Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Animal Farm by George Orwell

27 reviews

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark informative medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Describes how corruption begins and power is misused. 
Starts off with a rebellion based on that humans are the enemy, but at the end the new "leader(s)" cannot really be distinguished from humans, showing that in the end they are as cruel as Mr. Jones himself.
Lots of manipulation by those in power, which shows how it is used to stay in power.

Good read. Had to get used to it though.
The writing is quite simple but the underlying message is conveyed in a clever way.
It was very obvious where the story was going from the beginning, but this was not a bad thing for this book, it is actually a good thing for this book.

"Man is the only enemy we have."

"All men are enemies. All animals are comrades".

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was an incredibly thought-provoking book from start to finish and something that I can see myself revisiting in the future.

I went into this knowing it was an allegory for Stalin's Russia, but knowing little about the USSR, I didn't know how that would present. I found it most interesting that we see a lot of Napoleon's early tactics in the politics of today, especially right-wing groups, I also find this parallel to be deeply unsettling in nature, and and wonder how long it will be before we are like the other farm animals of this book, if our real-world politics continue down the path they are on.

On a more personal note, I saw a lot of my past self within the character of Boxer, as well as a lot of people no longer in my life in Napoleon's character. It was slightly disconcerting as such an animal lover myself to draw these comparisons, but it did remind me of how far I've come in the past few years.

To end on a lighter note, I enjoyed reading about the dynamic between Boxer and Benjamin, and find myself wondering if the intention was to portray a queer love between the two male characters, or if that was just my brain. I did also find the characterisation of the cat to be perfect throughout.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark informative reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

books that make you feel like a broken-down horse. or perhaps a nihilistic ass.

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is probably my favourite book of all time. I have only read it twice so far and I can’t stop thinking about it. 
Small Spoiler Below
As a part of my grade 12 politics class, we watched a series of lectures called ‘The American Paradox’ by Heather Cox Richardson and it’s available free on youtube, and essentially it was american equality is based on inequality and the fear the becoming equal will make everything unequal. I though about this when I reached the ‘All animals are equal but some are more equal than other’ line and holy shit. (That was the series thesis and I read animal farm after that)

I loved the writing style and after I started reading I just kept reading. It also has a great audiobook version on spotify. I highly recommend this book to everyone. 

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