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Fabian {Councillor}'s Reviews > Animal Farm
Animal Farm
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Fabian {Councillor}'s review
bookshelves: all-time-favorites, reviewed, read-2015, ebook, read-in-one-sitting, to-read-again-one-day, year-1945, satire, politics, dystopia, george-orwell, classics, british-literature, revolutionary, social-class, animals, social-commentary, authoritarianism, top-100-nighthawk, screenplay-adaptation-1950s, great-reads, time-magazine-100-novels
Jun 17, 2015
bookshelves: all-time-favorites, reviewed, read-2015, ebook, read-in-one-sitting, to-read-again-one-day, year-1945, satire, politics, dystopia, george-orwell, classics, british-literature, revolutionary, social-class, animals, social-commentary, authoritarianism, top-100-nighthawk, screenplay-adaptation-1950s, great-reads, time-magazine-100-novels
If each story should introduce or implicate a message, this is one of the very matching examples how it is supposed to be done. While Orwell is not necessarily subtle about the allegory's significance - even without any historical background, any reader shall be able to understand what Orwell meant to emphasize -, he did it on an impressive literary level. It is definitely worth a read, even for someone just looking out for personal enjoyment rather than a profound message behind the story, since the animals are also portrayed as their own characters (even if some of them may appear very clichéd, e.g. Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare, or Boxer, the animalised working class representative merely able to work hard rather than think about what or why he is doing) and have their very own interesting character traits.
I understand why this was initially banned by the Soviet Union and is still banned today by a lot of countries, two of the most significant examples being North Korea and Iran. It implies an unspoken criticism about absolute leadership, resonating in every single line during the course of the story. The story was well-developed, lead to its very own climax ((view spoiler)) and established an intriguing atmosphere with all the versatile aspects which could be investigated about the farm's animals. The windmill's construction was the plot's thinnest section, as the author struggled to explain how exactly it could have been build by animals.
The writing was very clever, didn't include a lot of dialogue, yet explained this fact among with the illiteracy of most of the animals, and while it is not exactly something which could be considered to be the best novel ever written, it is still stunning in its own right. As much as it earns a five-star-writing, it has deserved to be read by everyone, especially inhabitants from the countries banning this lecture.
I understand why this was initially banned by the Soviet Union and is still banned today by a lot of countries, two of the most significant examples being North Korea and Iran. It implies an unspoken criticism about absolute leadership, resonating in every single line during the course of the story. The story was well-developed, lead to its very own climax ((view spoiler)) and established an intriguing atmosphere with all the versatile aspects which could be investigated about the farm's animals. The windmill's construction was the plot's thinnest section, as the author struggled to explain how exactly it could have been build by animals.
The writing was very clever, didn't include a lot of dialogue, yet explained this fact among with the illiteracy of most of the animals, and while it is not exactly something which could be considered to be the best novel ever written, it is still stunning in its own right. As much as it earns a five-star-writing, it has deserved to be read by everyone, especially inhabitants from the countries banning this lecture.
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Anne
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rated it 5 stars
Apr 29, 2016 01:54PM
Such a brilliantly written review! And so insightful too ^_^ I loved this story so much, and I'm glad and very grateful that you urged me to read this. The contents of this book are so colorful, and so politically motivated. I guess I've developed a great respect for Orwell because of this book :)) This is one to remember.
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Anne wrote: "Such a brilliantly written review! And so insightful too ^_^ I loved this story so much, and I'm glad and very grateful that you urged me to read this. The contents of this book are so colorful, an..."I am so glad that you loved this book too, Anne! :)
Memorable it is indeed, even more so than 1984. Maybe its shortness was part of why it was such a good novel.
I am happy you enjoyed this book.
A stunning and necessary read for everyone indeed. Great review Fabian!
