See the hottest books publishing this Summer

BookBrowse Reviews Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin

Finding George Orwell in Burma

by Emma Larkin
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • First Published:
  • Jun 2, 2005, 240 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2006, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Reviews

BookBrowse:


A many-faceted book, beautifully written. Current Affairs, Travel. 1st Book
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For access to our digital magazine, free books,and other benefits, become a member today.

From the book jacket: A brave and revelatory reconnaissance of modern Burma, one of the world's grimmest and most shuttered police states, using as its compass the life and work of George Orwell, the man many in Burma call simply "the prophet".

In one of the most intrepid political travelogues in recent memory, Emma Larkin tells of the year she spent traveling through Burma using the life and work of George Orwell as her compass......Using Orwell enables her to show, effortlessly, the weight of the colonial experience on Burma today, the ghosts of which are invisible and everywhere. More important, she finds that the path she charts leads her to the people who have found ways to somehow resist the soul-crushing effects of life in this most cruel police state. And George Orwell's moral clarity, hatred of injustice, and keen powers of observation serve as the author's compass in another sense too: they are qualities she shares and they suffuse her book - the keenest and finest reckoning with life in this police state that has yet been written.

Comment: Emma Larkin is the pseudonym of an American journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand who has traveled regularly to Burma. The pseudonym is to protect her many contacts in Burma.  According to Larkin, the Burmese have a joke that George Orwell didn't write just one book about Burma (Burmese Days) but a trilogy - Burmese Days, Animal Farm and 1984.

Finding George Orwell takes us where few readers will probably ever have the chance to travel - far into the heart of this deeply troubled country to meet its many fascinating and resilient people.  Highly recommended.

This review first ran in the July 20, 2005 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book:
  Burma

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Finding George Orwell in Burma, try these:

  • Burmese Lessons jacket

    Burmese Lessons

    by Karen Connelly

    Published 2010

    About This book

    Orange Prize–winner Karen Connelly’s compelling memoir about her journey to Burma, where she fell in love with a leader of the Burmese rebel army.

  • Shadow of the Silk Road jacket

    Shadow of the Silk Road

    by Colin Thubron

    Published 2008

    About This book

    More by this author

    Shadow of the Silk Road records a journey along the greatest land route on earth: Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey.

We have 6 read-alikes for Finding George Orwell in Burma, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Emma Larkin
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Busybody Book Club
    by Freya Sampson
    They can't even agree on what to read, so how are they going to solve a murder?

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Ordinary Love
    by Marie Rutkoski

    A riveting story of class, ambition, and bisexuality—one woman risks everything for a second chance at first love.

  • Book Jacket

    Making Friends Can Be Murder
    by Kathleen West

    Thirty-year-old Sarah Jones is drawn into a neighborhood murder mystery after befriending a deceptive con artist.

Who Said...

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

B a L

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.