Nevermind the author’s occasional draggy descriptions. *could someone be overly-observant? I absolutely loved it. It’s really really good.
The late George Orwell was a police officer in the British Imperial Police Force in Burma (now Myanmar but i shall refer to it as Burma for the sake of the book title) before the World War II. Then after he became an English author and journalist where he is most famous for his 3 books; The Burmese Days, The Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. All 3 books had a similar taste, that is of stories on power, imperialism and totalitarianism. Although The Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four is not about Burma in general, and was written before Burma became a military country, it bares an eerie resemblance and mirror Burma’s conditions today. Orwell drew many of his ideas for his later writings from his experience as an officer in Burma during the ’20s. It’s no wonder Burmese regards the 3 books as ‘stories of Burma’ and the late Orwell as the ‘prophet’ because of his predictions. These 3 books had since, been banned from being published and distributed in Burma.
Good read
Finding George Orwell In Burm a on the other hand, is about the author’s (Emma Larkins) personal journey through Burma, trying to track the influences of the country in the ’20s on Orwell. In this book she recounted her visits and conversations with residents of Burma. Here she describes the scenery and scent of the country, the people’s faces and features. And here also she decribes how Burmese lived in constant fear like prisoners within invisible walls. Based on these discoveries, she made assumptions and tied it back to Orwell’s original writing.
It’s quite wonderful to read her adventures in small tea houses where educated residents gather inconspicuously to talk about politics while watching out for military informers. Of her encounters with many residents eager to learn English while planning their own escape from the country. Of her conversations with ex-prisoners whom were imprisoned for nothing.
That aside, some of her stories were hilarious. Not because it’s really that funny, but because it is totally ridiculous what the military are doing to the people. There were instances where TV programs in Burma will just suddenly go blank because there was a fight on live tele, magazines and newspaper published are censored by just tearing out the pages that contain anything that the military regards as negative *so blardy stupid!! wan to do censor, don’t make it so obvious ma! , foreign tourists are tailed wherever they went, schools built without any proper teaching materials or trained teachers just to make the countries education stats look good to foreign countries and many more pathetic doings.
Did you know that the tourist guides in Burma are trained to only talk about positive things in Burma. Like pagodas and temples and nice sceneries. Even if there is a riot going on in front of the tourist, they are compelled to continue about pagodas and temples and sceneries! *crazy!
Here’s a quote from the book that i feel really does sums up Myanmar’s situation.
Burma is like a woman with cancer. She knows she is sick but she carries on with her life as if nothing is wrong. She refuses to go to a doctor for treatment. Instead, she swirls thanaka on her cheeks, puts fresh flowers in her hair and goes to the bazaar as if everything is normal. She talks to people and they talk back to her. They know she has cancer and she knows she has cancer, but nobody says anything.”
This book was published in 2005, but i doubt there is any great progress or development in Myanmar to-date due to the many years of repression from the military government. So in my opinion, this book very well reflects the life of residents in Myanmar today. Lets just hope the recent dialogue works.
