Reviews with content warning for Murder - Animal Farm

This is proof that short books can tell great stories. It was interesting to read a classic dystopian satire. It is amazing how closely the events and story of Animal farm mirrored that of the rise of Stalin and communist Russia. I would have enjoyed the book more if we got more of the thoughts from the other animal (not Neapolitan). I also would have enjoyed finding out what ended up happening to Snowball. Its a book that you can read easily in one day.

Content Warnings

quillify_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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jaspergraves's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is one of the books I consider a must-read. It is slow, but slow for a reason.

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lawbooks600's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Representation: N/A
Score: Nine points out of ten.
I own this book.

So I finally read Animal Farm. When I found it at a library, I initially didn't want to read it, so I put it off for a while, but I could now order a copy for myself. So I did. Soon enough, Animal Farm arrives and I immediately had to pick it up and read it. When I finished it, it was one of my favourite novels. Who knew one of the last novels I read in 2023 was outstanding?

It starts with the first characters I see (the author introduced to me them all at once) like Old Major who, in the opening pages, convinces the other animals to revolt against the farmers who oppressed them for so long. His efforts were successful as the animals rioted at Manor Farm, expunge the owners and rename it to Animal Farm (hence the title.) Once they did, Snowball took over and established a new ideology: Animalism (which sounds like Communism.) Here's where Animal Farm shines: All the characters are allegories for historical figures and some events reflect the ones that happened in real life. It's such a brilliant fictional work, not to mention Animal Farm is a satire that works despite its lack of humour (because everything is an exaggeration.) Toward the latter half, Napoleon quietly takes over Animal Farm from Snowball by spreading propaganda and subtly changing the rules until they are a far cry from what they originally were. The ending was shocking as one dictatorship of farmers replaced another (an elite group of pigs ruling over other animals.) How chilling.

Content Warnings

mrsjburgin's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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chiaradg's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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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