Brisk, readable (though frequently repetitive) bio of a difficult, conflicted man with a terrifically observant, curious, and passionate mind. Calls' em as he sees 'em, even if he sees different sides at different times. A political progressive who saw the evils of totalitarianism, and a doting father (to his credit), and who chased women and was reluctant to consent to his wife's hysterectomy for uterine cancer because it meant she'd not be able to have any more children (um, not so much, and she died on the table). A brilliant writer, whose essays read as crisp and fresh today as eighty years ago, and who would happily drink and talk till closing time with writers he had savaged in print the day before...and whose names he would turn around and send off to the British government's secret propaganda office as communist sympathizers, "homosexuals," or just "Stupid." Meyers glosses over this aspect (though to be fair the list wasn't made widely public till after this book was published), minimizing it as doing what he felt was a "patriotic duty."

Repeatedly described as a Gothic, guilt-ridden, "saintly" character (and more than a bit of a poseur as well), Orwell is still a cryptic and contradictory being... and one still worth reading. ( )