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Summary: Did John Lennon ever read this book?
Review: Orwell retold the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin's purges, etc. with brilliant skill in Animal Farm. But the book should never be thought of as a period piece. It is a revelation of the secular "totalitarian temptation" that attracts many well-meaning people to this day.Take the lyrics of John Lennon's anthem "Imagine" and correlate them with the words of Major's "Beasts of England." As Lennon himself might have said, "It isn't hard to do." Ponder the implications.
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Summary: Animals Are Malnourished -- a review by Olivia, age 9
Review: Mr. Jones' farm, the Manor Farm, is a pity. His animals are malnourished and always sick, and he doesn't much care. After they die he just cooks them and eats them. Jones is always slobbering drunk. In the beginning of the story Old Major is the leader of all the animals. He is a great leader until his death one night. All the animals are shocked and they need a new leader. The pigs are the smartest animals, so they are always leaders. At first Snowball is the leader, but then Napoleon comes in and he wants to be leader. All the animals go up against humans and kill Jones' men. When Napoleon decides to trade with humans he doesn't tell any other animals because it's against the rule, "Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy." Animal Farm is very interesting because the animals all have different points of view, such as when the hens must lay eggs for Napoleon. He wants to trade with the humans, but the hens think it's bad for their health because they have to lay about 30 a week. I like Boxer the best because he has a good attitude and he always works the hardest. Boxer always looks at the positive side of things. I was very enthusiastic about the book, and when I shared it with friends I got them interested in reading it.
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Summary: Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Review: "Animal Farm" is a clever book that is supposed to be a metaphor for Communist Russia, using farm animals to represent various people groups from that era. Take heart, though, for even if you are nearly completely oblivious to the specifics of this period of history (like me,) you will be completely entertained by this book. Orwell paints an awesome picture of a barnyard where the animals speak to each other and eventually learn how to read, write, and use tools. These animals band together and form a revolt against the human farmer, and they win their freedom. The story is very interesting on two accounts. The first point of interest is the way in which the animals' behaviors match their personality traits. For instance, pigs are known to be intelligent, so they rise to leadership and do all the planning. Horses are strong and reliable, so they do all of the grunt work on the farm without asking questions. Sheep are stupid and so bleat the same mantras over and over, etc. The second point of interest is the description of how the utopian society eventually deteriorates into a dictatorship as the intelligent pigs assert themselves and become power-hungry. Immediately after the revolt, the animals decided on seven laws for the new society of animals. However, as the pigs became more greedy, they started breaking the laws to suit their own desires and then change the laws to suit their needs. The rest of the animals were either too stupid to notice the difference or too afraid to say anything about it. So, the pigs keep grabbing power and changing laws to suit their nature until eventually they are indistinguishable from the human master who preceded them. Even if you are unfamiliar with the events that represent the Russian metaphor, this story provides a great lesson in how power can corrupt even the most noble-minded beings. The story also is entertaining and gives your imagination a great workout.
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Summary: George Orwell's Most Enduring Masterpiece
Review: George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM is in that rare class of books that can be read by a fifth-grade child who will enjoy it on a basic level, then by the same child as a teenager a few years later and be enjoyed on a more meaningful level, and finally, by the teenager as an adult several years afterwards and be understood for all of its profundity and wisdom. That is the mark of a true literary classic, and ANIMAL FARM is one of the greatest of them all. It is short enough to read cover-to-cover within two hours; yet, its symbolic meaningfulness can be pondered over for hours afterwards. Kids love to read about talking animals; however, it is the fact that these animals actually stand for PEOPLE that makes this novella truly the ageless work it is. This is one story that one can never outgrow. This is a story that shows us the dark side of human nature and, in so doing, shows us how easily we can fall prey to the natural hunger for power. Given the right conditions, it doesn't take very long for that to happen. At the time George Orwell wrote this in his native England in 1937, it was pretty obvious of the story's real setting and characters: Manor Farm was the Soviet Union, Old Major was Vladimir Lenin, Snowball was Leon Trotsky, and Napoleon was Josef Stalin. Now that that whole time period has long since passed, and there is no more Soviet Union, nor is there any more Communist domination of Eastern Europe, the question for us now is: What is the Manor Farm that exists today in our world? Who is our Snowball? Who is our Napoleon? And, has this Napoleon yet consolidated his power...???? MOST RECOMMENDED, ESPECIALLY FOR AGES 10 & UP
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Summary: Review?
Review: I don't know, maybe there are some books that are above review, especially given the reviews given by some of the ninth grade gits you can read below ("book was kind of boring, didn't get into it", "I'm sure the author was a nice person but it was a bummer book, read Harry Potter instead")
God help us!
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Summary: Excellent
Review: I love this book(But never finished 1984 for some reason). It isn't just about communism, but all systems of power. I will always remember the immortal "All animals are created equal, some more equal than others."
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Summary: Been there, seen that
Review: I came from a communist country, so the first few chapters of this book gave me good laughs --- because it describes the communist mentality so accurately --- until the story gets too serious to laugh about. There are so many to relate to: We used to sing "beasts of England"; we are constantly afraid that other farmers will come; Boxer was my role model in my teenage years,etc. I found myself keep fliping to the back cover of this book because I simply couldn't believe this book was written in 1946! And the same story repeated itself for another 50 years! This book is not just about USSR, it is a short history for every communist country.
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Summary: It¿s not JUST about the Russian Revolution.
Review: I read ANIMAL FARM on my own in 8th grade, and was quite fascinated by it. Then I was assigned to read it in 9th grade and got a D on the final exam. (I can still remember my teacher reading my score out loud in front of the class and saying "Try studying friend.") The problem was that our teacher wanted to present it as an allegorical account of the Russian Revolution and I didn't want to see it that way. Okay, I probably deserved the D (and maybe the public humiliation) for deciding that my take on the book was more important than my teacher's agenda, and I'm forced to concede that Orwell DID use the Russian Revolution as the basis of the novel. But I STILL feel that ANIMAL FARM shouldn't be interpreted SOLELY in reference to the Russian Revolution. Yes, it's an allegory. It isn't just a story of a group of animals who take over a farm, then find that the pigs are worse masters than the humans were. But it's not just about one particular revolution that went awry. It's about ANY attempt to overthrow tyranny that goes wrong because its leaders really want to establish their own tyranny. At a more general level, it's about ANY idealistic movement that goes wrong because some group of people within the movement really want to achieve their own self-serving goals. And it's about how ANY ideal can be twisted and corrupted. The famous statement that "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," probably sounds a lot like some type of policy that a lot of you have had to live under at some time or another. But ANIMAL FARM is also about the Russian Revolution. So, if you find yourself studying it under a teacher who feels that all students are equal, but that students who see it her way are more equal than others, try and see it her way and don't get yourself a D.
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Summary: Animal Farm
Review: This is a book that changed my fathers life. He killed all his pigs to prevent a rebellion like the pigs did. Now he sits on a bench and says "No pig is gett'n me. NOW WAY." Some people took hom away in a funny white jacket.
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Summary: Cannot Find an Adjective
Review: This book had so many wonderful things about it- I'm not too sure where to begin. Well, for starters: Who rights about animals taking over the world, or atleast there farm??? This story was so incredibly random. Maybe if it was meant for kids it wouldn't be so random, but this was transformed into a piece of teenage/adult literature! It is based from World War II. Overall, this book was brilliant! Honestly, there is just no words. Not even one part bored me in the least. By far, it deserves this five.
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