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Keep the Aspidistra Flying
- Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
Gordon Comstock loathes dull, middle-class respectability and worship of money. He gives up a 'good job' in advertising to work part-time in a bookshop, giving him more time to write. But he slides instead into a self-induced poverty that destroys his creativity and his spirit. Only Rosemary, ever-faithful Rosemary, has the strength to challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life. Through the character of Gordon Comstock, Orwell reveals his own disaffection with the society he once himself renounced.
Featured Article: 40+ Thought-Provoking George Orwell Quotes
George Orwell transformed literature with his piercing social commentary and allegorical style. His works have become so entrenched in popular culture that the term "Orwellian" is used to describe totalitarian and authoritarian societies. Orwell also wrote nonfiction books and essays that similarly express his gift for satire and controversial views on government. Throughout his writing career, he never feared tackling challenging topics, no matter how subversive.
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Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
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Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.
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The third volume of this gripping family saga, End of the Chapter, shifts to the Cherrells - cousins of the Forsytes by marriage. Young Dinny Cherrell in particular cherishes their ancestral home, Condaford Grange, which represents stability in a rapidly changing world. Through his depiction of the lives and loves of this family, Galsworthy throws a brilliant spotlight on the social and political upheavals of the 1930s.
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Very enjoyable
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Ralph and Anna Eldred are an exemplary couple, devoting themselves to doing good. 30 years ago as missionaries in Africa, the worst that could happen did. Shattered by their encounter with inexplicable evil, they returned to England, never to speak of it again. But when Ralph falls into an affair, Anna finds no forgiveness in her heart, and 30 years of repressed rage and grief explode, destroying not only a marriage but also their love, their faith, and everything they thought they were.
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Winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1964, Herzog traces five days in the life of a failed academic whose wife has recently left him for his best friend. Through the device of letter writing, Herzog movingly portrays both the internal life of its eponymous hero and the complexity of modern consciousness.
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Knut Hamsun's Hunger, first published in 1890 and hailed as the literary beginning of the 20th century, is a masterpiece of psychologically driven fiction. The story of a struggling artist living on the edge of starvation, the novel portrays the unnamed first-person narrator's descent into paranoia, despair, and madness as hunger overtakes him. As the protagonist loses his grip on reality, Hamsun brilliantly portrays the disturbing and irrational recesses of the human mind through increasingly disjointed and urgent prose.
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Book quite good; wrong narrator
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The year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can have never imagined.
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Love and friendship in a dying world.
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The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, the first novel Nabokov wrote in English, is a tantalizing literary mystery in which a writer’s half brother searches to unravel the enigma of the life of the famous author of Albinos in Black, The Back of the Moon, and Doubtful Asphodel. A characteristically cunning play on identity and deception, the novel concludes “ I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we both are someone whom neither of us knows.”
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A dry run at big, complex themes
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For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental.
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Good book, TERRIBLE audio!
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By: Margaret Atwood
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What listeners say about Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael Lambert
- 09-20-22
Richard E Grant's narration is superb.
It's a pleasure to listen to Grant's reading of this rather bleak novel. Excellent. Keep the Aspidistra Flying is of course essential Orwell and deserves to be read. Things essentially have not changed much since 1934 in terms of social problems. You will however want to reach out and shake the story's lead character, Gordon Comstock. The interesting thing is that, at the same time, you recognise that there is, perhaps, a bit of the Gordon Comstocks in all of us. For those times when you want to be reminded what life is and what choices we have.
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- Timothy
- 09-25-11
Gordon's Grey World is Colored with Grant
Where does Keep the Aspidistra Flying rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
At times certain wonderful books, by towering authors and read by notable narrators often end up with a rather dull effect. For 'Keep the Aspidistra Flying', narrated by the immensely talented Richard E. Grant, this is not the case. The atmosphere of Orwell's terse satire is fully developed in this dramatic reading by Grant, who manages to deliver character after character without loosing any of the pacing allowing the social and political underscore of the book to be fully experienced by the listener.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Keep the Aspidistra Flying?
Of the many painfully satirical moments in the performance to look out for is the exchange between Gordon Comstock and the french waiter at the country pub.- enjoy.
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8 people found this helpful
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- toby Perry
- 07-18-22
Orwell and Grant, perfect.
If Richard E Grand could just narrate everyting for Audible that would be dashed smashing and jolly. Loved it. fantastic as always Orwell.
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- laurel
- 08-25-12
fantastically sarcastic performance
What a pleasure to listen to Richard Grant capture every nuance and drop of sarcasm in Orwell's great prose masterpiece, The book feels very modern in sensibility; the narrator is exceptionally brilliant and funny. It was really a delight.
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4 people found this helpful
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- john in RI
- 02-14-14
You can't kill an aspidistra
What did you love best about Keep the Aspidistra Flying?
The scene where Gordon finally sells a poem and ends up blowing the money on booze and tarts. You can feel his hangover when he wakes up in jail. Gives me a headache just thinking about it.
What did you like best about this story?
Gordon's tenacity, although like everyone he ends up with his own aspidistra.
What does Richard E. Grant bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
If you have seen any of his movies you know what an amazing actor he is, in fact he starred in the film adaptation of the book. No one could have done a better job than Mr. Grant. Check out Withnail & I. "We've gone on holiday by mistake..."
If you could take any character from Keep the Aspidistra Flying out to dinner, who would it be and why?
Ravelston because he would pay.
Any additional comments?
Orwell said he wrote the book because he needed money. Quite ironic.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 08-15-18
Down to the Wire
Okay, this book had me on the edge of my last nerve. It seems to be the Orwell way to write about what really matters. Dr. T.
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- Trevor Isle
- 07-14-22
Narrator perfect, protagonist beastly!
Great reading with immense effort and skill applied. Characters all distinct, story is good if uncomfortable to read in parts due to the main character being a complete ass to all his friends! Orwell leads a book shop working poet into darkness and depression and let's h play out his fate. Recommended!
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- Rochelle
- 01-27-15
Genius
This is a perfect work by Orwell. The best novel I have read by him so far. The performance by Richard E Grant could not be better - he is the perfect casting for Gordon Comstock.
Be aware that this copy has a sound fault in chapter 7. There is about 40 seconds of skipping that make that tony section of the book inaudible.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Tom Allman
- 12-09-16
Orwell's Humor?
If you could sum up Keep the Aspidistra Flying in three words, what would they be?
anti-hero un-worships Money
What did you like best about this story?
This is easily the funniest of Orwell's books
What about Richard E. Grant’s performance did you like?
Well above average, did great voices.
Any additional comments?
Required listening for Orwell fans.
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- Josh g
- 02-14-16
Deeply profound
This book depicts the painful struggle of consenting to sell oneself to promote the aims of a corporation or institution. Much of the book is painful to read because our protagonist makes horrible mistakes repeatedly. Gordon needlessly hurts people who are close to him, both because he lacks money, and much more painfully, because he is constantly obsessed with his lack of money and his feelings of inadequacy that derive from his poverty. However, the book is not long, and left me feeling incredibly satisfied when I reached the end. The books ethical/moral implications are hard to pin down. Gordon finally finds stability and some peace by giving in to his hatred of money, and the reader feels very happy with his decision. Yet all this satisfaction we feel is from Gordon renouncing all he believes in, something that is epitomized by his powerful desire for an Aspidistra plant in his window so all the neighbors would see, even though Gordon spent the last 30 years of his life despising Aspidistras.
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1 person found this helpful