Gotta say, I didn’t even know this country was part of the British Raj or was so geographically close to India. This was longgg (19 hours!) novel following Eric Blair, an Eton graduate off to become a policeman for the British Raj in Burma, and his transformation into anticolonial writer George Orwell. Blair’s intense introvertism and self-consciousness— his constant, almost intrusive awareness of his family and education and appearance— is surprisingly relatable. Also: the whole thing where he realizes he has issues with the concept of British colonial rule, and therefore overcompensates by being even harsher to the “natives” to avoid being discovered. The origin of the “panopticon” as a constant source of surveillance! Notable quote: “I have reduced everything to the simple theory that the oppressed are always right, and the oppressors are always wrong. A mistake in theory, but the natural result of being one of the oppressors yourself. I have felt that I have got to escape not only from imperialism, but from every form of man’s dominion over man.” (Maybe an excerpt from Orwell’s Burmese Days?)
