By George Orwell
ABHISHEK Publications, ©2021
ASIN: B0DCNXJTDH
Kindle Version, file size 29690 KB
I’d never read this book before. It was not required reading when I was in school. I’m not sure why I chose to read it now, other than it was a classic title on the banned books list, and I vowed to read 6 banned books this year. (This is number 4.) While Animal Farm didn’t face a country-wide ban, it was certainly on the banned list in at least a few states and is widely considered to be controversial.
I can see why.
I read Animal Farm just after the Democratic changeover in the U.S. Presidential campaign from Biden to Harris, and the resulting Republican response, so that gives you a clear idea of what was going on in the American elections landscape. I try hard not to be political in my social media or in my blog posts/reviews, so I’m not going to go into detail about my own political opinions here.
What I will say is that this book, originally intended to be about the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia of 1917, seems as though it could have been written about the current political situation in its themes that focus on topics of social class, the struggle for power, and the betrayal of ideals. Promises made by the pigs (the self-appointed leaders of the animals), then broken, are revised by the pigs and re-fed to the animal populace in confusing ways so that the animals are never sure what the real truth is. (Sound familiar?) In the end, the other animals can’t tell the pigs apart from humans, who are (by the pigs’ earlier declarations) The Enemy.
I have to admit that it was difficult to read this book. At times, it made me feel ill, and I had to put it down. The work is short, but it took over a week to finish. By the time I hit the 75% mark, I couldn’t wait to read the last page–not because it was so compelling (though it was that, for sure, in a twisted sort of way), but because it was so upsetting. I recommend this book specifically *because* it is upsetting. It points out, in crystal clear metaphors, what is happening today, not just in the U.S. political scene, but in countries worldwide.