Down and Out in Paris and London

Orwell is my favorite nonfiction writer.

This is a workplace memoir in part because of the engaging, disgusting scenes where he labors as a plongeur (dishwasher) in a grimy French restaurant. But in a broader sense, it’s a book about the hard work of being poor.

Every sentence is intelligent and the overall thrust is deeply moral—Orwell’s calling card.

This book fictitiously documents George Orwell’s escapades in the two cities. Orwell describes the difficulties of making it alone in a strange country—France—and his unexpected longing for dirty-old London. Orwell talks about his experiences working in several bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, many of the nasty things he depicts still ring true for the hospitality industry today. Worth a read if you hate your bar or kitchen job. 

This is one of my all-time favourite books because of how it was written. This book inspired me to be a writer. I read it while doing my erasmus in France where I was working as a waiter in a motel. My working hours were long, like in the book and I really got a sense of the struggle George went through in pursuit of his dream to write. It built into me a resilience that I would one day write something of worth that would be read by others and hopefully instill resilience into them.