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Lisa of Troy's Reviews > Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell
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it was amazing

Animal Farm is the story of a set of animals who overthrow their human-owner. Will the animals have better lives now that the humans are gone?

Philip Pullman once said that, "A story will help us make sense of anything." In this case, George Orwell uses Animal Farm as an allegory of Russian history with certain characters representing famous figures who shaped Russian history such as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Leon Trotsky.

This book was part of the monthly Readalongs that I am hosting, and what a wonderous book to begin 2022! The Readalong was simply spectacular and gave this reading such a particular depth. As the Readalong encompassed readers across the globe, we had the opportunity to discuss how the book related to our own government's history. Animal Farm provides a lot of ideas to noodle on, and I really enjoyed it.

This is one of the books on the 100 Books to Read According to the BBC List:


2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal

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Reading Progress

November 1, 2021 – Shelved
January 17, 2022 – Started Reading
January 28, 2022 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-41 of 41 (41 new)

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message 1: by Yvonne G (new)

Yvonne G I haven't read this one for many years, but I shall never forget it. In fact it has been removed from all UK school curriculums, because of its political and social bias - I'll never understand why we keep trying to change history, which we can't, when what we really need to do is enact change in the future and explain our past clearly! :)


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

Great review, Lisa!


Lisa of Troy Wison wrote: "I would like you to share more ideas about The Animal farms!"

Here is the link to the GoodReads Readathon: /group/show/...

It has a lot more discussion regarding Animal Farm.


message 4: by Morgan (new)

Morgan I finished the book and didn't like it at all.


message 5: by Kerry (new)

Kerry I first read this book when I was 10 and have read it several times since. It's scary how relevant this is now to 2022. Besides the allegorical references to the Russian Revolution, I find it's similar to some of the political leaders in America of 2022. Even without this dynamic, it's just a damn good book


Margaret M - (having a challenging time and on GR as much as I can) Excellent review Lisa 💖


message 7: by n (new) - rated it 1 star

n marx was german, actually


Kyra Awesome review, Lisa! I completely forgot about this book until now... time for a re-read 😁


message 9: by Benjamin (new) - added it

Benjamin King'S May the Lord pave the way for you, and where your mate is fighting for greatness, may you walk easily and receive it. I pray that God leads you to success for the rest of your life.�


Yoana Karl Marx wasn't Russian. And seeing the boook in the narrow lens of a specific country and point of history does it a disservice IMO. It portrays a far more universal tendency in human societies in general: failing at addressing the root cause of injustice and instead replacing one excuse for exploitation with another.


Colin Baldwin Must try it again sometime! Your 2022 schedule looks amazing, Lisa of Troy. Enjoy. CB


message 12: by Jennifer (new)

Jennifer N I am teaching this book to my grade 11s this semester


Charles  van Buren I enjoyed the readalong even though I did not comment. Great review.


Cathy S. This was one of only a few books I really liked in high school! Great review glad to see you really enjoyed it!


message 15: by Vanessa (new)

Vanessa Haynes I have to say, I always love a profile picture that includes a cat (I should know)


Mark  Porton Great review of a classic Lisa - nice one!!


message 17: by Baba (new) - rated it 3 stars

Baba Nice review of this modern classic Lisa ;)


message 18: by VerseVoyager (new) - added it

VerseVoyager Good work on your review Lisa!! :)


Doris Verz interesting Exceedinglz engqging political novel Verz existentiql


Martin Hi Lisa,

I first read this book at the suggestion of my history teacher when we were studying the Russian Revolution. I enjoyed matching the animal characters with the leaders of early communism.
However one of my school friends who had taken geography had thought that Animal Farm was just a funny story with talking animals...

Thank you for your review.
For all the changes the revolution brought to Animal Farm the animals were still in a worse condition . . .


message 21: by NILTON (new) - added it

NILTON TEIXEIRA Awesome review! I loved this book.


message 22: by Amy (new) - rated it 5 stars

Amy Finley Well I am at 46/100 of those listed on the BBC list. Guess I have some reading to do!!!!


Lisa of Troy I'm 36/100. So you have me beat!


Julia Ash Awesome reading list, Lisa!!!


Debra Great review, Lisa! Great list!


message 26: by Gamar � (new) - added it

Gamar ❤ Excited for this read


Taury One of my favorite books


anusha_reads Great Review Lisa🥰


message 29: by Chrissie (new)

Chrissie I am so glad you enjoyed this book Lisa, it is one of my all time favourites, so clever, and so insightful. I first read it when I was 13, and have read it several times, including recently! Have you read 1984?


message 30: by d. (new) - rated it 5 stars

d. love your review! I too think Animal Farm is such an important read and everyone should read it once in their lifetimes.


message 31: by Thomas (new)

Thomas George Phillips Yes, I enjoyed reading it, too.


message 32: by Loren (new)

Loren Animal Farm is one of those wonderful books that made me love reading in High School. I hope with all of the recent "scrubbing" of classics these great stories remain in tact for future generations.


message 33: by Megan (new) - added it

Megan Great review 👀 now to reread this one as an adult!


message 34: by Bernard (new) - added it

Bernard Louis This is a beautiful book


Juliet Giannoni Hello Lisa of Troy! I genuinely thought that the animals would have better lives and I was really looking forward to the aftermath after they overthrew Mr. Jones. However, that was far from what actually happened. George Orwell put a very big twist and caught me off guard! I knew that this book was published in 1945 but I wasn't aware of the history. I think it was very clever of Orwell intertwining Russian history with this story. Which is how I think that Orwell wanted to illustrate the historical event. I think the animals would represent Russian society because of widespread dissatisfaction and economic hardships. And the pigs who take over represent the leader who manipulates the public and creates unfair policies. I think that’s very amazing how symbolic this novel is of the Russian Revolution. I do agree that a lot of different ideas can be created and interpreted from this novel such as revolution and power. I also think that the most common themes I found throughout the story was totalitarianism and the power of language, mainly because of the kind of rule that the animals were under and how inspiring Old Majors (a senior pig) speech was and how important it was to the pigs.


Yvette Just finished and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.


A Little Mystery Book ᰔ I remember reading Animal Farm. I loved it!


Kirsten You are so right, 5 stars🤗


message 39: by Chrissie (new)

Chrissie I was 13 when I first read this, and have read it several times since. Boxer breaks my heart every time 💔


emma ⚘ i read this for school and for some reason it wasn't bad


message 41: by Kerry (new)

Kerry This was my first serious novel I read when I was 10. It is especially relevant today


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