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• An old pig named Major predicted a time when the poor, abused animals of a farm with rise against their cruel owners and rule mankind. He never lived to see his vision come true, because right after that, all the other pigs, the horses, dogs, sheep, cows, hens, and cats rebelled, took control of the farm, naming it Animal Farm.Things were going good. In fact, things were going great. The animals made their own anthem, their own flag, and their own commandments that every other animal had to live by. Among these were: All Animals are Equal, Animals Must Not Sleep in Beds or Wear Clothes, Never Drink Alcohol, and Never Kill Other Animals. This was a start to a great unity that will seemingly last forever.If only that’s what happened. Things start to go…wrong. Traitors are among the animals, the leaders start to get too powerful, and somehow the commandments are changing, but they still seem the same. For some reason, this “perfect” society that Major predicted doesn’t seem so good…</blockquote>I loved this book. It’s so much better than [1984] which I gave Four and a Half Stars. If I could go higher than Five Stars, I would give it an 8 ½. This may be a story a story about political confliction mirroring real life, but to me, it’s so much more than that. To me, it’s about the dystopian books I love so much: societies going bad. Real bad. Let me tell you why I loved it so much<blockquote><b><i><u>*****WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*****</blockquote></b></i></u>This kept reminding me of [The Lord of the Flies]. Now what Golding did is use innocent boys symbolizing pure humans and using that to symbolize why we are so evil. Orwell may or may not have had that in mind when he used animals, but that’s how I interpreted it. There’s a dream of freedom that the animals have, and the revolt and succeed. And because of all the evil in the world, the society collapses, but at the same time…survives and thrives.The first thing that went wrong is that there is a rule in the commandments that no animals shall sleep in beds. But the pigs do. Now since the pigs are so much smarter than all the other animals, they convinced them that the rule has always been: No Animals Shall Sleep in Beds <i>With Sheets</i>. Since all animals have beds of some sort, but not sheets, it’s alright to sleep in beds then. Nothing major, right? Another thing that happened is that towards the end of the book where the book is even more face paced than the previously, the pigs start drinking alcohol. Wait, was that against the commandments? No, the rule is that No Animals Shall Drink <i>to an Excess</i>. You see the pattern? And since all the other animals are so stupid, of course, they just forgot it or missed it.Backing up a little bit, there were to possible leaders: Napoleon and Snowball, both pigs. Snowball lost and Napoleon declared him a traitor and was a spy to their previous owner. Well, there was a slaughtering of animals, because so many things were going wrong, and a myriad of animals confessed that they did something horrible to the farm suggested by Snowball. Actually, most of them were pretty harmless, but if it was any way bad at all, they are dead. Even the dumbest of animals suddenly thought that there was a commandment that said no animal shall kill another. But no, they proved their stupidity, because the commandment actually said: No Animal Shall Kill Another <i>Without a Reason</i>. You see how Napoleon is changing the rules their supposed to live by?And then, at the very end, everything changes. The pigs wear clothes and walk on two legs, and those are both against the commandments. There’s no way the other animal can possibly miss that, because the sheep constantly chant, “Two legs good, Four legs bad.” But strangely they now say, “Two legs good, Four legs <i>Better</i>”. And all those commandments, it just gets replaced by one single commandment: All Animals are Equal, but Some Animals are More Equal than Others. Do you see the flaw in that? You can’t be equal and no equal at the same time. The society just went bad. And at the end, the pigs and humans looked exactly alike.<blockquote><b><i><u>*****END OF SPOILERS*****</blockquote></b></i></u>And for you how read the long spoilers, that’s why I love this book. I love flaws in characters and other things. You know why? Because it’s very natural to have flaws. Very Highly Recommended. You can learn a thing or two just like I did.<b>Rating: Five Stars *****

  5.00 out of 5

  DragonFreak

• This book to me stands as a very firm critique of Soviet fascism, while not attempting to devalue true equality and communism. Very deep allegory and a nice ending. The men and pigs are the same, and I couldn't agree more.

  5.00 out of 5

  Ancirawr

• An astonishing fable about animals who rebel against men - in fact, the most ferocious - and humorous! - book about 1917's Russian Revolution and the horrible regimes in Soviet Russia that followed the event. Orwell was truly a visionary - his novel '1984' is inbelievably revealing - and a great writer who knows how to tell a story. A must-read classic.

  5.00 out of 5

  frizero

• One night all animals at the farm had a meeting. That night a vision about new better living is given to the animals by a pig named Major. They were being mistreated by Mr. Jones, working hard and badly fed. All the animals would be equal, not working too hard; they would have a day off and a better food. Everyone saw it like a great idea and so the animals overtook the farm. Their leaders were two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball. For some time all was well, every animal was content with the changes, but then, after a while they noticed that they were working as hard as before, food was not enough except for the pigs. So when the animals spoke up, they got the answer from the pigs that it’s all right and most likely your memory is bad...I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but it is funny, sad and rich with allegories, a truly brilliant fairy tale for adults. It is a short read; you can read it in a couple of hours. Classics, that everyone should read!

  5.00 out of 5

  liibooks

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