Rating: 
Summary: Historical Pigs
Review: I enjoyed reading this book because it shows very good the political, industrial and economical situation in Russia in the beginning of Communism. It's a story about a farm with animals. The animals try to free themselves from the cruel and unfair human beings. In the Russian history, the human beings represent the so called capitalists, while the animals are the communists. During the story, the animals try to create a state where everyone is equal and free and where no one has to be hungry. But exactly like in Russian history, there are always people who think that they are superior (or even are), and consequently try to dominate and oppress the others. In Animal Farm, these superior beings are the pigs, who, at the end, behave like there former enemies. So you could say that at the end, the situation for the animals (except from the pigs) isn't better at all, it's even worse! This development is also to be seen in Russian history! That's why I like this story, because it's kind of authentic!
Rating: 
Summary: A political novel.
Review: The story begins when the animals in Manor Farm stage a rebellion after a rousing speech from Major, a very respected boar in the farm. They chase their human master, Mr. Jones, away and begin to run the farm themselves. At first, all are happy. After Mr. Jones has gone, the animals believe they now own the farm collectively and that they are all equal. The Seven Commandments is soon set up. Among the commandments are "no animal shall kill another animal", "all animals are equal" and "whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy". It is soon decided that the pigs are the most intelligent, and shall be the ones who rule the whole farm. Among the pigs, two leaders emerge - Snowball and Napoleon. Problem arises when Snowball and Napoleon disagree on the plan to build a windmill on the farm. Snowball, a talented speaker, easily gains support. But unfortunately for him, Napoleon plays dirty and Snowball is chased away from the farm. From here, everything in the farm starts to change. I don't want to reveal the rest of the story, but I think this book is worth reading. Orwell gives very lively description of the whole story which have a good effect to the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Very good exposition of history
Review: We give this book four stars because it contains many true elements of history and illustrates them cleverly using animals. Since we have just spoken about USSR in our history class we found it interesting to recognise the parallels between the characters of certain animals in the book and the real historical figures. Old Major, for example, stands for Marx and Napoleon for Stalin (whereas his megalomania is already contained in his name). What we further like about the book is, that the development of the farm with it's inhabitants is realistic. The film, on the other hand, ends unrealistic. A revolution would never have been possible at that time, because the leaders were too strong.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable class reader
Review: I enjoyed reading the Novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. I like the Idea to show the past in a totally different way: animals representing (dangerous) people from the past. At the beginning it was difficult to find out which animal "belongs" to which person. It's odd how people (animals) develop and react when the get the chance of possessing the power. The result of it may turn out very horrible and cruel. The reader is unsatisfied at the end because there is no happy ending; the pigs start to walk on two legs, the become more and more like human beings.
Rating:
Summary: Communism explained with animals
Review: I liked this book because it was a very interesting book to read. I even learned much about Communism. I find that it's a very good idea to write a book about Communism, in a way that it's not too difficult to understand the important things. It's something special to write a political story with animals. And that's what I liked, because it's very easy to understand. Sometimes, it was very hard to read this book, for example when old major and boxer are killed. But that's how real life is.
Rating:
Summary: A good insight into history
Review: I liked the book a lot because it's very entertaining and it gives you a lot of background information on Russia's past. "Animal Farm" is easily written and it's a book you can read within about two hours and that fact encourages a lot of students, I can imagine. Unfortunately there's no happy ending for the Russian population, neither for the working animals in the book, a fact that makes the reader think about humanity. It's also very entertaining, especially the way the animals are describes and how they communicate.
Rating: 
Summary: Full of symbolisms to keep the intelligent reader happy.
Review: This is one of those book, like 1984, that you pick something up, or learn something new every time you read it. I've read the book about 20 times. The very essence of this book was not to promote capitalism, as the first movie intended. It was written as a scare tactic against a totalitarian society and for "democratic socialism". It explored why socialism, with power in the hands of a small group of people could be corrupted. Human nature dictates that people are greedy, and will take advantage of others whenever in the proper situation. The seven commandments that put Napoleon into power were broken in the end. The whole idea that there can be leaders in socialism is ludacris. Socialism is about equality. Snowball, on the other hand, seems to have had good intentions. But these are clouded by greed. Snowball dosen't object at the first time the commandments are broken, when the pigs recieve all the milk and apples. Very well thought our characters, a good symbolic story line and other ironic twists make this a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Animal Farm by: George Orwell
Review: This is now the second time that I have read Animal Farm and now that I understand what the book was acutally about, I liked it even more then I did the first time. I encourage everybody to read this book because it is very good and you can learn a lot from it. It is about the Russian Revoulution and each of the characters in the book symbolizes, in one way or another, a specific person or group of people involed in the Russian Revoulution. The book is about a group of animals who are led by the pigs to revolt against Mr. Jones, their master. After they drive him and his wife out of the farm, the animals take over. I liked this book because it was interesting and fun to read. Orwell does a good job developing the characters and showing us what the Russian leaders did during this time period, and he does it in a fun way by using animal. If you have not read this book I encourage you to read it and have fun with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Animal Farm-"What a Lousy Book"
Review: This book was about a farm called Animal Farm. The animals can all talk and they don't like to be pushed around by the humans. Because of this they turn on the humans and drive them away from the farm. Then the pigs take charge, and make up rules for the farm. These rules are called the seven commandments. One of them is Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad. The whole farm follows these rules. The reason I rated this book so poorly was because it was boring. It took me days to finish even though it is a short book. If you like books with very little action but, a good theme then you might like this book. But if not, I don't suggest it.
Rating:
Summary: Great insight...
Review: I never read this in high school, so I picked it up recently. It's a very thin book (a little over 100 pages) and a quick read. I found the story to be very insightful - while the story is about farm animals...the behaviors were very analogous to humans. The story begins with a bunch of farm animals plotting the overthrow of a farm. They are able to take the farm over and kick out the farmer and his family. I loved following the progress of the animals - how they work together, their organizational evolution and power struggles. I found myself comparing the story to corporate America. This was a great book!!
|
