How The Poor Die by George Orwell is the thirty fourth of The Essays - you find this collection in the 917th place on The Greatest Books of All Time site, nevertheless, the algorithm changes the places in the hierarchy, ergo you could see a different structure, I don’t know what data is used, however, if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – that notwithstanding, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html if you are interested

 

How The Poor Die by George Orwell is the thirty fourth of The Essays - you find this collection in the 917th place on The Greatest Books of All Time site, nevertheless, the algorithm changes the places in the hierarchy, ergo you could see a different structure, I don’t know what data is used, however, if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – that notwithstanding, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html if you are interested

 

10 out of 10

 

The Essays of George Orwell https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/10/confessions-of-book-reviewer-by-george.html have been a phenomenal surprise and joy to read, alas, they will soon be history, unless I find the time and gumption to start all over, in some not too distant past, in the meantime, I should listen to his advice

 

That is, if I do not find Kingsley Amis more accurate in his verdict: “I often feel I will never pick up a book by Orwell again until I have read a frank discussion of the dishonesty and hysteria that mar some of his best work” https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-letters-of-kingsley-amis-edited-by.html and move on

How The Poor Die has some horrifying passages, the poor have always had to suffer, especially in this French hospital, in the time of Orwell, now, with all the massive spending, it seems they have benefits they cannot afford as a nation, they are in a crisis, political and economic, they need to change the retiring age soon

 

This essay makes one think of death, indeed, George Orwell is right in stating that the end is ‘smelly and humiliating’, without economic means – it should have been financial, probably – and in general, it is best to die in one’s sleep, but the best would be to ‘die in one’s boots’, and we have to agree with the essayist ion this and so much more

This text also made me think of my days in hospital, which means that all I had to say about How The Poor Die is already above, most likely, hence a spoiler alert, saying I will be off into personal musings (as if the opinion on Orwell was not subjective) and you should leave, that is, assuming anyone is still on this page

 

Let me first mention that in an essay that I will review soon, Lear, Tolstoy and The Fool, by George Orwell, in which the titan is very harsh on Shakespeare: “nevertheless I will endeavor, as well as I can, to show why I believe that Shakespeare cannot be recognized either as a great genius, or even as an average author”

Tolstoy https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/anna-karenina-by-leo-tolstoy-one-of.html is one of the luminaries, and yet, he is so wrong on this, one takes solace from the fact that the crème de la crème can be so foolish, Einstein argued that the Nobel should not go to Freud, who is just a  psychologist, words to that effect

 

So, this hospital ordeal of Orwell reminded me of my frequent stays in the same environment, with an ulcer, I was a sort of peculiar case, they discovered the illness when I was just nine, thus it was a sort of (negative) record, when I was about twenty-two, I spent a few months, not lined up, in ‘bed’, albeit it was a complicated affair

I could have sex in there, if only I were more adroit, it was a different regime from what Orwell experienced, even if this was under the Ceausescu regime, actually, it was in part because it was so bad outside the hospital, that I probably did not see it as unpleasant, in there, you would get some (bland) food, you would not have to queue for

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

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