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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780151072552
Edition: 2nd Print
ISBN: 0151072558
Label: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: November 20, 1990
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Studio: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson
Product Description:
George Orwell’s famous satire of the Soviet Union, in which “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
Average Rating: 
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Entertaining and very insightful. Quick read and will keep you hooked right up till the end.
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This was a school book requirement that I found cheaper on amazon than purchasing at the local book store.
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This book is excellent characterization of the differences of democracy and capitalism. The animals are used to help us picture humans in different types of societies. A very engrossing book although hard to get into at first.
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i read this way back in middle school ... i remembered that i liked the story although i could only remember the bare gist ... re-read it now in my late thirties, older and wiser that i am ... and i find the book brilliant ... it's a quick and fast read ... highly recommend ...
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Teenage readers will not even realize they are learning about government as they read George Orwell's classic tale of the struggle between right and wrong, citizenship and dictatorship. The animals of Farmer Jones' farm stage a coup and eventually take over the farm in the hope of leading a more democratic lifestyle where they can rule themselves without fear and cruelty. Ironically, just as they attempt to build their new society based on values and morals of fairness to all creatures, they actually end up creating a reflection of their former lives. The story comes full circle as the pig Napoleon takes the reigns and manipulates the farm animals to doing his bidding. Readers will love comparing the unrealistic Animal Farm to the all too real dictatorships of our existing world. This fast-paced novel is a quick read, but a definite "must read" for all high school students.
-- Reviewed by Susan Safra
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