“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned—a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.

When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.

I purchased a copy of this book for my personal reading.

George Orwell is an author that has been on my list to read for quite some time now. This book was a particular must for me. I’ve always been a fan of history, so the allegorical nature of this book, a retelling of the rise of Stalin and life in Russia under his rule, really appealed to me. It was an interesting look at the period.

The characters representing real historical figures, groups or events was an incredible move from Orwell. The events so nicely relay the happenings of the time. It makes for an illuminating read, a cautionary tale to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

I found it an interesting retelling of historical events, and the use of animals to portray them especially interesting. It managed to convey the use of propaganda to bend the people to their will, the manner in which people were used as free labour and the poor conditions in which they toiled in a stark fashion. It’s a tough, challenging read but once you get your head around the concepts it discusses, and the history it is paralleling, it makes for an interesting if heavy, narrative on how the communist propaganda machine allowed such ideas to govern such a vast nation.

My rating: