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Loading... Animal Farm (Penguin Modern Classics)by George Orwell
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This should be required reading for all humans. ( )Once written as a parody of the communist system, it actually works just as well as a contemporary parody of Corporate America. The pigs are ingrained in the corporate culture – from Wall Street to Big-Box-Marts – and there is no shortage of dumb horses working to death to support them. Certainly not the author’s intent, but an extension that makes sense to anyone who has seen how small cliques of egomaniacs have managed to plunder the companies they drove into bankruptcy. Barring an unexpected accelerated evolution of human nature, this is a classic that will forever remain relevant (and entertaining). Orwell's other work is so powerful in its directness that one wonders why he chose to use a barnyard metaphor here, but there's no denying how well it works. The man's satire is without equal. I would like to start off by saying that this is one of the greatest books I have ever read. It is just genius. There is no comparison by any other book to the political satire and very impressive representation and symbolism to that found within one of George Orwell's masterpieces. The thing that is most incredible about this novel is that the implications of it are literally everything. The explicit story has no meaning except the implicit, underlying statements. In my opinion, no one has ever managed to attack a form of government as cleverly and thoughtfully as Orwell does in "Animal Farm". His implications about the terrors of a Communist government do wonders in revealing the "true story" about this government type's history and motives. Governments such as the one represented in this book by pigs try to portray the idea that they are really trying to do something good and productive for society. However, this piece effectively shows that this is all just a huge lie. But the true genius behind it is that this is not explicitly stated. Animal representations are used to get ideas across, but in no way are these ideas subtle. They stick out for everyone to see and do a great job of revealing basic truths. "Animal Farm" is absolutely one of the greatest political statements in history. The satire and rhetoric in Animal Farm led to an interesting story with a great underlying connection to the real world. Orwell got a serious agenda across in a fun and playful way. The animals Orwell chose and the names given to the animals were ingenious because the personalities and qualities of the animals accurately represented real-life people. The most emotional part of the book was when Benjamin was killed. This sad act reflects on how the communists killed/punished those who couldn't work and those who were too intellectual. Animal Farm presents complex issues in a simple way that even kids can understand. The book was great but it wasn't perfect, that's why I gave it 4 stars. The book lacked sophistication, I found it very plain. Nonetheless, I would recommend this book.
With an unusually piercing blare of trumpets from the Book-of-the-Month Club, whose co-selection for September it is, and with a resounding ruffle of publicity drums, an odd little book is published today.. There is nothing so startlingly brilliant about this quite elementary fable, it seems to me, to justify a tempest in anything larger than a teacup. 'Animal Farm' may be taken as the most compact and witty expression of the left-wing British reaction to Soviet Communism... [Orwell] writes absolutely without coyness or whimsicality and with such gravity and charm that 'Animal Farm' becomes an independent creation, standing quite apart from the object of its comment. The qualities of pathos in the tale of the betrayal of the animals -- in the account, for example, of Boxer, the faithful horse -- would compel the attention of persons who never heard of the Russian Revolution.'' George Orwell, a talented leftist writer, has emerged as one of Britain's best satirists. Britons, chuckling at his new book, Animal Farm, a 92-page laugh-and thought-provoking satire on Communism and the Soviet Union, are calling its author the most brilliant political satirist since Swift.
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)
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