Animal Farm

 

Animal Farm, George Orwell

Returning to the booklist, I just finished George Orwell's Animal Farm, published in 1945.  I was really doubtful, because I'm a cynic like that. I mean, yes, it's classified as great, must read, world-changing, mind-blowing literature, but it's named like a story for two year olds. I was expecting gory/stupid/Idon'tevenknow.  Well, don't judge a book by it's cover - or it's title. When people tell you something is awesome literature, listen to them.

The parallels between contextual issues and the main themes of the novel are really, blindingly clear. I mean, I saw them without knowing they were there before reading. I'm not sure whether it's despite or because of that fact that the book is so gripping.

The animals were better characters than most authors can hope to create, each distinctly memorable in some way, each unique on their own, or as a distinct group. The classes of animals were distinguished brilliantly from each other, and the characterization felt natural and normal - quite a feat, given the fact that talking animals overthrow a farm.

The writing style was simplistic and clear, however, any stylistic childishness was overcome by the mature content of the story. There is enough subtext, motive and second-guessing to keep an adult reader interested and on their toes. It's not a long book, and I finished it in about an hour and a half, because I honestly didn't want to put it down - I just wanted to see it unfold. Whether this is because of the story itself or the mirror it holds up to social and governmental risks in our own lives, I don't know.

Regardless, I give it a ten out of ten, and wish I'd read it sooner.
Let me know what you think.
xKath

Next up: The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde.

Insurgent

 

Insurgent, Veronica Roth

This one isn't on the booklist, but I had a Dymocks voucher that was burning a hole in my pocket, so I bought it anyway. It's going to be my plane-read for the holidays. It's the second one in the series by Veronica Roth. I've read the first one, and I'm not going to do a review, because Lord Voldemort's one is already brilliant (there's also an interview with the author on their blog). There's also one for Insurgent there, but I don't care, because I'm still excited and hence, I want to blog.

To start - you should read it. But read Divergent first, because a) Insurgent is it's sequel and b) (as if a wasn't enough) just look at that cover.


It's so pretty. Guh. Cover porn.

Anyway... moving on. I finished the book on the plane, read it cover to cover in under three hours. So in that sense, it's definitely good. Very easy to read without being childish and simplistic, and the suspense is enough that the pages turn themselves without too much emotional pain. I hadn't read Divergent for a while, so had forgotten a lot of the detail, so the first two chapters were kind of lost on me, but I reckon that'd be really easy to fix by simple reading them in fairly immediate succession. It's definitely not a sequel that can stand on it's own, however.

Despite kind of having to guess my way through the first few chapters, the characters are instantly relatable and easy to love (or hate, be that the case). You'll emphathise with Tris and want your own Tobias. The book moves quickly as you follow the characters from faction to faction and they pass from one disaster to the next. There's quite a lot of action, but also plenty of emotional plot to carry it through. There were at least two (maybe three?) plot twists that completely threw me, in the best possible way. Roth is an engaging author with a good grasp of storytelling, although I would like to hear more of different character's perspectives throughout the tale - more backstory and more motivations, more character development. 

As fascinating as the concept of social factions defining life was, their breakdown is almost more exciting, particularly when contrasted with the strict social divisions of the first book.

As a sequel, it's not at all disappointing, as so very many are. It carries its own weight as a story, and opens up nicely for the third (and currently being written) book. Definitely worth a read, but not before Divergent. I'm looking forward to the third part in the series, because this story and it's characters deserve a fair and decent conclusion.

Tell me what you think. :)
Kath