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Holistic Guidance - Animal Farm (Signet Classics)
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List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $9.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780451526342
ISBN: 0451526341
Label: Signet Classics
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: 1996-04-01
Publisher: Signet Classics
Release Date: 2004-01-06
Studio: Signet Classics
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Editorial Reviews:
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Orwell's brilliant 1946 satire, chronicling a revolution staged by the animals on Mr. Jones's farm.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Animalism! Yes?
Comment: How did I not receive this book as required reading back in high school? Well now that I've picked it up, I realize that I would have enjoyed it then as much as I did now. This thinly veiled (perhaps obvious) critique on the government at the time in Russia provokes many questions on the legitimacy of any government and the inability for communism to operate effectively. The animals band together to overthrow the evil "human" to form their own government - animalism, where all animals are created equal. This belief is reinforced in the seven commandments of animalism. However, corruption and power struggles quickly impede on the central tenets of animalism.
This story reads like an extended Aesop's Fable with messages much more poignant than "slow and steady wins the race" adding a biting satiric wit to it all. This is altogether a facinating allegory to the way Soviet Russia was; yet, it still remains unbelievably revelant in today's society. After all, "All animals are equal (but some animals are more equal than others)."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Timely reading because the world is still not free
Comment: Better (?) than a horror movie because it's real. Monarchy, revolution, communism, state capitalism. Sound familiar? Check the Olympics.
Animal Farm catches you off guard with the animal characters, sucks you in and keeps the plot fast. History of the Soviet revolution in an hour of entertainment. But it quickly ceases being entertaining, and becomes very realistic. Ride up the roller coaster of genuine hope that communism could work, and then down into the depths of war and murder. Finally, settle into a gray, hopeless dictatorship that lasted 70 years for the USSR, but repeats itself in other countries today. If you want the power of irony, this is about as powerful as it gets: these animals do kill each other (if not their own species). Pigs! Sounds like ... people.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Allegory Lacking In Positive Vision
Comment: Although I think Orwell accomplished what he intended in Animal Farm (a tight, crisp, seemingly flawless allegory of the horrors of pre-Soviet and Soviet Russia and the dangers of Stalinist totalitarianism), I still only give the book three stars, because I WANT MORE!
I want a book that does more than just criticize a system. I want a book that offers a vision for something greater. Although they say Orwell was a socialist, I feel this book risks leaving the reader to default into thinking that a capitalist system like the modern one is the best, because "it works." No wonder this book is assigned en masse to public high school students in America - or was, at least, when I was in high school in the 1980s. Yuck!
I don't like this book because it's utterly depressing: it offers no hope. It's just an endless spiral into misery. I want a vision of a society that is beautiful, that isn't destructive, where hope and healing are real, where exploitation is not the byword of the day.
My answer: I see our hope in healing our childhood traumas, working out our ancient rage and our ancient fantasies that our traumatizing parents will rescue us. If the masses of humanity work out these inner demons then capitalism crumbles, totalitarianism is rendered irrelevant, war becomes moot - and beauty can rise to the surface.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perhaps The Easiest Read For The Most To Be Gained
Comment: The story is well described in the other reviews, especially in the first one above from the professional reviewer, but I do find it necessary to point out a few observations:
First: George Orwell is a literary genius. There's a reason why he graces the cover of the book: Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept). If you liked "Animal Farm", "1984" is going to knock you into another thought paradigm.
Secondly, and more important: Whether you read about "Animal Farm" from the professional reviewers, Cliff Notes, or in the introduction to the book itself, there is one self-imposed "limitation" that stays consistent throughout, and that is the sovereign state Orwell has in mind when he wrote "Animal Farm" (or "1984" for that matter)is the Soviet Union. While this may be true, the bigger and more relevant point is getting missed. This bigger and more relevant point is that for ANY sovereign nation, when there is a change of power in its governance (for its betterment), it is ALWAYS the case, I repeat, it is ALWAYS the case that the new governance will gradually become the same as the one it replaced. Look no further than the United States of America. The 1776 rebels overthrew the British tyrant, King George III, mostly due to oppressive business practices, taxes and lack of representation. And look where we are today, in 2008! Corporations rule. Taxes, which we already fought one war over, are exorbitant, and Congress is simply a millionaires club representing the wealthy.
How do we know that George Orwell saw this happening? Because he worked in the BBC and the BBC was spewing the SAME propaganda that the Soviet Union was using. How do we know this? Because writer Martin Esslin worked at the BBC at the same time as Orwell and he wrote that this was the case! For further reference, see my review of the book: U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960 (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication).
So the point, as is the point with ALL my reviews is this: Become a CRITICAL THINKER!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Animal Farm-Book
Comment: The book was in great condition and was promptly delivered. I highly recommend using you guys again.
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