#4 Animal Farm, George Orwell

I picked this book up at work a day that I forgot my currently-reading title at home. A number of copies were being returned and I thought to myself, "I really ought to read that!" It was a quick read, and another notch on my bookshelf. I wasn't particularly impressed, though. Orwell fashioned a moralistic tale of warning into a detailed and timely story, but I think it's a little stuck in its time. Without having the immediate context of political actions of the Soviets to compar...more I picked this book up at work a day that I forgot my currently-reading title at home. A number of copies were being returned and I thought to myself, "I really ought to read that!" It was a quick read, and another notch on my bookshelf. I wasn't particularly impressed, though. Orwell fashioned a moralistic tale of warning into a detailed and timely story, but I think it's a little stuck in its time. Without having the immediate context of political actions of the Soviets to compare to the actions of the pigs, the warning becomes esoteric and hypothetical. I think this would be a brilliant read to pair with a history class looking at the eastern European scene surrounding WWII, but not one for your English teacher to assign. The writing is concise, with a good balance of detail and forward movement. The tone is detached, unemotional and calls to mind journalistic styling as is appropriate for the purpose of the book. As I said, though, the impact of the book is reliant on detailed knowledge of the time in which it was written. I look forward to reading other writings from Orwell.