Animals Gone Wild...
By Lily Starbuck

George Orwell's fable, Animal Farm, tells the tale of frustrated animals who overthrow their master Mr. Jones, who owns the Manor Farm. Through many hard times and conflicts it comes down to who can survive the new farm life. New leaders, new problems, new jobs, everything is changing for the better. Or is it? Orwell is able to portray the idea "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Animal Farm is a quick read and has a loud and clear message, which Orwell shows through a microcosm of the 1917 Russian revolution.

The animals have one goal in mind after they defeat Mr. Jones. That goal would be change. And through this change there will be laws, the Seven Commandments that will help keep the animals equal with one another and make sure the animals don't acquire human-like habits, because the animals don't want to become like the humans who have treated them so terribly and striped them of their freewill. While reading the book you see some animals are starting to create a different status for themselves on the farm, making them more important and able to instruct as well as make decisions for the other animals. I know that while reading Animal Farm I felt angry at the animals that let a new leader control them. Only some of the characters didn't remain loyal to their new leader, and that to me showed bravery, for standing up for something they knew had to be stopped.

George Orwell used farm animals to illustrate the struggle for the control of the Soviet Union. The two pigs, Snowball and Napolean, from Animal Farm resemble Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stallin who both fought over power in Russia. Both Napolean and Stallin took all the power for themselves and became greedy and selfish, therefore not fulfilling their promises to their followers. The struggle for authority, throughout history, is an ongoing process.

I truly enjoyed reading Animal Farm. It wasn't a book where you couldn't put it down but one you find time to read in the oddest moments. George Orwell was an amazing writer. He made learning a life lesson and learning part of history simple and enjoyable. And I don't even like reading books about talking animals and yet I'm recommending this fabulous piece of literature.

It is the rare political book that is both entertaining and thought provoking. Rarer still to be unforgettable and insightful and life-changing. Animal Farm, for me was all this.

The allegory is powerful and the use of farm animals both clever and entertaining, and helped makes the story all the more vivid and memorable. The story is well know, a group of farm animals eventually led by the boar Napoleon, overthrow the capitalist farmer and create an idealistic worker's paradise. Little by little and bit by bit they become not only as corrupt as the former system, but even worse as exemplified by their ruthlessness and hypocrisy. The reader comes away much more cynical about utopian ideals, which sounds like a bad thing but is actually a good thing. Incredibly powerful book, with the weight of truth and some kind of native energy that makes a despairing fairy-tale into a life-changing lesson. I've read plenty of books that I've enjoyed more, but few I've been so drastically impacted by. This book is a must for an adolescent, and if you missed it then even if you're eighty-five pick it up and read it now. It's both historical and timeless.

So Communism is bad because it becomes, in the end, like Capitalism. What destroyed Communism in Europe? Lech Walensa and the trade union Solidarity. Why won't Communism in China come to an end? Because capitalist companies like Walmart won't support unionization in China. Chinese communism survives in China because of support from American companies; alone it would tumble to despair. The rich brotherhood of Capitalism and the slavery of Communism are in alliance in China and it has put American Democracy in its greatest jeopardy ever, prophetic of the classic ending of this book. Democracy has to be protected and nurtured on its own terms, beyond economic theory and systems.

How did I not receive this book as required reading back in high school? Well now that I've picked it up, I realize that I would have enjoyed it then as much as I did now. This thinly veiled (perhaps obvious) critique on the government at the time in Russia provokes many questions on the legitimacy of any government and the inability for communism to operate effectively. The animals band together to overthrow the evil "human" to form their own government - animalism, where all animals are created equal. This belief is reinforced in the seven commandments of animalism. However, corruption and power struggles quickly impede on the central tenets of animalism.

This story reads like an extended Aesop's Fable with messages much more poignant than "slow and steady wins the race" adding a biting satiric wit to it all. This is altogether a facinating allegory to the way Soviet Russia was; yet, it still remains unbelievably revelant in today's society. After all, "All animals are equal (but some animals are more equal than others)."

Better (?) than a horror movie because it's real. Monarchy, revolution, communism, state capitalism. Sound familiar? Check the Olympics.

Animal Farm catches you off guard with the animal characters, sucks you in and keeps the plot fast. History of the Soviet revolution in an hour of entertainment. But it quickly ceases being entertaining, and becomes very realistic. Ride up the roller coaster of genuine hope that communism could work, and then down into the depths of war and murder. Finally, settle into a gray, hopeless dictatorship that lasted 70 years for the USSR, but repeats itself in other countries today. If you want the power of irony, this is about as powerful as it gets: these animals do kill each other (if not their own species). Pigs! Sounds like ... people.

Although I think Orwell accomplished what he intended in Animal Farm (a tight, crisp, seemingly flawless allegory of the horrors of pre-Soviet and Soviet Russia and the dangers of Stalinist totalitarianism), I still only give the book three stars, because I WANT MORE!

I want a book that does more than just criticize a system. I want a book that offers a vision for something greater. Although they say Orwell was a socialist, I feel this book risks leaving the reader to default into thinking that a capitalist system like the modern one is the best, because "it works." No wonder this book is assigned en masse to public high school students in America - or was, at least, when I was in high school in the 1980s. Yuck!

I don't like this book because it's utterly depressing: it offers no hope. It's just an endless spiral into misery. I want a vision of a society that is beautiful, that isn't destructive, where hope and healing are real, where exploitation is not the byword of the day.

My answer: I see our hope in healing our childhood traumas, working out our ancient rage and our ancient fantasies that our traumatizing parents will rescue us. If the masses of humanity work out these inner demons then capitalism crumbles, totalitarianism is rendered irrelevant, war becomes moot - and beauty can rise to the surface.

The story is well described in the other reviews, especially in the first one above from the professional reviewer, but I do find it necessary to point out a few observations:

First: George Orwell is a literary genius. There's a reason why he graces the cover of the book: Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept). If you liked "Animal Farm", "1984" is going to knock you into another thought paradigm.

Secondly, and more important: Whether you read about "Animal Farm" from the professional reviewers, Cliff Notes, or in the introduction to the book itself, there is one self-imposed "limitation" that stays consistent throughout, and that is the sovereign state Orwell has in mind when he wrote "Animal Farm" (or "1984" for that matter)is the Soviet Union. While this may be true, the bigger and more relevant point is getting missed. This bigger and more relevant point is that for ANY sovereign nation, when there is a change of power in its governance (for its betterment), it is ALWAYS the case, I repeat, it is ALWAYS the case that the new governance will gradually become the same as the one it replaced. Look no further than the United States of America. The 1776 rebels overthrew the British tyrant, King George III, mostly due to oppressive business practices, taxes and lack of representation. And look where we are today, in 2008! Corporations rule. Taxes, which we already fought one war over, are exorbitant, and Congress is simply a millionaires club representing the wealthy.

How do we know that George Orwell saw this happening? Because he worked in the BBC and the BBC was spewing the SAME propaganda that the Soviet Union was using. How do we know this? Because writer Martin Esslin worked at the BBC at the same time as Orwell and he wrote that this was the case! For further reference, see my review of the book: U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960 (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication).

So the point, as is the point with ALL my reviews is this: Become a CRITICAL THINKER!

The book was in great condition and was promptly delivered. I highly recommend using you guys again.

George Orwell's classic novel, Animal Farm, is basically a book that shows the reader all of the problems with communism. Animal Farm first addresses the problem of how tempting communism sounds to the uninformed, and in some cases uneducated, ear. Doesn't it sound nice that everyone pulls their own weight and everyone reaps the benefits? It did to the animals of Manor Farm. At first it was great without those pesky humans around; the animals ate all of the food and got to keep their children. However, it quickly became very obvious that this system wasn't working. The pigs, the smartest of all the farm animals, began to take over led by Napoleon and Snowball. Soon after the establishment of Animal Farm (formerly known as Manor Farm) seven commandments were set forth such as "no animal shall sleep in a bed", "no animal shall kill any other animal", "all animals are equal", etc. After Napoleon ran Snowball off the farm with vicious dogs, Napoleon claimed full leadership of the farm and its animals. One by one, Napoleon modified each of the seven commandments to fit his liking such as "no animal shall drink alcohol to excess." In the end of the book it is impossible for Clover, a horse of Manor Farm (formerly known as Animal Farm and more formerly known as Manor Farm), to tell the difference between the pigs and humans while they are playing a card game.
I would recommend this book to the reader that loves irony. Throughout the story I kept wondering who was going to be the first animal to figure out that in order get rid a tyrant (Mr. Jones the farm owner) they acquired another ("Comrade" Napoleon). Alas I was relieved when a horse realized that Napoleon was changing the commandments for his own benefit. However, when the horse kept this knowledge to himself I was angry at him. I asked myself, "Why wouldn't he show the animals who Napoleon really is?" I never figured it out but for the reader who loves character analysis, this is the book for you! However, this book isn't written for the people who want everything spoon-fed to them. But for the reader that feels the need to read between the lines Animal Farm is full of mysteries for you to figure out.

Animal Farm begins as a tale of triumph over the human race for animals. Yet as it continues you realize the humans never really left. The pigs take over and become the one thing they swore they hated. The worst part is the other animals don't do anything about it and suffer, and whether they do in the future or not we never find out. If happy endings are your thing, forget about this book, because it only represents the cruelest and hardest parts of life, from where there is no rescue. It is disappointing in happiness, yet you cant leave the book unsatisfied, for it does contain a powerful message,we all need to learn whether we like to hear it or not. Life is not all sugar and gumdrops, it also contains Brussels sprouts and tripe, and some people only get the sprouts and tripe, when most of us have the sugar and gumdrops. Orwell is an amazing author and the book is amazing, but for a mature audience( such as myself).

Deemed a classic by modern day scholars, George Orwell's Animal Farm is a must read. It is a humorous yet realistic satire on Soviet Russia. Although never specifically named as the target of Orwell's story, much controversy has come about from Animal Farm's similarities to the Russian Revolution. Telling the story of animals who are tired of suffering under the oppression of humans, it brilliantly illuminates the struggle of the common man against tyranny. Old Major, a prize winning boar who has the revolutionary spirit of Karl Marx, tells the animals of a dream he has had of a utopian farm where animals have the power. After winning over the emotions of most of the farm animals, Old Major dies and the pigs (Napoleon and Snowball) take over the revolution. Napoleon forces his way into unquestioned power using underhanded tactics and clever slogans like "Napoleon is always right" and "Four legs good, two legs bad." Addressing his fellow animals as "comrades" Napoleon is reminiscent of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, covering up the corruption of the farm by saying it's all "for the good of the animals." As conditions worsen and support for the revolution dwindles, the power is questioned and the animals wonder what happened to their dream of equality.
The allusions pour out of this seemingly elementary story, every action was masterfully planned by Orwell to emulate history. For readers who enjoy history and contextual significance, Animal Farm is perfect. Even readers with no knowledge of the political importance behind this book would still find delight in this whimsical story of animals that kick the humans off their farm and try to set up their own government. It is an extremely simple concept, yet is speaks volumes about revolution gone wrong. George Orwell's progressive eccentricity mixed with his classy criticism makes Animal Farm perfectly poignant. This reader would recommend it to all ages!

Blood, violence, revolution. As an allegory of the violent Russian Revolution, George Orwell's Animal Farm is a call back to the fairy tales of times past. Animals that possess the ability to think and act in a humanlike manner are the main characters, and their personalities and the events of the story directly parallel the events of the Bolshevik take over--and that is all. By sticking so closely to the original proceedings, Orwell has failed to create a story with any sense of originality.
In Animal Farm, the animals of a man named Mr. Jones have grown tired of the cruel way he treats them and decide to revolt. Gaining their ideas from the teachings of a pig named Old Major and their leadership from two pigs named Napoleon and Snowball, the animals successfully take over the farm. Over the course of the book, the animals fight amongst themselves and against the humans, work to achieve prosperity, and eventually end up in a situation very similar to where they started.
The animals of Animal Farm are so similar to famous figures in the Russian Revolution that it becomes possible to predict what they are likely to do next. It is easy to get caught up in looking for parallels between the animals and the Bolsheviks, rather than read the story for its own sake. To look at only the pigs, Old Major, with his talk of "Rebellion! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see this straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later justice will be done," and point of addressing the other animals as `comrade', is a clear parallel of Karl Marx, from whom the Bolsheviks gained their ideas of socialism. Snowball and Napoleon, also, with their arguing and the eventual forced exile of Snowball, strongly resemble Trotsky and Lenin.
For a reader looking to read about the Russian Revolution in a format more interesting than typical nonfiction historical accounts, Animal Farm is a good start. It is also good for a quick read, particularly if one wishes to learn a bit more about Orwell's writing style and perspective on socialism. It is not, however, a book that will appeal to a reader wanting to read an entirely unique and creative story.

I read this book back in freshman year of high school and later saw the movie since I liked it so much. Orwell's idea was fresh and intriguing. What if animals decided they wanted to be dominant and overthrow mankind? The moral, under the tale, is what gives this book a five star review.

It is human nature to do what we can to remove anyone who is oppressing us. People like to be free to make their own decisions and pursue their dreams. Such was the case with the animals. They got rid of the human and set up their own laws. At first, things were great. But the pigs took over and became just as corrupt, if not more so, than the human they hated. The important thing to consider in any situation is when you get rid of one bad influence, you need to replace it with a good influence or you'll end up in the same situation as before. This book was very well done!

Animal Farm is about a group of animals who decide to overthrow their master, Farmer Jones, because he has become drunk and does not give them food. This book is even more enjoyable if you know your Russian History because they go hand in hand. Farmer Jones represents Czar Nicholas the Second and the Animal Revolution represents the Russians kicking out the czar. There are many more similarities that you can come up with and it ends the same way the Russian one does. Another thing about Animal farm is that Orwell had some magical ability to predict the cold war. This makes that book enjoyable and something that I would recommend. When I read it in seventh grade, I could easily pick out the similarities and differences. If you look closely, the flags are also similar and you can see the effort that Orwell put into to this to show the world what was going on.

My teacher is using this book in a ESL class of writting. This book is very good and easy to read.

I see why this book is such a classic! It is so short, I'd call it a short story rather than a novel. It is a quick read, and very hard to put down. I highly recommend this book.

I read this over 20 years ago in highschool and loved it then. Reading it again now...I still loved it. This is such a great book for young minds. Not only to learn the sense of communism, rebellion, fear and tyranny but also to fall in love with symbolsm. This little book with so few pages and words is filled to the brim with symbolic moments and matter. It is timeless.

Before reviewing the content, let the reader beware that this novel is competely allegorical and SHOULD NOT BE READ WITHOUT PROPER AQUAINTANCE WITH THE HISTORY OF THE USSR. That being said, I read, prior to rereading this work, Ronal Grigory Suny's works on the USSR, which were a bit thick (over 500 pages each). This is necessary for a proper appreciation of the work. Every character is representative of a historical personality. If you don't know who Molotov, Stalin, Trotsky, Hitler, Nicholas II, Stakhanovites and Pravda are, then you should find out BEFORE reading this work to properly enjoy it. If you read the book for a moral message, you miss a major point of the work; you can get the moral message "Don't become what you hate" through reading any other book without these allusions. This entire novel is built off of allegory.

Now, that being said, there are a few flaws that need to be discussed. Orwell treatment of the USSR can be simple and bias, and its unfortunate. He is at least accurate in depicting the accuracy in the rise of literacy of the Soviet peoples, but his treatment of such a complex subject in a 90 page fable isn't going to be comprehensive. Still, there is demonization at work to quite an extent, and it must be realized that READING THIS BOOK WILL NOT MAKE YOU AN EXPERT IN SOCIALISM.

Some of the introductory comments were extremely irritating. The notion that the collapse of the USSR was "unavoidable," that the USSR hardly did anything good for the Soviet people and the idiotic analysis of Hitler's invasion of the USSR was seriously irritating. If you aren't a history fanatic you will miss these points, but seriously, COMMUNISM IS NOT RED FASCISM.

Definitely a piece of its time. When I first read this its effect was like that of a children's tale not because of the animal characters but because children's tales have a dark moral built into them to warn children not to talk to strangers or to go to strange places by themselves. I could picture the readers of its time feeling very much cowed (pardon the pun) into the kind of thinking that perhaps led to the hardening of the cold war. Today, the value of this piece is akin to say, an impressionist painting by what they have contributed to their respective fields.

I enjoyed this book when I read it in high school, but at the time I thought it was a satire of communism in general. After a recent second reading, however, I believe Animal Farm isn't a criticism of leftist thought so much as a charming (but ruthless) satire of the USSR in particular. In fact, to me the book ultimately makes the point that, if revolutions are to succeed and tyranny is to be avoided, the people must learn to chuck their new leaders as soon as the revolution has been accomplished, otherwise the result is totalitarianism (as Orwell himself put it).

So it wasn't the revolution or the initial principles of "animalism" that Orwell was warning against...it was the fact that the revolutionary leaders inevitably abused their power, manipulated information, rewrote history, and perverted the principles underpinning the revolution until the animal regime was far more brutal and oppresive than Farmer Jones had been. (It helps to remember here that Orwell was a self-described democratic socialist.) But in the final analysis, I believe Animal Farm has a broader application: it seems to suggest that this kind of thing could happen under any political system if power goes unchecked or unmonitored for too long. Highly Recommended.

Originally written as Orwell's warning of the emerging Fascist nature of the Soviet Union, then operating under the guise of being a "Socialist Democracy of the Proletariat," this ideological satire about anthropomorphized animals, has become a metaphor for all forms of "State run," oppressive and Fascist-leaning governments that use guile, slights of hand, propaganda, lies, "double talk," "double think," and the rewriting of history, to wrest away "power and freedom" from "the people."

Eric Blair, who wrote under the pseudonym, George Orwell, fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans, and early on distrusted Stalin's government - even when it fought along side the West, in helping to defeat Hitler. Like Churchill, Orwell (through this novel, and his "1984") was a prescient voice of reason about the true nature of Communism.

The key to the story is not so much the revolution that takes place, in which the animals uproot and run "the man" away, but in the generalized way in which revolutionary governments, once they assume power, in due course, tend to become nothing if not, oppressors by a new name. The common motif and paradigm of these erstwhile champions of the revolution is that they quickly learn "the ways of corruption and anti-democracy:" That is, they learn how to disrespect the truth, reject true equality and moral principles, and arrogate power unto a smaller and smaller elite group or ruling clique among themselves. They then begin to subtly bend and then change the Constitution and other rules so that in the end those instruments only favor and benefit their own cliques. Power is maintained in the hands of the new ruling cliques, first by rallying the masses to heroic efforts in the name of the original revolutionary causes, and then as power is siphoned away from the people, in the name of its more hollow and propagandistic symbols. Overtime all thoughts of the revolution grow dim and so do the people's freedoms. Cuba has been the classic case in point.

Events of today however would suggest that it is again time to pull out and reread Orwell's warnings, only this time as they apply to the American Revolution, whose luster, under the present Republican administration and democratically run Congress, is not just beginning to fade, but has begun to take on the color and character of Orwell's Animal Farm.

Our politicians have learned all too well how to show us the same kind of disrespect as did "Napoleon" in Orwell's tale: They lie to us and can no longer be believed; they use our national symbols to whip up emotions, send us into unnecessary wars, and to keep us divided; corruption among a smaller and smaller circle of elites is rampant; in the face of corporate money and the money of lobbyists our democratic freedoms including voting, are slowly slipping away and are being rendered meaningless. We are rapidly becoming a democracy in shell only. Another pretext, like a second 911, and we could see the final glimmer of the light of the American Revolution go out altogether. A "Fascist America" is no longer a distant thought.

"Four legs good, two legs bad or conservatives good; liberals bad?"

Five Stars

After reading "1984" I made it a goal of mine to get my hands on everything that George Orwell has ever written if possible in my life time. So immediately after finishing "1984" I went to the book store and was able to find "Down and Out in Paris and London", "Animal Farm" and "Keep The Aspidistra Flying" which I still have to read. But staying on topic, "Animal Farm" is nothing short of pure GENIUS! It grabbed me from the first lines and had me disappointed when it ended so quickly because it is a very fast read, but totally enjoyable through out! If someone had told me to think quick and name a book where animals are depicted as having human personalities prior to reading this book, my first response would have been "Charlotte's Web." Now however, it is definitely "Animal Farm!"

It starts out with Old Major, a prize boar having a dream and wanting to communicate that dream to the rest of the animals on the farm. From there all the animals are filing in and it is totally apparent in his descriptiveness that not only do they each have very distinct human personalities and quirks, but that the story itself is going to be a Master Piece! Which it is! I wouldn't want to ruin it for any one that hasn't read it but the song that Major (The Prize Boar) sings called "Beast of England" sets the perfect back drop for the story to unfold. And also all the various slogans that he coins are as powerful today as they were when they were written. "Four legs good, two legs bad!" is just one of the things that will stick with you long after the book has been read.

From the stand point of a politically educating work, this book should be required reading for any one who just doesn't quite get "politics" whether they care for them or not. It's laced with serious issues like life and death, betrayal, patriotism and an entire gamut of beliefs that are of course far better understood from the inside out. Meaning those who acquire power ultimately end up being like the ones that previously had the power they didn't have, but once coveted. Witty, serious, comical and again, as important now in today's world despite when it was penned as anything ever was! Buy this book and visit "Animal Farm!" It will surely be a place that stays with you long after you have closed the book and will perhaps have you in search like me, of other things written by George Orwell, one of the best writers in my opinion of all time!
Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

Everyone has to read this book! It's short and easy to read, it's funny, and it makes you smarter!!!

I read this book for the 1st time last month. It was an easy read and the story moved quickly. The last few pages of the book were absolutely moving!! As the farm animals look on, they can no longer tell, man from pig, pig from man!

A classic tale!

Ever since its first publication in 1944, George Orwell's "Animal Farm" has been recognized as a brilliant satire by millions world-wide. In the beginning of this wonderful novella, an old pig, Major, incites the animals to insurrection against the oppression of their human master Jones. Major dies a few days later and a week or two after that the animals revolt and declare their freedom from the human race. However, it doesn't take long for another oppressor-- a pig named Napoleon-- to arise and lord it over the rest of the animals. Eventually, Napoleon makes treaties with neighboring farms and turns into something very much like the animals' old master, Jones. This is an imagery of what Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, and countless others have done throughout history, and serves as a valuable lesson for humanity. This book ends on a note of despair: another government has failed in its attempt to create a perfect society. Our nation would do well to heed the lesson of this story if it wants to prosper in the years to come. Any government that substitutes its own laws for the law of God and depends upon itself for sustenance will become crushed beneath the weight of its own false independence. It is only by following God's laws that a nation can be blessed to prosper in its ambitions. Ultimately, without Christ, there is no freedom.

The fable, Animal Farm, has been analyzed and reanalyzed, described and summarized. For all of those things I can add nothing. Instead of that I'm going to make this book review about me and what Animal Farm did to me - what it made me think - how it made me feel.

Orwell's genius is in simplification, while his passion was to anti-authority. He wrote a simple story about animals in a farmyard and showed that authoritarians come in two types, those who abuse authority and those who are victimized by them. His simple truth is that individuals fall into their same roles regardless the government or organization that surrounds them.

It made me think about what kind of authority I crave and what kind of authority I'd be. A book that can prompt that kind of introspection is a special book indeed. Unfortunately I've read Animal Farm a dozen times and I still don't have suitable answers. But I don't think answers are what Orwell had in mind. I think the import of the book was to raise the questions, to get people to think about it, and to get them to talk. If you're aware of your tendencies as individuals and as communities and as nations, then you can resist the slide into familiarity and disaster.

Animal Farm taught me to question authority and to make decisions for myself. It taught me to learn things for myself and to never believe what I'm told by a single source. It taught me that "for my own good" rarely is.

It's an important book to read and even more important to understand.

- CV Rick, March, 2008

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell

One night on Manor Farm, a farm owned by Mr. Jones, all of the animals gather in the barn for a meeting. Word had gone around earlier that Old Major a prize Middle White Boar, had a strange dream whose meaning he wanted to explain to the other animals. Major is so highly regarded by the other animals on the farm that everyone was happy to show up.

Major tells the other animals that his time on earth is short and that he will be dieing soon but that he feels compelled to pass on the wisdom he has gained. Major points out to the animals that there life is one of misery with most of their time devoted to the gain of others, primarily Farmer Jones. Major tells the animals of his vision of a farm not run by humans but instead by animals. In this utopian society, no animal will be over worked or under fed because all of their toil and work will be for their own collective gain. Major advises that sometime in the future, the Animals must band together and make the utopia a reality, and that is just what the animals do......

Animal Farm is an allegory about communism as viewed through the eyes of George Orwell (Eric Blair). It has been rumored that the two conflicting leaders on the farm young boars named Snowball and Napoleon are actually based off of former Russian leader and Politician Joseph Stalin and Politician Leon Trotsky. Like Stalin and Trotsky Snowball and Napoleon are at constant odds and are always trying to move the farm in opposite directions with the price for their bickering being bore by the other animals on the farm.

The Good: This was a good short read lending insight to how Communism can and did unfold. I think "Animal Farm" provides readers with the most painless and to the point outline of Stalinist Russia available even though it is in allegory form. It isn't trying to point out all the details but just trying to show you the briefest version of the big picture.

The Bad: Nothing really comes to mind. It certainly isn't the most action packed book but that doesn't really appear to be what Orwell was aiming for.

Overall: Give "Animal Farm" a try. It is a quick, enjoyable read with a real moral behind it.

A sister of sorts to Orwell's monumental 1984, Animal Farm is an engrossing, entertaining, at times hilarious, and utterly scathing satire, a brilliantly aimed, razor-sharp literary poisoned dart. Although its target was Stalinist Russia (anybody who even paid a little bit of attention in their European History class could see the parallels), specificity hasn't dated this novel by an instant; As a darkly moralistic fable, its message still resounds with crystal clarity to this day (and all the days to follow, I imagine, until humanity falls off the face of the earth). What we have here is a depiction of hope at its most naïve, revolution at its most futile, fascism at its most dangerously subtle, and human (er, animal) nature at its most dangerously human. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the story is both hilarious and heartbreaking, full darkly skewed fairy tale dynamics and all-too-human characters. Plus, you can read the whole thing in one or two sittings. If they didn't make you read this in high school, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

This political fairytale is absolutely amazing! It is not so often that one can read about drunken pigs in the true sense of the word.

Even though the end of the story shows the pigs and humans playing cards together, a handful of human heroes believe, that the farm would go bankrupt sooner or later and pigsticking can't be avoided. And they are right, even despite the pigs beginning to walk on their hind legs, thus completing their transformation into undistinguishable creatures. Orwell in a masterly way leaves it for a reader to decide at the end, whether this transformation has been made into Homo sapiens or Homo sovieticus.

What amazes me most about this classic is the universality of its lessons. One cannot help but see a parallel in the gradual watering down of its 7 commandments to today's Bush Neocons slowly but methodically dismantling the great principles of our country's foundation (USA) and our great social structures, little by little. Before long, what was utterly unthinkable a while back is considered, accepted, embraced. Likewise, we continue to see, as in Orwell's day, the rewriting of history through a sinister use of language and phraseology to deceive and control. But without a valuable awareness of the past, we have no reference point and we are easily duped.

This book should be required reading for every human being, especially during this time of dangerous apathy. Even students, once relied upon to be the cutting edge of protest, today rally behind the hit song, "Waiting for the World to Change"--just waiting it out instead of participating.

Truly there is nothing new under the sun, as Orwell's allegory illustrates. We just need to be aware--and there is enough history behind us that we could easily BE aware. Because if we're not, woe are we.

We were forced to read this in school, though I forgot which grade. Well, I was surprised that I couldn't actually put it down and read ahead of the class, finishing it up before anyone else. It really is a great and true classic. Everyone should read this. On the surface you may think it is just as the title suggests, a book about animals who take over a farm from their humans. However, if you look deeply, you will see that it is much more. Allegory upon allegory is subtley thrust at you, some I got, some only after my teacher explained things furthur for us. I read this years ago and still remember everything. It is quite fascinating when you actually think about it. You just need to take a closer look. For a short, but powerful book, everyone should read it.

George Orwell was a socialist who found the "socialism" of the USSR shockingly abysmal and nauseating. To the author, they were not following the "true" tenets of socialism. So much so that the country was spiraling towards two polar opposites: depravity, despair, greed, frugality, sated, starving. Such is the truth, and story that the author so greatly transcribes in Animal Farm. The book is astounding in its simplicity. However, the simple story is a profound one. The book is far from boring, and grips you with curiosity as to what on the farm will happen next. Every person should read this short work of art.

This is one of those "must reads". There is no excusing the reading of this book since it is only 139 pages. The lessons learned are invaluable and anyone who cares about their own nation should take the time to see the wisdom contained inside this novella. What is frightening to me is it makes me wonder who really won the cold war.

It's the classic everyone knows: a disillusioned Orwell satirizing socialism/communism. But it can more broadly be labeled a criticism of human nature - avarice and our quest for power. It can be applied to all states throughout history of every economic and political system. Read it as a response to the promise of the American Dream and general prosperity and equality, and it still works."

Animal Farm by George Orwell

I first read this book 10 years after I was out of high school. I remember my high school english instructor saying something along these lines, "I see no reason to have you read Animal Farm." Of course this was the same instructor pushing Clinton/Gore bumper stickers on us for extra credit (kind of like telling kindergardners you'll give them as many Jolly Ranchers as they want if they vote clinton/gore). I was young, impressionable, and living with two far left parents (they both voted for Mondale for God sake). Years later I was actually listening to Michael Savage while in grid lock traffic. He was talking about our current political climate and discussing it in relation to Animal Farm (I had no frame of referance). I was still a far left little wacko myself and was only listening to Savage so I could argue with him (Portland Oregon has a way of doing that to impressionable youth). This was the moment I started to awake from my fog. I decided to purchase this fine book (got it used right here on Amazon for less than a dollar).

If you want specifics about the story this is the wrong review for you. Instead I am going to focus on what this story did to open my eyes. I began to read this book and amazingly my entire political universe changed. Why did my high school teacher decide this book wasn't important. If anything the story is historical in that it describes the reality of the American mind during the cold war. How was this book tossed aside so easily by teachers who were supposed to be teaching me to think for myself? The clouds started to lift from my eyes. I began to realize that I had been blindly following like the rest of the sheeple. That's when I started reading, thinking, not believing statements just because so and so said so.

I eventually gave this book away at a garage sale. It was hard for me to part with this tathered old library copy of Animal Farm. The old horse (Boxer was his name right?) who kept trying to work harder for the Marxist Pigs; only to be sold for slaughter once his usefulness to the Pigs had come to an end. It reminds me of the middle class who say to themselves "I must work harder" in our current society to maintain their current standard of living. Will we as Americans end up at the financial slaughter house because of the free trade practices of semi socialist government? Most don't realize that Marx expressed the need for free trade in letters to Engels in order to bring down the bourgeois.

The pigs preached in the beginning that "four legs good, two legs bad." Sounds like the nonsense that disseminates like a disease from the Repugnicans and Demoncrats. They both spew their hate and promise change. Yet somehow just like the pigs they both end up walking on two legs in the end. The end of the book states that men were with the pigs (playing cards I believe). They started to fight and their countanences were the same.

This book is a must read if your teacher just so happened to leave this off your high school reading list. Originally written to depict communism. How sad that you can see communism spreading into our own society now.