Animal Farm

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Ralph Cosham

Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is an intimate part of our contemporary culture, quoted so often that we tend to forget who wrote the original words. It is an account of the bold struggle that transforms Mr. Jones' Manor Farm into Animal Farm, a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. Out of their cleverness, the pigs Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball emerge as leaders of the new community in a subtle evolution that bears an insidious familiarity. The climax is the brutal betrayal of the faithful horse Boxer, when totalitarian rule is re-established with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan: But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others.

To supplement the full text version of George Orwell's Animal Farm, listen to the SparkNotes Guide for Animal Farm.

©1946 Harcourt Brace and Jovanich, Inc. (P)1991 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"A wise, compassionate, and illuminating fable of our times....The steadiness and lucidity of Orwell's merciless wit are reminiscent of Anatole France and even of Swift." (The New York Times Book Review)

If you hate spoilers, save the intro for last.

Animal Farm is great, as is the narrator. I'd give this audio book 5 stars, however, the intro chapter summarizes, analyzes, and basically spoils the entire book. It's as if they assume everyone has already read this book. I hate spoilers and was infuriated when the narrator began talking about characters and the plot. I turned it off as fast as I could.

Get this audio book, but skip the introduction chapter and come back to it at the end.

Required Reading

One of my summer reading projects was to re-read Animal Farm and 1984, having read them many years ago while in high school.

Animal Farm should be required reading. It wraps so many truths in such a small package. It is an absolute classic for many good reasons.

What stands out about the story is how it, or parts of it, keep repeating themselves. The sheep bleating "four legs good, two legs bad" when shouting down any dissent can't help but remind one of "debates" on cable news channels. Blaming everything bad on Snowball is reminiscent of our politicians repeatedly demonizing and blaming every failure on their predecessors. And there is so much more.

The central message is that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Although that quote is not attributable to Orwell, "'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" captures the theme in a perhaps more memorable manner.

Read this book again. You won't be sorry.

Never trust a pig!

Okay, that is not the message of George Orwell's Animal Farm. This classic story was released 72 years ago and remains relevant today. I purchased this audio book to listen to Ralph Cosham narrate one of my favorite books. Cosham, who died in 2014, never disappoints.

Just great!

I am sixty years old now and haven't read Animal Farm since I was a teen. Visiting this old treasure had much more of an impact than reading it long ago. It is even more relevant in this day and age. The narrator is wonderful and you can't not admire Orwell's knack for making you think deeply while at the same time entertaining you to the fullest. This was one of my favorite purchases from audible.

Classic well-read

For some reason I was never required to read this is school, so when I saw it on list of classics, I bought it on Audible. It was a wonderful story of political corruption and societal norms. The narrator was great and his varying voices for the characters kept my interest.

Absolutely brilliant

I first read this in the 80's when my native Czechoslovakia was still an Animal Farm. I appreciate Orwell's foresight even more, now that most of Eastern Europe is back to Manor Farms - with "reconciliation" with the West proceeding almost exactly as predicted in the final chapter.

Narration is good and the easy British accent fits well with the setting and Orwell's overall sardonic tone.

What I expected, nothing more

This is obviously a classic and if you are reading it, you probably know what you are getting into. I did not like the prologue though. As someone who has never read the book, I did not want to hear analysis of the book BEFORE I read the book. The social, political, and historical context provided in the prologue, however, was useful. When you apply the satire to today’s politics, the correlations are scary.

Great book!

One of my favorite books of all time, this book is an absolute classic. Makes me wonder what would have happened if Snowball (Trotsky) had been put in charge instead of Napoleon (A.K.A. Stalin).?.

An Alagory for Every Age.

Where does Animal Farm rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

While I've spent more time and fallen more deeply in love with other books available on audible, this book will continue to be one I concidder a Must Read for absolutely Everyone. Short, self contained, and deeply representative, it is a novel that is within Everyone's powers to understand on some level and is one I would concidder every acknowledged 'Authority' lesser for having never read.
Much attention is given to the suggestivity of using this novel to investigate the Russian Revolution, and indeed it is perhaps deeply congruous with those events, but I cannot help but feel that anyone who sees it as Only Representative of that event Miss the deeper, universal connotations.
While I find myself wondering at exactly which age such a novel would carry the most impact, I cannot help but think it worthy Required Reading for Anyone.
Not a distinction I can make of many novels I love, but one which this novel so completely embodies that I cannot think of it in any other light.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I find the novel unique in alagory in that None of the characters are entirely without faults. Every Animal, and indeed even the human characters are shown to have both positive and negative traits... While many animals Try to act in ways that appear to be the most goodly, many of them fall prey to their own predictability and ignorance. Likewise, the slow corruption and evolution toward evilness by the 'bad' characters can likewise be explained and forgiven...
I suppose I am left instead with a respect and identification with the donkey, who's long life and fatalistic approaches, while frustrating at first, prove to be in the end the most accurate.
I take issue with the cynicism that he represents, and am discouraged by his vindication through the eventual outcome, but cannot help but find myself seeing him as the only riteous character...
the rock that remains unchanged in the tummult...

Which character – as performed by Ralph Cosham – was your favorite?

I had not a favorite, but I found the Vanity of the Horse character to be well embodied... while she hid from danger, spirited away goods, and spent far too long looking at herself and wanting frivolities to aid her vanity, I found myself more and more hating her 'kind' in general... portreying a vain horse so clearly is not an undertaking I would choose to take on myself and is one he accomplished admirably.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Which Kind of Animal are You?
It seems that the whole gambit of human reaction and social type manages to get represented in the novel, despite the incongruity of using so very many different shapes and skills of animal to do so, and I, as a reader, find myself wondering what sorts of traits I would myself exibit... which side indeed would I be on?

Any additional comments?

The novel begins with a relatively short and dense introduction which delves into the symbolism of the novel and it's catagorisation... I would have preferred that to have been moved to the end... while I had been somewhat familliar with the book ahead of time, it made for a lot of dense data to absorb first thing and somewhat distractedly seguayed right into the book... if you weren't careful you'd miss it... moreover, the discussions raised and points covered so early on tended to be lost on me later in the novel...
Perhaps skipping ahead to the novel and returning to that portion afterward would be a better way of addressing it... perhaps not... just a thought...
An excelently done bit of writing and Never Ever to Be Missed!!

Timeless classic

This is a great social commentary about human behavior using animals. The narration was outstanding. I will definitely will give this another listen.