Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a compassionate satire on the 1930's society. Written by George Orwell, the book was first published in 1936 when the western world was still reeling from the devastation of the Great Depression and the Second World War was looming on the horizon.
Gordon Comstock is the main character in the novel, and his main goal is to defy the main things that society is doing - glorifying money and status. Trying to keep himself hidden from this selfish world, several bad things subsequently happen to him, leading to the major conflicts of the story. The book is yet another of Orwell's great takes on literature and the world.
Enlivened with vivid autobiographical detail, the novel explores materialism, respectability and the class system - themes which remain relevant even today. Through the character of Gordon Comstock, Orwell reveals his own disaffection with the society he once himself renounced.

George Orwell (1903-1950)
Popularly known by his pen name 'George Orwell', Eric Arthur Blair was an English writer, critic, journalist, and essayist. Orwell's writings have been lauded for insightful commentary on issues concerning totalitarian forms of oppression, and for advocating democratic socialism and social justice. He was especially against the atrocities committed by the Soviet Communist Party and the dictatorial reign of Joseph Stalin.
As a journalist, Orwell invested himself in observing the everyday realities around him. As a result, his non-fictional texts, such as Down and Out in Paris and London, deeply engage with the social injustices that he witnessed around him. It was while serving in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) that Orwell witnessed violence and atrocities being committed by fascist regimes - an experience that made a deep impact on him. His fictional works, especially Animal Farm and 1984, are allegories set in a dystopian world governed by highly oppressive forces, where power is arbitrary and unchecked, and people's thoughts, emotions, and ideas are subject to state surveillance.
Orwell's works continue to resonate with the readers of the 21st Century in critiquing fascist forces around the world.