I love George Orwell's novels Animal Farm and 1984
927555
I love George Orwell's novels Animal Farm and 1984.  I just wish I had completely read 1984.  Now I can.  Thank you so much.  I highly recommend this product.
1652368
I read Keep the Aspidistra Flying and it is a very, very good book and I liked it and I like George Orwell because he convincingly created the character of Gordon Comstack and it was real because Gordon is such a life like character, (to be honest, he reminds me of me), so read Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
4316408
At the time of Animal Farm's, and 1984's first publish, certain European powers were on the rise.  George Orwell seems to have been the only one ready enough and intelligent one to take on Hitler and Stalin.  While  others hid in their cupboards in fear of an air raid.  Orwell spent longs  hours at his desk putting on the finishing touches to his masterpieces.  Even if Hitler had taken over the world (thank God he didn't), Orwell would  have been there making the brainwashed realize the evil and wrong doing  behind the Nazi beliefs.  In my personal opinion, Orwell affected World War  II as much as Eisenhower and Churchill did.  Only he made people, years  later, remember just how important freedom, life, liberty, and a caring  government really are.
1372647
The book Animal Farm by George Orwell was about communism and how it worked.  The author is definitely against communism because the book mocks it.  Animal Farm is a fictional book that describes the real world just by using animals.
 This book made me just think about all the countries that are for communism and I just feel bad for all the people who have to live like that.  I do not think communism is right and that people should be free and not have to be told what to do by a leader.  I also did enjoy the book but when the leader would start using fear to get the people to work it made me a little upset because I know that this stuff is happening in the real world.
 In Animal Farm, an old boar on the farm gathered all the animals in one room, while the farmer was sleeping, and told them that there was going to be a rebellion and the animals were going to take over the farm.  The animals motto was all animals are equal and shall never be or do anything like a human.  The old boar died and a couple days later the rebellion happened, the animals were fighting back against the farmer and ran him off the farm.  After this, they sang their song that the old boar taught them.  A few days later the farmer returned to try taking his farm back, but the animals were too strong and drove him off the farm again.
 One of the leaders wanted to build a windmill for electricity in the winter, but the other did not.  They could not agree on what they wanted and the one who did not want to build the windmill had a pack of dogs run the other leader of the farm.  Later the other leader ended up wanting to build the windmill and admitted that the other leader stole the plan from him.  They built the windmill and the farmer came and blew it up with a bunch of men.
 After two more years they finally had the windmill up and running but all the pigs, who were the leaders, had used the dogs to scare the animals into working or they would be killed.  And they had began walking like humans, sleeping in their beds, and sitting in chairs like humans too.  And lastly the leader wrote on the barn in big white painting All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
 The character that I hated the most was Napoleon the leader of all the animals.  He would use fear to enslave the ones below him.  He didn't give all the animals a chance to be free.  My favorite character was Boxer because he was a hard worker and didn't care that Napoleon wasn't treating him right.  He would always just work hard anyway and would set a good example for all the other animals.
Animal Farm is written in a very friendly style.  The author was super suspicious of intellectuals.  In the book the pigs would be really shady.  He was particularly skeptical of sophisticated arguments and fancy writing, which he figured people could use to disguise really unsavory actions.
Orwell tells the story through a third person point of view.  The narrator is never involved in the action of the story, but seems to appear somewhere outside or above everything that is going on.  This point of view allows Orwell to see into the minds of the characters and understand their motivations.
I think overall the book is  worth the read.  The book is engaging and shows the failures of communism and humanism in general.  It showed how communism worked because the leader would use fear and hope to enslave the ones below him.
2574456
What a wonderful book! I started reading this book with great curiosity and enthusiasm, but it turned out be be even more than I could anticipate. I'm quite amazed by this story and have now become even more interested in the work of Pedro Barrento.

I confess that utopian/dystopian settings always have a great effect on me, and that I just love thinking about, discussing, debating and imagining these kind of things. George Orwell's 1984 truly blew me away when I was quite young. However, nowadays, I'm not often surprised or feel engaged in utopian/dystopian books or movies, as they always seem to me "stories that have already been told". But I knew this "Algorytm of Power" had got to me, when I realized I spent all my lunch break talking with great enthusiasm about it...

For many chapters I was glued to the book, and just until the final chapters I was planning of giving a five star rating on Goodreads, which is not something that happens to me very often. It was only by the final chapters that the story changed for me. This first three parts I considered amazing, and the last really good. If only the final chapters were different... but well, I have nothing to complain. This was truly one of the best books I read this year. And these are some of the reasons why.

The book is very well written, in a simple but efective style. Straight to the point, without overdoing anything. The story has a sound structure, that goes back and forward in time, with no risk of the reader getting "lost". The story is very original, imaginative and creative, with no need to make up stuff, like often happens in science fiction books, where the contraptions, machines, structures are so "out there" is hard for the reader to get in the story and fully understand it. One of the most interesting things to this story is that is really doesn't have much new or made up features, but the way the author combines existing things is truly original.

The locations in the story, for us portuguese people, are familiar day to day places everybody or many people know, and yet the author manages to make it totally believable that so much happens or has happened "next door". It's really an immersive story, and I know this is really strange to say, as it's a science fiction dystopia, but I felt that I shared something with these characters. Also, I almost had a sense of pride for being portuguese like the author, and knowing that there are portuguese authors capable of producing a story like this one. This could easily be a bestselling book in many countries (including Portugal...).

The edition is also great, loved the cover, loved the book, and so...I truly reccomend it. If you love utopian/dystopian fiction, please don't miss out on this one, and even if you don't, I highly recomend you give it a chance, as I suspect many people will be surprised (for the best!).
4831602
I really loved this book. I am a big fan of utopian literature, I found that this book had some deeper, darker elements that more recent novels lacked. It left the reader feeling violated and angry. Angry that today over twenty years after the looming threat of BIG BROTHER has passed we still may be heading down the wrong road. Many people say what is the point of reading a book written in the 1940's and not to mention the infamous 1984 has passed. The date is of little relevence, Orwell meant to warn his readers of a time not to soon to be discarded and not to late to be forgotten. All those individuals who say that 1984 is a waste of time either did not finish the book or are missing some basic human traits. I never am startled by books, I expect rape, murder etc. but 1984 so disturbed me that I begin to look around and see that Orwell's fiction may not be a work of fiction but in a few decades another piece of paper destroyed in the erasing of our pasts. The only reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because I so very much detested the end. The ending is suiting its just too damn suiting. I leave with this haunting refrain that sums up the book...
"Under the Spreading chestnut tree,
I sold you and you sold me.
Here lie they and here lie we,
Under the spreading chestnut tree."
3020729
This book is quite simply on of the better sci-fi books that I have ever read. Aldous Huxley, has done a wonderful job predicting (back in 1932) what he thought might become of our world.

The story starts of in Central London's Hatchery & Conditioning Centre. In this world, which takes place in approximately 2500 A.D. (or in the book 632 A.F.) people are 'made' in tubes, and conditioned in the way that they should go. Similar to 1984, the totalitarian government is based on a simple motto, "Community, Identity, Stability". Nonetheless, this government does not rule its people by force as in 1984 or Fahrenheit 451. Instead, the government provides it people with constant "happiness", thus ensuring social stability. There are five distinct groups that make up the "Brave New World" and each group has an intricate part in the social system. There are Alphas, Betas, Deltas, Gammas and Epsilons that make up the entire caste system. Basically the Alphas are bred in a way that suits them (they hold the most important positions) while the lower caste members are bred to be laborers. From their manufacture (or birth) these toddlers are conditioned in a number of ways in order to fit into their part of society. They are taught nearly everything that would condition them into having a happy life. From the early ages children are encouraged to partake in heavy sexual activity and drug use (and other vices that will keep them happy). The major aim of the government is to make the people happy, thus ensuring social stability.

The story follows a few different characters, as they live in this world. In the beginning, the reader is introduced to Bernard Marx and Lenina, a man and woman living in this dystopia. The story follows their experiences in the world as they know it, and then it follows them into a trip to visit the Savages. Without giving too much of the story away, a new character emerges, John, who is a savage. The latter half of the book deals with his experience in the "other world"

All in all, this book was a great read. I believe that Aldous Huxley did a wonderful job in predicting what the world would become. Although Orwell's 1984 gets more attention, Brave New World is a better vision of what our world has become. It is difficult to read the story without seeing allusions to our modern day government. For example, sexual promiscuity was used by the world state in order to distract people from the real problem. Arguably this is the same thing that is happening today. In the foreword (written in the early sixties) Huxley joked about "marriage licenses being sold like dog licenses, good for a period of twelve moths, with no law against changing dogs." Huxley speculated that as political and economic freedom diminishes sexual freedom usually increases. Similarly, people are encouraged to become involved in mindless activities in Huxley's world that includes drugs and music (similar to what goes on today). The point is, the happier that people are, the more unlike they are to care about what goes on around them. Huxley did a wonderful job of explaining this compared to our current state. This book should definitely be on every high school students reading list. It provides a fascinating account of religion, philosophy, and social stability wrapped into a great story. Read it!
3832100
What can I say, this is a fabualous book!! George Orwell must have been a genuis.  He places a fairy tale shadow over the book and hides in a metaphor to the Russian Revolution.  This is truely a great read.  I read it in school but I loved it so much I'm going to by my own copy!! I would recommend this book to anyone!! Truely a masterpeice.......
3913789
"Just finished reading this marvelously written book. It deals with all the thoughts one has on thinking through Capitalism and rampant materialism and it's effect on society. It is insightfully written and shows us a portrait of our society we don't really want to look at. The side that interned Japanese civilians, the Red scare, McCarthyism, this time has to react to the threat of Pandas. As I read it, I kept thinking about Animal Farm by George Orwell, and Dr. Strangelove. The book is an excellent read from beginning to end. I am at present anxiously awaiting the arrival of book number 2, which I ordered yesterday. In todays bewildering political developments, this trilogy will put it all into focus!
4537380
"Animal Farm" is a great favorite for many good reasons. It's language is clear and precise. It's story is well- told. The animals who are the chief characters are depicted with clarity, and act as humans would. In fact that is the point. The story of the animals is the story of the humans. And the story of the animal's takeover of the Jones Family Farm is the story of the People's take over of Russia, away from its Czarist lords.

And the celebration of the new equality which lasts so briefly is the glorious dawn of the Russian Revolution 1917. And the two clever - pigs (Snowball- Trotsky?) and Napoleon (Stalin? ) soon take advantage of their new - made power to exploit the other animals .The pigs become the oppressors, the animals persecute other animals. The Revolution brings back oppression and persecution only now in a worse way, because it is done by one's fellow animals. The most moving part of this is what happens to the faithful hard- working animals, the workhorse whose loyalty and hard- work do not bring a new world or redemption.

This work is a wonderful easy read with vivid one- dimensional characters . And the animal/ human parallelism plays in a beautiful way to underscore the less than human in the human, and perhaps the more than animal in the animals.

"All animals are equal and some animals are more equal than others" The statement of liberation becomes the statement of oppression. The would- be- revolutionaries become the new dictators .

And Orwell at the end leaves us no way out , as if the human story is an animal farm with no exit.
3842834
These essays range from the highly political to writing about human nature.  In one essay Orwell points out that in most people there exists an idealistic part of the personality and a part of the personality  that seek comfort and tells us to look after number one.
In England Your England  (taken from Orwell's book The Lion and the Unicorn) Orwell asks whether the  English ruling class is evil or stupid, which he also asks in Looking Back  on the Spanish War. This is asked  in connection  with the fact that  the  ruling class  appeased Hitler.
Although England Your England is good it  shows Orwell at his weakest in making predictions-- such as the view that  only a socialist nation can really fight effectively.
In the essay  Marrakech the poverty of North African Arabs is shown, also the poverty of  the Jews, along with the anti-semitism of  Europeans in North  Africa..
Perhaps Orwell is a little too harsh on Charles Dickens in the  essay about this great English author.
I can only convey a little in this  review. Read this book and enjoy the Orwell's experience!.  Once one has  read Orwell's great non-fiction, with an open mind, one cannot quite think  exactly like one though before. The power of his reasoning is great-and  this is why some people don't want you to read Orwell.
4089452
This book is my absolute favorite. I feel everybody in the world needs to read this book at least five times and truly understand what George Orwell is saying... I wish I could have met the man because he is a brilliant writer.
2125786
This is a story of a utopian society that has gone bad in a very unique way.  It is a stretch: however, there is a slight influece of George Orwell's "Animal Farm".  The book I received was old.  It replaces one that was lost years ago.  I am glad I found it! Thumbs up Amazon!
3190486
Not my favorite sort of book, but it's interesting how much it clearly influenced 1984, even though it is the lesser known of the two novels. If you liked 1984 or like Soviet fiction you should read this.
3410633
I read these books in high school.  There was much discussion of how like the (then) USSR's government seemed to parallel the Animal Farm characters and their behavior, and the controls on information in the Soviet Union at that time seemed right out of 1984.

It is absolutely astonishing to see the parallels that present themselves in the current US government, and the media (controlling information and disinformation) as well.  I would love to see a discussion of what role people see our president in:  Squealer or Napoleon.  And if he's Squealer, who is Napoleon?

Please read, or reread, these books!!! Orwell was warning the world--we should be listening!!
332439
I really enjoyed 1984 by George Orwell. I thought Orwell really captured what a dictatorship can do to a country. Big Brother was obviously a "parody" of some infamous dictators of the world (Stalin, Hitler). It was also very interesting to see how Winston acted. He was not a pure outsider, who is only trying to help his fellow countrymen. He is actually a true rebel. His actions, his dreams, his thoughts of sex and his readings of books are all signs of the rebellious actions of an outsider of the government. But, in contrast to Orwell's great portrayal of the rebellious Winston, is his lack of depth when it comes to Julia. She seems to be only into the rebellious act of sex, and that is about it for her. She is otherwise pretty subservient to men. And, I loved the ending simply because tragedy, or just an unhappy ending, is always an interesting way to end a story. I thought the way Orwell had Winston captured, tortured, and then having him turn into a supporter of Big Brother, all through the double cross from O'Brien made it a brilliant way to end the book.
1812986
Orwell had his prognostications--amazingly still getting attention three decades after "1984"--and more amazingly, off by many miles from the way things have turned out, and why. Farmer on the other hand predicted our dystopia today within a few blocks by 1977, to the chagrin of the many who would see the demise of a rationally functional society under technocratic domination within their lifetimes. If , you want to begin to understand the demise of rationality in our society, why everything tangible and intangible never seems to work like you were taught to believe in, this is must reading. I am amazed and grateful it is still around after all these years, despite its obfuscation in the '70s by the ingrained following of works like Orwell's, the predictions of which never knocked on anyone's door. I only regret that you must pay dearlynow, mostly for its scarcity.