Animal Farm

By George Orwell

Book Overview

With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell's Animal Farm takes on new life in this hardcover edition.

The animals of Manor Farm have revolted and taken over. Upon the death of Old Major, pigs Snowball and Napoleon lead a revolt against Mr. Jones, driving him from the farm. The animals embrace the Seven Commandments of Animalism and life carries on, but they learn that a farm ruled by animals looks more human than ever.

Intended as a critique of Stalinist-era Russia, Orwell's satirical novella Animal Farm is one of his greatest literary achievements. Animal Farm was chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 best English-language novels, and won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996.

Since 1832, Mariner Books has launched an incomparable roster of landmark works and enduring classics, including 1984 and Animal Farm. This Mariner Classics edition of Animal Farm is authorized by the Orwell Estate.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151072558
• ISBN13: 9780151072552
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: Mariner Books Classics
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Wrong cover

I specifically ordered this because it advertises it as the 75th anniversary edition. That is the whole reason I purchased this. The book they sent me is not the correct edition. When I sent them an email, they immediately sent a replacement. The replacement I received was also the wrong one! Send me the correct edition! It should specifically say “75th Anniversary” on the front cover of the book!

Buy it for your kids

It’s a great book that is still relevant to this day especially in the us. Buy it for your kids! It’s dark but a great read.

Read it

I love how George Orwell plays with the characters as it relates to the government. This should be required reading honestly

I dont give five stars lightly...

Okay, why was this book actually so good? I was expecting a boring old classic and this is not it. Its crazy (Spoilers) how realistic it is to different governments throughout history. The way that they made all of these rules and fought fir change only to have changed nothing in the end is crazy! I think this is the kind of book that everybody has to read at least once.

No animal may drink alcohol "to excess."

A fairy tale or a nightmare? It all began with a dream by Major, a Middle White boar, of equality and freedom from oppression. Maybe not in our life, comrade, but eventually. The dream brings a song. Intolerable conditions lead to revolution. As time passes, things change; not exactly as planned. Two striking parts of this tale stand out. First, when Boxer is sent to the hospital, and Benjamin reads the side of the van, "Horse Slaughterer." Secondly, there was a party in the farmhouse as the pigs were playing cards with the men, and two aces of spades showed up. An argument ensues. Then the creatures outside looked in as they "...looked from pig to man and man to pig, and from pig to man again drew a realization..."

A really interesting spin on a political fairytale

This is my second time to read this and I enjoyed it very much again. I think I would give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars but rounded up. Definitely worth reading.

Good read

I’ve read this book twice and would read it again. It give you a look into how manipulation and intimidation can influence and control a whole population. And how, even when we know the truth we will still follow the mass….. crazy.

A classic

A classic that I somehow missed until now. I really enjoyed it.

Got the wrong version of the book. Story remains one of the greats!

The version I received was very different than the description. Print was too small. Ended up ordering a new one from Amazon. Read it to my child over the course of several nights. Story remains one of the greats and provoked a lot of follow up questions.

Very straight-forwarded

This books has a good message that can most definitely be dissected within the first two chapters. It never became hard to finish because when something predictable was to come about, it took a turn in the most unexpected of ways.

This book has Literally been a part of my life since childhood~Very Excited to reread as an Adult!

I was a so-called 'Gifted Child,' back in the 70s. In other words, I had learned to read by age 2 & 1/2. So I read Animal Farm, which was on my parents' bookshelves, for the 1st time at age 8, reread it at 10, then at 13, and again at 17. Ì saw it, as a young kid, as just a fun story about talking animals who got political, which I obviously didn't understand at the time. As I reread it, getting older each time, I began to understand the political ramifications of what the farm animals were coordinating & organizing. I am Very much looking forward to reading it once again, at 58; Literally a 1/2 Century since my 1st reading! I will Definitely update this review once I've reread it for the 5th time!

Incredibly timely and eye opening

This book was surprisingly relevant, especially if you live in the states. “Snowflake(s)” being the scapegoat? The changing of laws, and the blurring of the truth? I mean, come on. I bought an extra copy to put in my neighborhood library because this is such an important book.

Do Not Buy

Lie! The book that came was not this book. It was a cheap old crusty version of a reprint. Not 75th anniversary and not even the same cover.

Animal Farm what a great success

If you didn’t read this in high school, read it now. If you did read it in high school, read it again. It’s powerful and resonates with our current reality. Fear, propoganda, religion. It’s a short but very striking read.

The power of words ...

"Animal farm" is to this day one of the best attempts to criticize a totalitarian regime through the means that literature provides: the power of words. George Orwell (1903- 1950) wanted to help others to realize things that for him were evident, and attempted to do so by writing a fable that can easily be read as a satire of the Russian Revolution. Orwell said in an article that "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism, as I understand it. It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects. It is simply a question of which side one takes and what approach one follows". Orwell also pointed out that "Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole". He succeded beyond his wildest expectations, even though at first nobody wanted to publish this work because it was too controversial. The plot of this book is relatively easy to grasp, and I think that is probably one of the reasons why it is so popular. Some animals decide to take over the conduction of a farm, because they believe there is too much injustice, and that they would improve the situation if they had the power to do so. They make a revolution, and end up evicting Mr. Jones, the owner of the farm. From that moment onwards, the farm is called "Animal farm"... The animals establish seven "commandments", that they are supposed to obey at all moments in the new "Animal farm": 1- Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, 2 - Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, 3- No animal shall wear clothes, 4 - No animal shall sleep in a bed , 5 -No animal shall drink alcohol, 6 - No animal shall kill another animal , 7- All animals are created equal. At the same time, all commandments can be comprised in a maxim: "Four legs good, two legs bad". Everything seems all right for sometime, and all the animals work together for the success of the revolution, obeying the commandments and striving for a new order of things. However, after a while the pigs begin to think that being part of the animal revolution is not enough: they want to dominate it. After that first realization things take a quick turn for the worse, and we cease to be in the presence of a "wannabe utopical society", having instead to be unwilling witnesses to the birth of a new totalitarian society. At that moment, the pigs even change some of the commandments. For example, the fourth commandment turns into "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets", and the sixth commandment says "No animal shall kill another animal without cause". Now, the commandments can be reduced to "Four legs good, two legs better". Finally, all the commandments will be replaced with one: "All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others". All in