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A review by freezersburnt
Animal Farm by George Orwell

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

As an animal lover it's clear how big the book depends on stereotypes and the idea of how an animal society would function to deliver its metaphor for discrimination with classes and overall suppression of intelligence to maintain a comfortable hierarchy for those at the top.
The pigs are used as the focal point of what determines a villain and I found it rather tasteless, leaning into the idea of how gross, greedy, and gluttonous they are to depict those at the top. The metaphor is very obvious and void of any true thought behind it. It feels to me the writer wrote more based on a 1 to 1 experience than trying to keep in mind how animals actually are and creatively utilize it. It's apparent to me that if there was more focus on making the book perhaps twice as long and making the obvious ending more of a subtle build up it could've been better. Caring about how animals are in real life more than to just serve a thematic purpose would enhance it too. But instead it's even used for plot convenience, stating animals that were previously educated quickly forget what they've learned over stretches of time after one simple session of gaslighting ensues. I can only imagined this was meant to be justified under the idea that animal memory is seemingly nonexistent. Overall, the book is very surface level, and paints animals in a demeaning light, but serves it purpose and delivers a message that is still worth telling and makes more entertaining to read under characters that are not human providing a somewhat whimsical tone.
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