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Summary: Not nearly as good as 1984
Review: With all the hype I was a little disappointed with Animal Farm. The premise is good - an allegory where farm animals take over their human masters, set up a government and satirise the excesses of left and right wing dictatorships in the process.However, it does get a little silly. And I don't mean that it's written a bit like a children's book or a fairy tale - that's the point. I think that the satire is often about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It is a tad repetitive which is ironic because it mocks the songs and anthems of the Animal Farm as repetitive propaganda. Seems that Orwell had some anti-propaganda propaganda of his own. The idea of the Animal Farm is a great one but would probably have been better as a short story. It just doesn't sustain the impact over 100 pages. To see a satire/allegory that does one only has to turn to the classic Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. So, an interesting book - but good, not great.
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Summary: Orwell was a Genius!!!
Review: This masterful book is similar to the greatest show in TV history, "The Simpsons." It makes fun of anything and everything, continues to be relevant, and can be enjoyed by various ages and types of people. Younger kids can read "Animal Farm" and see how power can be misused and the basic unfairness of life. Those who know about history can read the book and see the parallels to the Russian Revolution. Those reading the newspaper in 2004 can see a ruling class who SAY they care about the average worker, but who do nothing for them. Their slogan for all might read "All Americans are equal but some are more equal than others." Orwell's brilliance never fails to amaze me, which is why I don't ever forsee a time when this book is not completely relevant. And if that's not the definition of a CLASSIC, I don't know what is!!
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Summary: The pigs are invading...
Review: This book by George Orwell is about a farm (Manor Farm) where a revolution takes place, but a very DIFFERENT kind of revolution. Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm, had been mistreating his livestock, and the animals were absolutely sick of it. Old Major, the oldest boar on the farm, inspired them with a song and a speech about how everything should be blamed on men. Then he dies, leaving Napoleon and Snowball, two young boars, in the position of power. They revolt, due to Farmer Jones not feeding them, and invent a new system of government where all animals are equal, everyone can get an education, and everyone works for the common good. Snowball and Napoleon are in conflict all the time, though, and Snowball gets run off while the animals are voting on whther to build a windmill or not. Napoleon and Squealer, his propaganda minister, slowly and steadily convince the animals that Snowball is a terrible, terrible pig and very cowardly, even though he was the best of the two, and all the animals that object are murdered. Napoleon makes deals with humans, but he gets cheated by one of the humans. At the end, all the pigs, who had moved up to a position of power, and all the humans, who had debased themselves, all looked and acted exactly the same. The pigs even dressed up in people-clothes and paraded around on their hind legs. The purpose of this book is to tell of the evils of Communism; it usually starts out okay, but eventually ends up in totalitarianism. (I did a book study on this). Old Major represents Karl Marx, Napoleon represents Stalin, Snowball=Lenin, and Farmer Jones the czar of Russia. When this book was published, people thought that it was ridiculous, but then when they figured out that it was about the Russian Revolution, everyone realized exactly how brilliant it really was. If you're interested in history or classics, I really recommend this.
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Summary: Animal Farm
Review: I found that the book Animal Farm was a bigger "American Classic " than I thought it was going to be. The book was written by George Orwell, which in turn was a pen name for the writer Eric Blair. He was born in India but educated and raised as an Englishmen. The book overall was great. It definitely had a good flow to it yet it still kept you on the edge of your seat waiting to read what strange thing happened next.
Orwell has a line in the very beginning of the book that is stated by the animals of the farm "man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He doesn't not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull plough, and he can not run fast enough to catch rabbits, yet he is the lord of all animals". That line was my immediate realization that the book was going to be at least half way good. The book consists of a large group of farm animals that can apparently talk. They decide to take over the farm on one huge swift operation. After successfully taking over the farm in the very early part of the book, the remainder of the story basically consists of them surviving and getting through life. One flaw that the story does have is the lack in explaining obvious obstacles for animals. Them having total hatred for humans being able to read write and logically hold a farm is a little too much to believe. The entire basis of fact and fiction shouldn't necessarily be thrown together. Having animals speak but at the same time having the rest of the story and its plots completely believable. To me, having animals building a windmill in a story that's supposed to be true is very much out of question. All of this even coming to the animals having a set of seven commandments. 1. Whatever goes upon to legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal. The commandments and multiple other lines being written on the barn of the wall by a set of very intelligent pigs is too much for a serious book. One thing that did make it a well-rounded book is the fact that you could direct this book to many different audiences. It has the appeal to kids with the talking animals and doesn't have extremely hard grammar. On the other hand, it still has the maturity level of an adult. Another flaw about the book is the fact that not much of it changes. The characters (all the animals) tend to do the same stuff over and over again. They wake up and work everyday, and have a big meeting on Sunday where the flag signifying their freedom is raised. Not too much changes besides the obvious small and brief problems. The animals tend to also die off way too much. Animals seemed as though they were unlimited.
Overall the book was great. George Orwell is a fantastic writer. I would definitely read his other books. Although a lot could have improved this one, I think overall his book was good.
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Summary: Animal Farm: A Fairy Story
Review: Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Tracy Byrne George Orwell called Animal Farm a fairy story, and it can be enjoyed simply as a tale about how animals try to take over a farm from men, and find they cannot manage it. Many children read it this way, siding with the animals against the farmer, saddened when things go wrong because of the nasty pigs, and weeping at the fate of Boxer. But the tale was devised as a satire on the Soviet Union, and although the country no longer exists, the influence it exerted on our ways of living and thinking certainly stayed with us and probably will for many years.
Although Animal Farm was a satire on the Russian Revolution, it was also intended to have a wider application. That kind of revolution as Orwell defined as "violent conspiratorial revolution, led by unconsciously power-hungry people", could only lead to a change of masters. He went on: "I meant the moral to be that revolutions only effect a radical improvement when the masses are alert and know how to chuck out their leaders as soon as the latter have done their job" (Orwell xl).
Animal Farm is an accurate portrayal of the Russian Revolution and is probably one of the best novels ever written. All of the characters represented a figure from the revolution. Old Major is Marx, Boxer and Clover represent the proletariat, Napoleon is Stalin, Snowball for Leon Trotsky, Farmer Frederick is Hitler Germany, etc. Even the windmill and the farmhouse represent something from the revolution. Mr. Jones' house becomes the Kremlin and the building of the windmill corresponds to Stalin's various
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plans for rapid industrialization.
Orwell succeeds in conveying the right message, not just about the Russian Revolution, but of any revolution; there is always going to be a person or persons that take advantage of their power and of the people that believe in them. Most of the time when there is a new leader that person wants to help the people, but as time goes on they get greedy and power hungry and could care less about the people. At the beginning of the novel one of the animals commandments were "All Animals are Equal" (Orwell 16). They all did the same amount of work, received the same amount of food, etc. Then the pigs decided that because they were smarter they should receive more food, do less work, etc. Soon enough the pigs were living in Mr. Jones' house, drinking alcohol, wearing clothes, while all the other animals were made to do all the work. By the end of the novel the commandment stated "All Animals are Equal but Some Animals are More Equal Than Others" (88). This is true with most governments. The leaders make the people believe that they are just like them, but in reality the leaders sit their in their big comfy chairs reaping all of the benefits, while the working class is doing all of the dirty work and getting the butt end of the deal.
In conclusion, Animal Farm is a novel of importance. It is a classic that will be read for decades more to come. One reason for its mass appeal is the classic simplicity of its language and style. The vocabulary is ordinary and commonplace without being so basic and limited as to be interesting only to children. Another important quality is its imaginative power. Anything can be done with a little bit of will. If the animals could overthrow humans, I'm sure humans could overthrow a government. But it also has a
Page 3 pessimistic quality. The animals give up so quickly and refuse to put up a fight against the pigs. They are so ready to accept it, which is what we humans do with our
government. I think Orwell was not just writing a novel about the Russian Revolution or revolutions in general, but a book about human nature.
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Summary: A wonderful edition for many reasons...
Review: Those who know the story of Animal Farm will need no recap of the plot details, so I will stick to the additions of this particular edition instead. There are other reviews that do well to document the genius of the story. I first read this in grade school, but had no idea about the political and historical context of the tale. The first reason this edition shines is that you get Orwell's original preface to the Ukrainian edition. Ukraine was a direct victim of Bolshevik policies under Stalin, and throughout the famine that occurred there due to Stalin's collectivization started in 1929 and carried out through 1932-33 at least 6 million lost their lives, while others were displaced and scattered across the world. Orwell basically says that the book is for them more so than anyone, although he chooses his words carefully. Another reason why this edition shines is Ralph Steadman's art. He is well known to many, but most will know him through his work on Hunter S. Thompson's books. The book is also printed in hardcover and has weight, unlike the paperback edition. It is a great edition to add to a collector's library, and it cannot hurt anyone to read this amazing piece of literature more than once in their lives. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Animal Farm
Review: The story, "Animal Farm", was happened in a farm which originally called Manor Farm. The animal there found that their lives were harsh just because human were selfish. Therefore, they toke revolution to overthrow human. The farm was renamed as Animal Farm. Under the leading of Snowball, which was a pig, the farm ran successfully: all the animals lived happily, freely and equally. However, this made another pig, Napoleon, become jealous. He driven away Snowball and became the new leader. Then he changed all the rules and gradually made all other animals to work for the pigs. Their lives became harsh again. At last, there was no difference between ruling by human or animals. It seems that this is just a simple fairy story. Actually, there is an important message behind it,¡¥All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than the others'. In the story, Snowball suggested that all animals in the farm were equal, nobody could kill the others, even cats could not kill rats. However, Napoleon changed it. Pigs became more equal than the others. It just like our real world. All the animals in the world have their right to live. However, human can kill some kinds of animals for food, can control the lives of their pets, or even use other animals to do experiments. This shows that human actually are more equal than the other animals. This story actually is a reflection of our real lives, just presented in a different way. Readers can understand this world and the reality of human more easily and clearly from this story. I would recommend it to you all.
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Summary: satire at its best
Review: From what we know about George Orwell, his politcial allegiances were complex and always subject to his own scrutiny. One thing can be said with a certain amount of scrutiny: he distrusted any form of government that claimed to be for everybody and claimed to disperse power among the masses. ANIMAL FARM is his warning. This fable, which is what it really is, condemns what Stalin had made of the Russian Revolution. Truth be told, Orwell was very much aware that anyone with power would have turned that revolution into revenue. But Capitalism is not spared either. When reading this novel closely, Orwell acknowledged that power was always seated where the money was evident. (Why else did the pigs make arrangements for trade with mankind?) This is an excoriating view of politics as power, and how no manifesto or declaration is free from the human greed that will opportunistically profit from it.
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Summary: Animal Farm - Not A Book I Expected To Enjoy
Review: This book has been lying around my house since I was born. Never was I interested enough to pick it up and read it, however short it may be. However, this year in my English class, we're required to read 2 books from a pre-approved college reading material list and I decided that Animal Farm would be a good one as it is short and available to me. What a shock was I in for! This book was just amazing. I didn't lose interest for a second and it just pulled at my emotions. Now I'm going back and reading, on a site, about how it related to the political issues of the time. I definitely recommend reading Animal Farm.
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Summary: Awesome
Review: This is probably the greatest short story ever written, and is an unmitigated classic of our time. This fable of how dark impulses for power and control makes for an amazing satire of the communist system. It's just a great an easy story that any educated person would enjoy, though one should be warned that it doesn't have a happy ending, whcich makes it all more powerful.
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