Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Animal Farm

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

silviriver's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

rainbowrocky's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

amanda_porfavor's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

knowh19's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.0

Content Warnings

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".

Content Warnings

gemstonejasper's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I picked this up for a read along. It was an impulse start at 2am. Read about half then went to bed and finished it just now (3pm). I liked it, but I probably won't read it again. I probably won't think about it much outside of if friends bring it up. I enjoyed 1984 by the same author, but didn't like this one as much. It really was just USSR history told satirical through farm animals. The animals had no real personalities, but were just caricatures of different mindsets and groups in the USSR. I think that was the point, but it wasn't my style.

I will say that though it's based on USSR history, I think parts of it could be relatable to modern places. I live in the US and I saw many similarities around patriotism, nationalism, "farm pride," and history turning to myth. Lots of gaslighting between the Pigs and other animals

Read it if it sounds good to you, but it's definitely not a must read for me

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