I have just realised this is the first fiction book I’ve read in 2 years. That needs to change. I love reading non fiction but think I need to balance it a bit better with fiction. Maybe that is why I read this book so quickly. As well as the fact it’s only just over 100 pages. But still I forgot how much I love a good fiction book.
Animal Farm of course is a classic. I have read George Orwell’s 1984 five years ago. Knowing I always feel like there’s a message or comparison to politics that I’m missing because I don’t follow it that closely but slowly I am learning (by googling a lot of the terminology especially in the Apendix by George Orwell which I wish had been the foreward to give me a bit more understanding about the setting. It turns out this had originally been the preface but was never included in the original book and discovered after his death).
I preferred this book to 1984. One thing that I took from this book was just how hard this book hits home about life lessons. What I take from this book is how many people live their life the way the animals on the farm live. Always being told things will get better and believing it. In this book the animals are stupid but hardworking. The pigs and dogs are the smart ones which end up in control exploiting the hard working animals. That’s a lot like real life.
There was some quite sad bits in this book like when Boxer dies or how ruthless Napoleon is as a leader. I was always waiting for a twist of some sort ready for the happy ending but this book was written over 70 years ago at the end of the second world war and doesn’t have a happy ending. I think that’s partly what I love about classic books that have stood the test of time. They give an insight into the psyche and mindset of people at the time.
Reading about George Orwell in the second Apendix certainly shows he went through a lot. Sometimes I do despair a little at humanity, how we choose to live and what is deemed important. But that’s another reason I love these sort of books. It puts things in perspective. I think the older I get, the faster life is passing me by and this book brought that message home to me with the journey I am taking through life. In the end all the animals look forward to retirement. But none of them ever get there.
Like I said, a sad book with no happy ending. One that must be read.
Favourite quotes from the book:
All animals are equal but some are more equal than others. – Page 97
Overall: 72%