23 - Animal Farm, by George Orwell, 95 Pages, Penguin Books, 1945
WHY I PICKED IT: It was a book club book in 2003, but I hadn't read it... and intended to. Then my friend Jafo mentioned it, and reminded me that I wanted to read it.
ELAPSED TIME: 2 days.
RATING: Good.
An allegory of Communist Russia, the animals overthrow the humans and seek to build their own utopia... but that is slowly eroded by the Pigs (who are smarter than the other animals) until you can't tell the difference between the Communists and the Capitalists. The failure of the USSR was because it put too much power in the hands of too few people. That Orwell could see that in 1945 is fantastic. That being said, I couldn't get into the story of the animals on the farm... The whole time I was reading it, I knew I was reading a political message when what I would have wanted is a story (Ayn Rand's capitalist manifestos do a much better job of conveying a political perspective through a story - even if I wholeheartedly disagree with the perspective she espoused).
This blog is a simple review of every book that I read... For all books I’ll tell you why I picked it, how long it took me to read it, and give it a rating (burn it, not good, meh, good, very good, and required reading). I ask (encourage?) all readers of my blog to post their thoughts of any of the books in my comments :). Thanks!
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