Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell

I downloaded the audiobook from the public library's OverDrive service.

My review:

Animal Farm is short, pointed, and definitely a product of its time. An allegory of a dystopian communist society, it illustrates the tactics used by dictators and repressive regimes to oppress, deceive, and exploit the civilians.

There is no subtlety in Animal Farm. There is not much optimism, either. Things go from bad to worse and the animals who garner the most sympathy and admiration suffer the most cruelly. But the book makes an important statement about the dangers of giving too much power and too little oversight to governing bodies claiming to serve.

Stars: 4

I listened to this book in one day-- granted, one day in which I spent several hours in the car. I am glad that I have "read" it. The agrarian setting makes it somehow a little less bleak than I found Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. It also makes the same points more succinctly and memorably.