Name: Vojtech's review of Animal Farm by George Orwell
Item: Animal Farm
Rating: 5
Author: Vojtech

George Orwell

A satire on totalitarianism in which farm animals overthrow their human owner and set up their own government

A Fairy Story

Animal Farm

Luca Stromann

No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?

Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.

Gabi🌸🌷

Sve su životinje jednake, ali neke su životinje jednakije od drugih.

Dvanaest glasova bijesno je vikalo , i svi su bili jednaki. Sada je bilo jasno što se promijenilo u izgledu svinja. Pogled životinja koje su vani stajale klizio je od svinje do čovjeka, od čovjeka do svinje, ali već je bilo nemoguće raspoznati tko je svinja, a tko čovjek.

Lukas

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing

Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless elite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control.

Kathi

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others

拉亚

The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.

There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word-Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. 

Selina 

Hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.

When you don't look closely at what is right in front of you. This part always breaks my heart.

Elizabeth Park

"Fools! Fools!" shouted Benjamin, prancing round them and stamping the earth with his small hoofs. "Fools! Do you not see what is written on the side of that van?"

Die Revolution frisst ihre Küken! «Kein Tier soll seinesgleichen je tyrannisieren. Schwach oder stark, schlau oder schlicht, wir sind alle Brüder. Kein Tier soll je ein anderes töten. Alle Tiere sind gleich.» So Old Major, der preisgekrönte Middle-White-Eber. Doch allen guten Absichten zum Trotz kommt alles anders. Auf der Farm, wo die Tiere in Gleichheit und wechselseitigem Respekt zusammenleben wollten, herrscht bald Ungleichheit, Ausbeutung und Unterdrückung. Denn «manche Tiere sind gleicher als andere.» – Orwells zeitkritische, auf Stalin gemünzte Parabel hat ihre Zeitlosigkeit längst erwiesen. 2021 erscheint der moderne englische Klassiker in der Neuübersetzung Ulrich Blumenbachs mit einem exklusiven Nachwort von Eva Menasse. In «Farm der Tiere» nahm George Orwell, der Vater Courage der modernen britischen Literatur, eine der größten real existierenden Sauereien des 20. Jahrhunderts auf die Mistschippe – die Pervertierung der Idee von Gleichheit und Brüderlichkeit in brutalem Gesinnungsterror. Sein Buch, 1945 erschienen und bis heute Pflichtlektüre für jeden politisch denkenden Menschen, schildert anschaulich, dass kein noch so hehres Wunschbild davor gefeit ist, von skrupellosen Demagogen in sein Gegenteil verkehrt zu werden. Und die Moral von der Geschicht‘? – Die Revolution frisst ihre Küken. Die Neuausgabe enthält Orwells Essay «The Freedom of the Press», einst als Vorwort zu «Animal Farm» verfasst – ein grandioses Plädoyer für intellektuelle Redlichkeit.

Neu übersetzt von Ulrich Blumenbach, mit einem Nachwort von Eva Menasse

Farm der Tiere

Celine

* Vidkun Jonssøn Quisling (r887-1945), zwischen r931 und r933 nor- weg. Verteidigungsminister, anschließend Parteigründer und -führer der faschistischen Nasjonal Samling, die während der Nazi-Besatzung die einzige zugelassene Partei Norwegens war: Sein Name dient seither nicht nur im Engl. als Synonym für einen Landesverräter und Kollaborateur.

Rezensenten, die sich auf die Kunst der Verunglimpfung verstehen, werden es natürlich nicht aus politischen, sondern aus literarischen Gründen zerfetzen. Sie werden sagen, es sei ein dröges, albernes Buch und eine schändliche Papierverschwendung. Das mag sogar stimmen, ist aber offenkundig nur die halbe Wahrheit. Man sagt nicht, ein Buch „hätte nicht veröffentlicht werden dürfen“, bloß weil es schlecht ist 

Alle Tiere sind gleich, aber manche Tiere sind gleicher als andere. 

Die Tiere bildeten zwei Lager unter den Parolen Wählt Schneeball und die Dreitagewoche» und «Wählt Napoleon und den vollen Futtertrog». 

Das besondere Charakteristikum des Menschen ist die Hand. Sie ist das Instrument mit dem er all sein Unheil anrichtet

«Vier Beine gut, zwei Beine schlecht.» Das sei der Grundgedanke des Animalismus

Inês Lemos S.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.

All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.

It was as though the world has turned upside-down.

But they were conscious that they were not as other animals. If they went hungry, it was not from feeding tyrannical human beings; if they worked hard, at least they worked for themselves. No creature among them went upon two legs. No creature called any other creature “Master”. All animals were equal.

Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the words to express them.

Humanity and the greed of men makes me sick. Our lack of respect for other species on this planet and even for our own is disgusting. 

Stephanie 

BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

Vojtech

Ignatia Doringin

** spoiler alert **
           WOW. This book was so much better than I expected. I've meant to read this for far too long and stopped myself from reading any reviews, synopses, or anything about it. As someone unfamiliar with Orwell's work, I was TAKEN ABACK by the depiction of sooo many things in this society through the lens of animal characters. The exploration of social class, democracy, and (idk how to say this but) the selfishness of those in power was so PLEASANTLY striking.

Orwell depicts many of the characters very well and very meaningful. Living in Indonesia, Boxer, Clover, Benjamin, Squealer, and Moses (and I know this is pretty much half of the character lol) but they really really struck out. 

Boxer to me, represents the peasants and even the working class whos super loyal to the leaders they become ignorant of so many things. Oblivious of privileges, accepting the rules, the "leader" without much question. Basing everything of "hard work", when there is SO MUCH more factors at play. It was so devastating to see him end up how he ends. Yearning for "retirement", working hard, and believing it will all be paid off one day. "To tell you the truth, I had been looking forward to my retirement. And perhaps, as Benjamin is growing old too, they will let him retire at the same time and be a companion to me." DUDE it pains me to read this. And to know that Boxer lived his life with the mottos  "I will work harder" and  "Napoleon is always right". 

Clover on the other hand, to me represents many people with good morale and conscience but believes that she lacks the power or skills to voice her opinion, despite so many looking up to her  "If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on the night of Major's speech... Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the words to express them

Benjamin was.... interesting. Reading him makes me feel so FRUSTRATED and hopeful..? But then disappointed, but I don't really blame him for these emotions. Actually possesses intelligence and knew better despite all this, but chooses to remain apathetic. He wasn't much affected by the voices of Squealer (who I'll talk about in a bit) and many times (questionably) is aware of the propaganda and lies. But DECIDES not to get involved and remains indifferent to the events unfolding around him. He just didn't want to be bothered....... and reading him just makes me wish that I'll never end up like this.

Squealer is particularly interesting, I think he represents the media and how it shapes society's beliefs through propaganda. His role in manipulating and convincing other animals is reminiscent of the media's influence in our world today.

Finally there is Moses, I don't have much strong feelings about him. But I think he represents priests... that would motivate the people in believing something at the end of the world, ending with the animals holding his words when things get hard. "Their lives was now they reasoned, were hungry and laborious, was it not right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else?"

Overall it was a very GOOD thought-provoking novel. Very good portrayal and strong characters and scenes. The use of animal characters and very simple examples to convey these ideas are so unique and effective.

Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell. The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones’ Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals — inspired by his philosophy of Animalism — plot a rebellion against Jones. Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall…

I am happy that I picked it up while it was free on Amazon. I really enjoyed the read and did not know of anything beforehand and I am happy I did not.

Throughout reading I experienced more and more the gnawing feeling, watching the animals digging their own graves.

At a third I learned by myself, that this has to be a reflection of some kind of political situation (which it is).

Marc Emmanuel

I am happy that I picked it up while it was free on Amazon. I really enjoyed the read and did not know of anything beforehand and I am happy I did not.

Throughout reading I experienced more and more the gnawing feeling, watching the animals digging their own graves.

At a third I learned by myself, that this has to be a reflection of some kind of political situation (which it is).

I loved it.

The book is quite complex and layered. I picked it up knowingly nothing about it. Finished it in a day.

Priya Chauhan

Valentina

I finally finished this oh my god. I spent way too long on it considering its a relatively short book. The first half was honestly pretty boring and hard to get into. I wasnt a fan of the author’s writing style and thought everything he wrote was too “on the nose” and didn’t leave much room for conspiracy. However, the second half was a lot better i’d say, the writing choices suddenly fell into place and it ended up doing the complete opposite and left a lot of room for suspicion. The ending was my favorite part, it wrapped everything up very efficiently. Knowing this book discusses communism and/or marxism, I think it did a decent job at explaining how such a regime would work in a society (albeit a small and far from ideal one) and how it would fall apart if greed takes control and a person in power uses the people’s hatred and determination against them by manipulating them with their own values. 

tam 🕴️

poprika

What a great book, will be re-reading it again for sure, so eye openning and blood cooler.
Poor boxer 3

Callie Stull

I read this two years ago for my freshman English class. I absolutely hated it as a freshman. It is not my favorite style of reading and I don't recommend it for others who don't do well with slow books. I enjoy politics and I enjoy reading so you would think this would be something I would enjoy, but I just did not understand it and I had a hard time reading it. I have no idea if the dates are accurate for when I read the book, this is simply a guess.

Dimitris Papastergiou

This was a split moment rate. This was my second time around reading it, after more than a decade ago so I barely remembered anything and mostly towards the end it hit me what what's what and "Oh, right that's what happened".

Was going to give this one 3 stars, even halfway through it was good but pretty much a simple enough story, but towards the end it took off, and I guess it's what got me the last time too. 

So there's a farm and the animals have had it and there's a revolution against the humans...

Animals United is the deal here, and they're going to make it through on their own and all together like a fist.

Orwell makes pigs the leaders on this one, the ones who are smart, and the ones who with time get corrupt and take advantage of the other animals, what makes this sad and not sitting well with me, is that the pigs are the intelligent ones (duh) and also the ones who will boss around the other dumber animals and talk their way out of working and just give orders, all the while the animals that work and work and are decent and help around and sacrifice and forgive and forget are like the horses, donkeys or the chickens and are the ones who are basically dumb. 

Maybe one or two who even learned how to read, you can clearly see that whenever something happens that's not right, they're too tired to even say something or don't wanna get into more trouble as it is to stand up to wrong shit happening around. So there's no meddling into other's business as long as you work and you eat.

What's scary here is that the book tells you that the smart one in a group no matter what, at some point is going to take advantage of the dumb one, which incidentally is the good one too, all the while the good one is also the one that's loyal, and that's who's stupid or maybe not stupid per se, but the one who's too busy helping and working to sit down and learn anything else.

So the main problem here is that intelligence = corruption?! And stupidity = honest/hardworking and loyal?! 

Later on, the pigs use words and lies, misinformation and pretty much any form of propaganda to make everyone change their beliefs on any subject or lead them astray as to make them forget about the main thing, that they're being mistreated, manipulated and mislead from what's right, what used to be right and the truth.

Anyway, I'm going to stop now.. 

PS. Sad to see that the dogs, remained as always the ones that serve, doing whatever their owner orders them to do.

PS2. Of course pretty much everything here was an allegory, but still sad for the doggos.

PS3. Of course I liked it better when I was younger, now it seems too simplistic, but still relatable with all the fake news around and whatnot.

A beautiful graphic adaptation of George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." In 1945, George Orwell, called "the conscience of his generation," created an enduring, devastating story of new tyranny replacing old, and power corrupting even the noblest of causes. Today it is all too clear that Orwell's masterpiece is still fiercely relevant wherever cults of personality thrive, truths are twisted by those in power, and freedom is under attack. Now, in this fully authorized edition, the artist Odyr translates the world and message of Animal Farm into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel. Old Major, Napoleon, Squealer, Snowball, Boxer, and all the animals of Animal Farm come to life in this newly envisaged classic. From his individual brushstrokes to the freedom of his page design, Odyr's adaptation seamlessly moves between satire and fable and will appeal to all ages, just as Orwell intended.

The Graphic Novel

rumbledethumps

A great example of how to turn a classic novel into a graphic novel. Epitomizes the ideal of "show don't tell" and uses the medium of comics to perfectly to illuminate the ideas of Orwell`s magnificent novel.

La fattoria degli animali

Silvia Lucchini

Rilettura di uno dei più bei libri di Orwell, forse il più bello.

Lucy

I can't believe I've waited so long to read Animal Farm. In year 7, I always brought this book to school for our weekly free reading English class, but I never actually made it past the first chapter. Back then it felt long and unwieldly, and despite my determination, I never got more than a few pages in.

But I've finally done it.

This is a short book that starts out slow and wordy, and reads like a play by play of what occurs during and after a rebellion on the farm. 

The farm animals are sick of being overworked and underfed, and so they start an uprising and drive out the human folk off the farm. It all starts out very civil, with all animals being equal, and weekly meetings to discuss workloads, tasks, opinions, suggestions, and grievances. The animals work together as a group to work in the fields and bring in the harvest, as well as defending each other in the face of invading humans. But it all changes when Napoleon drives out his co-captain. Suddenly, rules and mantras are tweaked in such a way that the other farm animals notice and don't even realize it.

I was so incredibly sad for Boxer. He was so loyal to Napoleon, and such a hard worker, and his end truly broke my heart. He deserved so much better. 

I've known for a long time how the overall book ends, but I had no idea how it actually got there. So I'm glad I've finally finished this book. It has been a long time since my first attempt.

Nessa Luna

This was a very interesting and quick read and I really enjoyed it. (view spoiler)[I can't help but draw a comparison between this book and a nonfiction book I read a while back - the one about Jim Jones and Jonestown. Halfway through this book, I started to feel like this Animal Farm was slowly turning into a cult who worshipped this one pig called Napoleon and that is honestly why I enjoyed this book quite so much. Don't get me wrong, I think cults are awful and don't wish anyone to get involved in them, but reading about them has always kind of interested me somehow. (hide spoiler)]

Matija

I thought that this book was good when I read it 

Lexy 

Julia

This is a really great and thought I provoking book. I can see why it's a classic.

Cheri Fuller

I can't believe it took me this long to read this classic.

Modith D.

first thing is it me or did the pig remind you of stalin?
anyway this whole book seemed like a metaphor for communism and how human are sometimes no better than pigs
maybe i am taking this the wrong way and the author just hated pigs
who knows?
anyway a nice read deep if your into those kinda books
if i have any kids will use as a bed time story just to see there reactions

heleen de boever

At the surface, this is a simple and almost entertaining story. However, on its allegorical level and when situated in its political context - you realise this is no fiction. This is history, and that realisation left me both thoroughly distressed and incredibly sad. 

edit: I've been thinking, and maybe part of the reason why this book affected me so strongly is because I do, in fact, believe in the communistic ideal. This book however pinpoints and illustrates all the potential downfalls of such an ideal, and that's what made it so poignant to me.

Rebelion en la Granja

Daniel Carril

«Todos los animales somos iguales, pero unos son más iguales que otros». Pues eso.

Piyush Makwana

Depressing. 
Also It feels like a prequel to 1984 for some reason.

It may be a short book but wow, is it mighty. This book is excellently written and hooked me from the very beginning by getting straight to the point. A fantastic take on representing the modern human world and government filled with manipulation, cruelty, injustice and lies. This really is a book that stays with you. A true classic.

Miguel 

Excelente fábula de la Granja Manor. No solo es divertida, también te hace pensar en tantas figuras políticas. Corrupción, fuerza militar, engaños, populismo y transformación. De verdad que es muy buena.

the book explains a lot about certain political systems.

Duška

We looove a thinly veiled metaphor in this household

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Animal Farm by George Orwell

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