I thought this book was a
pleasurable read. It had a very unique plot which made it very interesting to
you read and helped simplify the issue. However, I usually enjoy more of an
exciting book, and this plot was mostly predictable, however they may be my
fault for looking into it too much, because it seemed pretty obvious at most
points what was going to happen. I was a little disappointment with the actual
literature too. I was expecting this to be a more advanced book because of the
popularity of it and the awards that it had won. I thought the actual
literature and plot were around a Middle School level, and though it had a
unique plot, I think you could make the argument that this book was overhyped.
I liked what George Orwell did with each character representing someone in
Russia, such as the two pig leaders, Napoleon and Snowball, are represent
Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. However, I think that with the actual acts of
communism, they were too blatantly obvious about which parts were supposed to
represent communism. In the middle of a speech being given by Snowball, on page
53, the book says “Napoleon stood up and, casting a peculiar sidelong look at
Snowball uttered a high pitch whimper.” Then in the next paragraph it says “Nine
enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They
dashed straight for snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape
their snapping jaws.” It also was very repeatable, as there were three times in
this book that a commandment was changed for a higher standard of living for
the upper class. It would have been more interesting if you had to discover the
signs, like in real communism, where it is not as predictable and obvious. The
ending, although it was interesting, didn’t quite come together completely. I would say that this book is a nice short
read, however it wasn’t something that you could delve into or obsess over. It
was nice to read but didn’t quite reach my expectations.
(Napoleon and the person he symbolizes, Joseph Stalin)
I enjoyed it, but still...
I also read Animal Farm and I shared many of the same thoughts. I think that the book was not boring, but it was not very interesting either. Obviously the deeper meaning is important, but it was still relatively simple. I feel like it was an exact comparison to Russia, and there was no new story lines.
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