) account about human nature, colonial-class relations, and even some insight into Burma/Myanmar's ongoing struggles today. I've a newfound respect for Orwell after listening to this work.

And extra kudos for the fantastic narration by Frederick Davidson. Superbly done!

dramatic funny and real

Orwells magnum opus of the glory of the britisj raj at its height. joy and pain.

Orwell's story and the narration

Better than Paul Theroux's Burma Sahib which lifted a lot from Orwell's modestly (at the time) received novel based on his experiences in Burma.

It is a good book, not a masterpiece

"Burmese days" is more reminiscent of Somerset Maugham than of Orwell, I think.

The pitiless dissection of the characters, of their ways and the vacuous reason which sets the plot in motion are what makes this book well worth listening to. The reference to Burma is almost incidental.

I was not overjoyed with the performance but possibly it is just me finding the voice of the narrator irksome.

Please add more books read by Frederick Davidson

Frederick Davidson

It’s George Orwell what Moore needs to be said? I wish more of his books were available by this narrator.

Brilliant.

Why bother reading reviews of such an important book in an open forum like this?

Poetic and well written

The author writes a believable story where you at times hope things turn out well for a character and then are reminded that these are flawed people who don't necessarily merit happy endings.

the charactors

The setting, the era in which the story is told. I had just finished the Paul Theroux book Burma Sahib and wanted further insight. I found it!