George Orwell | books and writing

Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Originally Read: 2002
Re-read: Jan. 5th, 2015

Each Thursday I’ll be featuring a book from my childhood, re-reading it and informally reviewing it. If you want to join in, please do and link me your post.

Synopsis:
Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose slogan becomes: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This 1945 satire addresses the socialist/ communist philosophy of Stalin in the Soviet Union.

This is a book that I love so very much. It’s one that I toss regularly at people, it’s a book that I think everyone needs to read. I first was introduced to Animal Farm in high school my senior year by friend of mine who was shocked that I hadn’t read it, and that it wasn’t on the required reading list for our AP English class. I picked it up from the library and read it in a matter of maybe an hour and a half–then re-read it soon after to fully digest everything that’s going on. It’s a slim book, an easy read on first pass, but once you start to make connections between these characters and the historical figures that they match up with, suddenly everything seems to open up.

To me this is a book that once read is one that sticks around for a long time. It’s teachings are applicable to today’s world just as much as the era of Stalin, Marx and the rise of the Communist culture. The narrative is subtle, things changing without realization, until the reader is very much caught up in the story going along with everything that’s happening. The last scene/lines of this book are forever burned into my brain while the pigs are with the men, and the other animals have a hard time distinguishing between the two.

Frankly, Animal Farm is a book that needed to be written, and it’s a book that needs to be read by everyone. It stands the test of time, and can be applied to today’s society and I really just want everyone to read it so I can talk to them about it.

Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell

Rating:

Synopsis:
Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while the year 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions. A legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.

“WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”

This is simply one of the most terrifying books I’ve ever read. Written in 1948, Orwell creates the ultimate dystopian world that makes everything else pale in comparison. Even now with the up-swell of dystopian books in modern literature. This book is written in such a way that the reader is swept up in this world where everything is regulated, including the way one thinks. Everything is policed, nothing is done of your own free will. That’s what scares me the most, is that even your thoughts aren’t your own.

This book and the characters got into my head. In fact I’m having a really hard time talking about it. It’s that cerebral that memorable-that messed up. There’s a love story, there’s war but above all else there is fear. Fear and conformity. I’ve read Animal Farm, and loved that story–and in a way the two parallel each other. Animal Farm while disturbing and up front in it’s motives outlines the same themes that 1984 does. It’s a little more watered down, a little more subtle. In 1984 Orwell smacks us with a massive story and there’s no denying what’s going on.

Overall: read this book. Read this book. Read.This.Book.