Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Animal Farm by George Orwell

251 reviews

stargazerave's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

To say this is one of the most depressing works of fiction I've read in the past year would not be an understatement.

Orwell, in enrapturing detail, documents through an allegorical lens the repeated cycle of capitalism, dictatorship, and just how easily people (or in this book, animals) are manipulated by language. Reading this book made me viscerally angry at points and heartbreakingly sad at others. To see the cycle laid out so plainly forces the reader to acknowledge the presence and repetition that continuously plagues political landscapes. In a mere 96 pages (of the edition I read), Orwell highlights with haunting clarity how easily political dogma can be transformed into propaganda, especially over the course of time. 

This novella left me horrified at moments with how many of the pigs' atrocious actions I found myself relating to our current sociopolitical climate. While written as an allegory for the Soviet Union, Orwell's work now highlights the atrocities committed by current governments and world leaders in a very blunt way. Yet, even as the book reaches its final pages, we see that this "accord" between the men and the pigs is strictly surface level with Orwell alluding to the start of the Cold War as both leaders play an ace of spades simultaneously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Cannibalism

cloud_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Slavery, Gaslighting, and Death

kmoyer07's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gore and Animal death

meganm1587's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Classism, and Animal death

peppersdr's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

ketsy95's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Animal cruelty

emey_reading07's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Slavery and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcohol and Death

d00rframe's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Alcoholism, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Physical abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, and Suicide

fleabagb's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was just wow. I put it off for a few years because of the 'classic' label I was worried it wouldn't hold up well with time or it wouldn't be as comprehensively readable. But wow! I was so pleasantly surprised that it was and it did. I had to make myself take this book in spurts because of how much it is. It holds a scary amount of truth that pretty much all still is relevant today if not more so. I'll tell ya, I was not expecting to cry over a darn horse, but alas, here I am. There are no proper words to describe the experience this book is unless you've read it yourself. The first time read, the putting it all together, figuring it out - it's next level. I was wanting to yell, scream, cry, fight and everything else in between. This book also reminded me just how crucial community can be to our survival, I never quite thought about it like that before I read this. If I could read it again for the first time right now all over again I would;  that's an experience everyone should have at least once in their lifetime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol, Grief, and Genocide

q_bert13's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

One of those books I never read in high school- an interesting story to display the dangers of power and blindly following those who wield it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Gun violence

Minor: Alcohol