Coming Up for Air (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A Search for the Forgotten PastBy George Orwell
Length10h 18m
About this audiobook
Published in 1939, Coming Up for Air is George Orwell's darkly comic meditation on memory, modernity, and the uneasy approach of war. Narrated by George Bowling, a middle-aged insurance salesman, the novel follows his furtive return to the country town of his youth, only to find it transformed by suburban sprawl, commercial vulgarity, and historical amnesia. Its plain, sardonic prose, characteristic of Orwell's mature style, blends social realism with elegiac satire, placing the book between the pastoral nostalgia of interwar fiction and the political anxieties that would soon dominate Europe. Orwell's own experiences deeply inform the novel's moral texture. Born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903, he had witnessed imperial life, poverty, class rigidity, and ideological conflict at close range, from Burma to the industrial North of England and the Spanish Civil War. His suspicion of mass society, propaganda, and the erosion of individual memory shaped this portrait of an ordinary man sensing catastrophe before it arrives. Readers interested in Orwell beyond Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four will find Coming Up for Air indispensable. It is humane, funny, melancholy, and prophetic: a novel for anyone concerned with how private lives are altered by public history.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (1.2K)
Includes Amazon, Goodreads
GenreLiterary Classics, Humor
Length10 hrs 18 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateAug 31, 2019
LanguageEnglish
Down and Out in Paris and London (Annotated)George Orwell8h 48m4.1 (104.7K)$2 · $0.00
100 Meisterwerke der englischen Literatur - Klassiker, die man kennen muss (Kommentiert)George Orwell, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Katherine Mansfield, H. P. Lovecraft, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Burns, John Milton, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Geoffrey Chaucer, Laurence Sterne, Henry Fielding, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, Herman Melville, Thomas Wolfe, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad, Sinclair Lewis, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Jerome K. Jerome, Washington Irving, Bram Stoker, H. G. Wells, Daniel Defoe, Lew Wallace, James Fenimore Cooper, Jonathan Swift, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Lewis Carrol, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, Henry David Thoreau, G. K. Chesterton, Edith Wharton, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Margaret Mitchell, Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, James Joyce, John Galsworthy, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Rudyard Kipling1274h 12m4.3 (22)$2 · $0.00
Nineteen eighty-four (Annotated)George Orwell12h 42m4.3 (5.9M)$2 · $0.00
George Orwell: The Complete Autobiographical Works (Annotated)George Orwell35h 36m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of George Orwell (Annotated)George Orwell54h 10m4.5 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
1984George Orwell12h 19m4.3 (5.1M)$30 · $0.00
The Critical Writings (Annotated)George Orwell38h 58m$2 · $0.00
Homage to Catalonia (Annotated)George Orwell10h 31m4.3 (118.4K)$2 · $0.00
The Road to Wigan Pier (Annotated)George Orwell9h 15m4.3 (3.3K)$2 · $0.00
Keep the Aspidistra Flying (Annotated)George Orwell11h 26m4.1 (35)$2 · $0.00
The Essential Works of George Orwell (Annotated)George Orwell114h 12m$2 · $0.00
Gesammelte Werke (Kommentiert)George Orwell88h 34m$3.50 · $0.00
Burmese Days (Annotated)George Orwell12h 31m$2 · $0.00
1984 & Animal FarmGeorge Orwell15h 30m4.4 (265.3K)$1 · $0.00
Homage to CataloniaGeorge Orwell10h 1m4.2 (96K)$1 · $0.00
The Collected Works of George OrwellGeorge Orwell114h 58m4.5 (1.6K)$1 · $0.00
1984George Orwell12h 27m4.3 (6.1M)$1 · $0.00
ANIMAL FARMGeorge Orwell4h 29m4.2 (5M)$1 · $0.00
Rebelión en la granjaGeorge Orwell3h 52m4.2 (4.9M)$3 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen & Brontë Sisters (Annotated)Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë204h 15m4.7 (2.6K)$0.99 · $0.00
The Complete Works: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Patrick & Branwell BrontëCharlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë138h 12m4.6 (2.8K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Annotated)Oscar Wilde126h 19m4.6 (2.7K)$2 · $0.00
L. M. Montgomery – Premium Collection: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry & MemoirsLucy Maud Montgomery155h 1m4.7 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of the Brontë Family Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë140h 13m4.6 (2.6K)$2 · $0.00
MARK TWAIN: 12 Novels, 195 Short Stories, Autobiography, 10 Travel Books, 160+ Essays & Speeches (Illustrated)Mark Twain415h 9m4.6 (2.5K)$2 · $0.00
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
The Complete Works: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Articles, Essays, Travel Sketches and Memoirs (Annotated)Anthony Trollope1096h 4m4.6 (1.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of G. K. Chesterton (Annotated)G. K. Chesterton421h 37m4.6 (1.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
All NovelsGeorge Orwell53h 48m4.6 (2.1K)$10 · $0.00
The Complete Works of TolstoyLeo Tolstoy412h 44m4.6 (2.7K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott (Annotated)Louisa May Alcott226h 24m4.6 (2.5K)$0.99 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes series - completeArthur Conan54h 8m4.6 (264.2K)$3.50 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
The Count of Monte Cristo (With Original Illustrations)Alexandre Dumas54h4.6 (3.8K)$1 · $0.00
H. P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft50h 45m4.6 (39.1K)$2 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of Charlotte Brontë (Annotated)Charlotte Brontë80h 44m4.6 (3.5K)$0.99 · $0.00
Poems of ParentingLoryn Brantz42m4.6 (1.1K)$9 · $0.00
What If? 10th Anniversary EditionRandall Munroe7h 29m4.5 (41.4K)$23
Welcome to PawneeJim O'Heir6h 24m4.5 (5.3K)$24 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett13h 36m4.5 (163.8K)$33 · $0.00
Woman UninterruptedBrodie Kane7h 1m4.6 (562)$24 · $0.00
1984 & Animal Farm (Annotated)George Orwell15h 54m4.5 (220.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
Kingsblood Royal (Annotated)Sinclair Lewis14h 42m4.6 (264)$2 · $0.00
Hot Cowgirl Sh*tLacie Evans2h 15m4.7 (103)$15
This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay5h 47m4.4 (444.7K)$24 · $0.00
MAKE WAY FOR LUCIA - Complete Mapp and Lucia Series (6 Novels & 2 Short Stories)E. F. Benson60h 25m4.5 (2.3K)$1 · $0.00
You Will Get Through This NightDaniel Howell6h 56m4.4 (11.8K)$24 · $0.00
Northanger Abbey (Annotated)Jane Austen10h 7m4.5 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
My Dear HamiltonStephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie23h 7m4.4 (63.6K)$46 · $0.00
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS & SCREWTAPE PROPOSES A TOAST (Annotated)C. S. Lewis5h 6m4.4 (471K)$2 · $0.00
The Night Before Christmas at Dunder MifflinBrian Baumgartner, Ben Silverman6m4.5 (1.3K)$4 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of G. K. Chesterton (Annotated)G. K. Chesterton58h 29m4.5 (432)$3 · $0.00
The Complete Works of SakiSaki, H. H. Munro52h 37m4.4 (3K)$2 · $0.00
Jungle UpNick Pirog10h 8m4.4 (3.1K)$20
The 13½ Lives of Captain BluebearWalter Moers16h 10m4.4 (34.3K)$28
Damon Runyon OmnibusDamon Runyon27h4.5 (242)$2 · $0.00
You may also like
Coming Up for AirGeorge Orwell8h 28m3.9 (27.5K)$1.20 · $0.00
Mrs. Dalloway (Annotated)Virginia Woolf8h 36m4.0 (370.6K)$2 · $0.00
The SwimmerJohn Cheever26m4.1 (5.9K)$7 · $0.00
Clear SpringsBobbie Ann Mason, Random House Inc.13h 23m4.1 (470)$33 · $0.00
To the Lighthouse & The Waves (Annotated)Virginia Woolf16h 28m4.3 (1.7K)$2 · $0.00
Mrs DallowayVirginia Woolf7h 2m3.9 (426K)$17
The Enigma of ArrivalV. S. Naipaul13h 7m3.8 (3.4K)$23
Selected Poems (Annotated)Robert Frost3h 22m4.2 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Mrs. DallowayVirginia Woolf6h 43m4.0 (425.1K) · 1429Free
Coming up for airGeorge Orwell8h 29m3.9 (26.7K)$4 · $0.00
Coming Up for AirGeorge Orwell8h 25m3.9 (30.6K)$20
Mrs Dalloway in Bond StreetVirginia Woolf21m3.9 (1.9K)$2.30
Desolation AngelsJack Kerouac14h 5m4.0 (14.9K)$27
The Complete Novels - 9 Books in One EditionVirginia Woolf91h 6m4.4 (2.5K)$2 · $0.00
An Unfortunate WomanRichard Brautigan3h 4m3.8 (2.6K)$15
The House on Beartown RoadElizabeth Cohen7h 35m4.1 (547)$17 · $0.00
The Country of the Pointed Firs (Annotated)Sarah Orne Jewett5h 13m3.9 (8.2K)$2 · $0.00
The SchoolmistressAnton Pavlovich Chekhov6h 31m4.0 (421)Free
Selected PoemsRobert Frost2h 6m4.2 (10.5K)$2.30
TO THE LIGHTHOUSEVirginia Woolf8h 28m4.0 (260.4K)$1 · $0.00