Animal Farm

Summary:

George Orwell’s classic book on the horrors of communism told through an allegorical satire about personified animals who take over a small farm.

Review:

It’s hard to be mad at this little book. Orwell did such a great job of making the characters feel real, even though they are talking animals on a farm. It becomes very clear within a page or two that the story will be satire and he nails the genre.

The story reveals the terrible horrors that took place under Joseph Stalin and the events leading up to the Russian Revolution. The pigs are the animals in charge and they use several tactics to brainwash the rest of the animals, then change the “facts” whenever they need to in order to support their lies - convincing the animals the facts were never the prior way to begin with.

I first read Animal Farm when I was in middle school, then once more in high school. This is the first read since then and it holds up. I’d say it’s not my favorite book, but it’s a great example of how to write satire and how one can use fiction to speak about heavy topics.