100 Books Every Woman Should Read - Animal Farm****

"This classic Orwell title is both a quick read and a powerful insight into totalitarian regimes. Orwell was himself a Socialist but clearly saw the dangers inherent in the Russian regime."

This is a small, easy-to-read satire of the evils of the Soviet Union. Orwell beautifully simplifies these evils, which have so often been obscured in long, complicated speeches, so that anyone can understand them. As the Complete Woman Blog says, Orwell was indeed a socialist and so it is interesting to see the USSR from the perspective of this purist. He clearly advocates true communism, as evidenced in the early chapters of the book, but sees that what the Soviet Union came to was not Marx's idea of communism. I would be interested to discuss with Orwell how he felt a society could achieve true communism without falling into the vicious cycle of tyranny which seems inevitable in Animal Farm.

This is an important book today as we continue to face the evils of socialism even in America. It is important that we fully understand the consequences of this system.

It is also important, in order to understand the book, to realize from the beginning that this is, as Orwell says, a "fairy story." For example, the animals are able to communicate, not only amongst themselves, but with humans as well.