Classics | Book Chatter

Animal Farm
By George Orwell
Berkley, 9780452277502, June 1996, 128 pp.

The Short of It:

History repeats itself.

The Rest of It:

This is probably my third time reading Animal Farm. Why? I don’t know. I seem to be the kind of reader who chooses to read topical books as they relate to real world situations. I read about the plague during the COVID shutdowns. Why not read about tyranny while living through what we are living through now?

In the event that there is anyone reading this who hasn’t read Animal Farm, I will provide a brief synopsis.

A farm full of animals grow tired of the poor care and treatment they receive from their human farmer. They rise up in rebellion and run him off his land.

Leaders emerge. Mainly, Napoleon, a pig who rises up and resembles Stalin. Promises are made. The animals at first idolize him until he begins to draw a select few into his circle. Those select few begin to wield more power. Slowly.

Over time, the wonderful feelings they all shared at being equals and working toward a common goal dissipate and they are left questioning what the truth really is.

Lies. Promises. Propaganda. The changing of rules. Leaders telling you that you heard it wrong or didn’t understand it the first time.

Sound familiar? Orwell was ahead of his time. History repeats itself. Animal Farm is classified as satire. True. In my opinion it’s also a cautionary tale and in this current political climate, it hits right on the nose.

What happens to these animals, the well-meaning “do-ers” breaks my heart. Them being animals, does it soften the blow? Nope. Not one bit. We all want better lives. We want to be able to put food on the table. Raise families to know there is good out there. Call me what you want, but I am a Christian and THIS Christian chooses to love and not hate.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Brothers Karamazov
By Fyodor Dostoevsky
Liveright Publishing, 9781324095101, May 2024, 928 pp.

The Short of It:

Immensely entertaining. Not what you’d expect.

The Rest of It:

Dostoevsky’s final, greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, paints a complex and richly detailed portrait of a family tormented by its extraordinarily cruel patriarch, Fyodor Pavlovich, whose callous decisions slowly decimate the lives of his sons–the eponymous brothers Karamazov–and lead to his violent murder. ~ Bookshop.org

This review is going to be very different from my others.

Three brothers:

Dmitri Karamazov – The eldest, dramatic
Ivan Karamazov – The middle brother, brilliant
Alexei (Aloysha) Karamazov – The youngest, a novice monk

One nasty father:

Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov. a difficult sort

The Women:

Katerina Ivanovna, Dmitri’s abandoned fiancée
Grushenka, a fiery pistol of a woman and the object of desire for many

The murder:

Not a spoiler but Fyodor, the father makes some horrendous decisions and pits his two sons against one another. Dimitri and Ivan and their on-again, off-again admiration for these two women, Katerina and Grushenka, create the ongoing conflict throughout the novel that keeps the pages turning. At 928 pages, this is a good thing.

Money, also plays a huge role. Dmitri is often without any. He borrows and borrows from both his father and Katerina and finds himself begging for a handout wherever he can get one.

Ivan, not always in town, happens to spend some time with the “fam” and it just gets more complex from there.

Alexei (Aloysha), is a novice monk, truly a good soul trying to always make the best of things and doing his best to do damage control between his brothers and his father.

Eventually, all the action culminates into Fyodor’s murder. Who did it? It seems as if Dimitri did the deed. Especially since money has gone missing and there is supposedly a witness to him leaving the house.

The witness though, is unreliable and possibly Fyodor’s illegitimate son and servant. That’s right, Fyodor keeps Smerdyakov in his home but not as his son, but as his servant. So the motive is there. Could he have killed Fyodor?

There is a lot of drama between the women as they call each other beasts and monsters! Jealousy unlike anything you’ve seen. They both want what they can’t have. Their loyalties are all over the place. I wanted to slap them a few times.

The murder is tried in court. The lead-up to the court case is riveting. Dmitri is arrested and taken in. Ivan and Aloysha wring their hands over the entire thing. What can be done? It’s not looking good for Dmitri and honestly, he’s not helping his case with all of the romantic dramatics that follow along with his reputation for being a deadbeat. Would he kill his father for a lousy 3000 roubles?

The family story goes a little bit sideways at the introduction of a bullied schoolboy, Ilyusha. Aloysha encounters him one day as he is walking about town. The town boys are taunting him and Aloysha steps in to defend him. Aloysha’s brother insults Ilyusha’s father and the boy bites Aloysha in retaliation. Not long afterward, Ilyusha falls deathly ill.

Without spoilers, the ending of the book is interesting. It’s not cut and dry and much is left to the reader’s own interpretation but the final pages are quite lovely. Overall, I enjoyed this romp through a classic that has long been on my list of must reads.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.