Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has been recognized as a classic of modern political satire. Fuelled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing--both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

A truer word was never spoke..., 28 Dec 2008
Contrary to the back cover precis of EM Forster's classic, I found this story neither a '...brilliant social comedy...' nor '...a witty observation of the English middle classes...'In short I found it a disappointingly dreary love story and filled with characters none of whom, with the exception of George Emerson and his father, was particularly likeable. The author himself over-egged the pudding somewhat by inserting far too many personal observations,which bordered at times on pomposity, seemingly to try to point the reader in the direction he/she is meant to think. But amongst it there was a nugget of truth, which shone above all else - "Though you...never see him again, or forget his very name, (he) will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal." (p.223 Penguin Classics edition). For this alone, the trudge was worth it.

And so it goes..., 09 Dec 2008
Intelligent social observations and subtle wit make this a pleasant little novel. To be fair, this is not Jane Austen, though it does fall into that kind of genre. Now Beauty and Passion seem never to have existed I know. But remember the mountains after Florence and the view. And so it goes, love and romance. Wrong suitor, definitely. Right suitor, possibly.


A Personal Awakening a Century Ago - Still a Valid Lesson, 23 Nov 2008
This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centennary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many.
The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse.
When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free.
What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for.

Mostly very dull, 05 Oct 2008
I read this purely because of the Italian setting, though only the first section is set there, in Florence. A lot of action then takes place "off-set" as it were in Rome, before the setting transfers to England. I found most of the characters rather irritating and the situations esp in the England section very dull, though there are a few funny moments due to the ridiculous snobbery of some of them.

The best drug, 03 Apr 2007
It's very simple really. I work all day in an office as part of a modern globalised monoculture.

And then on the way home I read A Room with a View and reacquaint myself with everything that's true.

Books like this are treasured friends.

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

A truer word was never spoke..., 28 Dec 2008
Contrary to the back cover precis of EM Forster's classic, I found this story neither a '...brilliant social comedy...' nor '...a witty observation of the English middle classes...'In short I found it a disappointingly dreary love story and filled with characters none of whom, with the exception of George Emerson and his father, was particularly likeable. The author himself over-egged the pudding somewhat by inserting far too many personal observations,which bordered at times on pomposity, seemingly to try to point the reader in the direction he/she is meant to think. But amongst it there was a nugget of truth, which shone above all else - "Though you...never see him again, or forget his very name, (he) will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal." (p.223 Penguin Classics edition). For this alone, the trudge was worth it.

And so it goes..., 09 Dec 2008
Intelligent social observations and subtle wit make this a pleasant little novel. To be fair, this is not Jane Austen, though it does fall into that kind of genre. Now Beauty and Passion seem never to have existed I know. But remember the mountains after Florence and the view. And so it goes, love and romance. Wrong suitor, definitely. Right suitor, possibly.


A Personal Awakening a Century Ago - Still a Valid Lesson, 23 Nov 2008
This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centennary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many.
The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse.
When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free.
What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for.

Mostly very dull, 05 Oct 2008
I read this purely because of the Italian setting, though only the first section is set there, in Florence. A lot of action then takes place "off-set" as it were in Rome, before the setting transfers to England. I found most of the characters rather irritating and the situations esp in the England section very dull, though there are a few funny moments due to the ridiculous snobbery of some of them.

The best drug, 03 Apr 2007
It's very simple really. I work all day in an office as part of a modern globalised monoculture.

And then on the way home I read A Room with a View and reacquaint myself with everything that's true.

Books like this are treasured friends.

Sampling of Modernism, 24 Jul 2001
In the introduction, the editor, Malcom Bradbury, sets out his intention in producing this collection: one was to 'display...the achievement of some the best work produced by the strongest of...recent Britsh authors'; and the other, what Bradbury claims to be a more difficult task, to be 'broadly representative, so that the book might give not only a reasonable idea of the variety, but also the general trends and directions that have been taken by British fiction in the years since 1945'.

Bradbury succeeds in both attempts. This is not paritcularly surprising since this is Bradbury's territory. The collection contains works by some of the biggest names in British Literature: William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, John Fowles, William Trevor, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro--to name a few. The reason, Bradbury explains, is 'that many of the authors in this collection are our major writers of prose-fiction in general'.

Some of the stories are definitely modern, with self reflexiveness, lots of white spaces, single line paragraphs, whimsical subjects, and inscrutable titles; there are pseudo-stories, stories pretending to be something else when all the while the author is trying to tell a story without letting you know the story is being told since it was the 1960's or thereabouts when the writing a straight forward story was almost a shameful act. But none of this stories are the kind found at the height of modernism, where the reader had no idea what was being said. Each of these authors are aiming at something, something new and different, and not just for the sake of only new or different, (though there are a few that fall into that) but going beyond the traditional story and exploring the truth in new ways. There are also some 'straight' acts. And these are the ones that stay in your mind, unlike the others which are fun to read for the moment but which you then tend to forget. Of the former category is Kazuo Ishiguro's tightly written gem 'A Family Supper'. A simple story about the return of a son to his native Japan after his mother's death. In the few pages Ishiguro shows the crumbling of a family. Another story in a similar mode is Graham Greene's 'The Invisble Japanese Gentlemen'. In both cases the commentary on life is left to the reader. In this category one can also include William Golding, V.S. Pritchett, William Trevor, and Ian McEwan. (Here the author simply leaves this thread and jumps to something else).

If you want to know the shape and growth of British Literature, and quickly, or if you want to read something different then this book is a good starting point.

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

A truer word was never spoke..., 28 Dec 2008
Contrary to the back cover precis of EM Forster's classic, I found this story neither a '...brilliant social comedy...' nor '...a witty observation of the English middle classes...'In short I found it a disappointingly dreary love story and filled with characters none of whom, with the exception of George Emerson and his father, was particularly likeable. The author himself over-egged the pudding somewhat by inserting far too many personal observations,which bordered at times on pomposity, seemingly to try to point the reader in the direction he/she is meant to think. But amongst it there was a nugget of truth, which shone above all else - "Though you...never see him again, or forget his very name, (he) will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal." (p.223 Penguin Classics edition). For this alone, the trudge was worth it.

And so it goes..., 09 Dec 2008
Intelligent social observations and subtle wit make this a pleasant little novel. To be fair, this is not Jane Austen, though it does fall into that kind of genre. Now Beauty and Passion seem never to have existed I know. But remember the mountains after Florence and the view. And so it goes, love and romance. Wrong suitor, definitely. Right suitor, possibly.


A Personal Awakening a Century Ago - Still a Valid Lesson, 23 Nov 2008
This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centennary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many.
The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse.
When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free.
What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for.

Mostly very dull, 05 Oct 2008
I read this purely because of the Italian setting, though only the first section is set there, in Florence. A lot of action then takes place "off-set" as it were in Rome, before the setting transfers to England. I found most of the characters rather irritating and the situations esp in the England section very dull, though there are a few funny moments due to the ridiculous snobbery of some of them.

The best drug, 03 Apr 2007
It's very simple really. I work all day in an office as part of a modern globalised monoculture.

And then on the way home I read A Room with a View and reacquaint myself with everything that's true.

Books like this are treasured friends.

Sampling of Modernism, 24 Jul 2001
In the introduction, the editor, Malcom Bradbury, sets out his intention in producing this collection: one was to 'display...the achievement of some the best work produced by the strongest of...recent Britsh authors'; and the other, what Bradbury claims to be a more difficult task, to be 'broadly representative, so that the book might give not only a reasonable idea of the variety, but also the general trends and directions that have been taken by British fiction in the years since 1945'.

Bradbury succeeds in both attempts. This is not paritcularly surprising since this is Bradbury's territory. The collection contains works by some of the biggest names in British Literature: William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, John Fowles, William Trevor, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro--to name a few. The reason, Bradbury explains, is 'that many of the authors in this collection are our major writers of prose-fiction in general'.

Some of the stories are definitely modern, with self reflexiveness, lots of white spaces, single line paragraphs, whimsical subjects, and inscrutable titles; there are pseudo-stories, stories pretending to be something else when all the while the author is trying to tell a story without letting you know the story is being told since it was the 1960's or thereabouts when the writing a straight forward story was almost a shameful act. But none of this stories are the kind found at the height of modernism, where the reader had no idea what was being said. Each of these authors are aiming at something, something new and different, and not just for the sake of only new or different, (though there are a few that fall into that) but going beyond the traditional story and exploring the truth in new ways. There are also some 'straight' acts. And these are the ones that stay in your mind, unlike the others which are fun to read for the moment but which you then tend to forget. Of the former category is Kazuo Ishiguro's tightly written gem 'A Family Supper'. A simple story about the return of a son to his native Japan after his mother's death. In the few pages Ishiguro shows the crumbling of a family. Another story in a similar mode is Graham Greene's 'The Invisble Japanese Gentlemen'. In both cases the commentary on life is left to the reader. In this category one can also include William Golding, V.S. Pritchett, William Trevor, and Ian McEwan. (Here the author simply leaves this thread and jumps to something else).

If you want to know the shape and growth of British Literature, and quickly, or if you want to read something different then this book is a good starting point.

Superlative US novel about an academic's touch with madness, 27 Sep 2008
Stunning novel about a middle aged academic almost driven insane by various personal and ideological crises, but who eventually manages to find some peace after experiencing events that finally seem to connect him with reality. I absolutely adored the quality of style and character, and although the plot is incredibly thin, you don't care because it is constructed so brilliantly to allow all those fascinating, perfectly described reminiscences. Definitely I was generally having that feeling of sickening jealousy for the sheer ability demonstrated, albieit in quite a showy way. There are many incredible lines, either simply involving profound observations on life, or via the wonderful eye for character details that Bellow has. The use of letters as a kind of stream of consciousness device works fantastically. Herzog's character is one of the most stunningly rich and real I've ever come across in literature, and the peripheral characters also feel very real and vivid. This novel seems incredibly autobiographical, in fact, and many of the details probably were taken from Bellow's life. The only slight criticism I have is that in one or two places it felt a little contrived. Ramona is obviously set up as the "healthy" choice and feels slightly thin for it. And why oh why would Herzog keep his gun in his pocket when visiting his daughter? This to me seemed totally unbelievable, and merely a silly device. But these tiny quibbles aside, this is definitely one of the best American novels I've ever read.

A brilliant, gripping study of value, intellect and breakdown, 10 Jun 2008
This novel starts with a ferociously strong image, then moves us into the mind of Moses Herzog. Herzog is a failing professor with an unfaithful second wife, a treacherous best friend, unwritten books and theses which remind him of his failings. Also, in a bizarrely wonderful twist, we find that Herzog writes letters avidly, even compulsively. These are largely to dead people, either relatives or historical figures he has never met. Also mathematicians - he writes to Euclid and points out why his theories don't add up.

The novel also contains a profound and bitter sense of betrayal, Herzog's as his marriage fails and his child whisked from him, Bellow's as similar events in his life mirrored the plot.

This is Bellow's most autobiographical work, including his bizarre childhood and the way he sees an exiled, crushed class (and race) adjust to their new lives, while he with his fabulously realised child's eyes sees only the surface, but sees things an adult would consider sinister.

This book is either a masterpiece or so close it makes no difference. Check it out when you're prepared to be tantalised and confused.



Memorable portrait of a troubled man who thinks too much, 02 Aug 2001
Moses Herzog is a Jewish academic living in New York in the early Sixties. Following the disastrous break-up of his second marriage, he begins writing letters - first, to practically everybody he has ever met, and then to a varity of public and cultural figures living and dead. It doesn't take the reader long to realise that Herzog is having something of a crisis: his behaviour is erratic and his mind distracted as he remembers in vivid detail key scenes in his life. Perhaps we can make allowances, though - he is trying to make sense of what it means to be alive in the Western world in the second half of the twentieth century, after all. The book is not exactly big on plot, but a certain suspense does build as to whether he's going to get through it with his mind and body intact. The novel is also very well written, and at times dazzlingly so. As a character, Herzog is brilliantly realised - unquestionably an intellectual, he is entirely believable as betrayed husband, doting father, rebellious son, hesitant lover and more besides. The book is a modern classic which captures its time, and still has a lot to say to us about our lives as part of a society too advanced for easy comprehension.

A real grower!, 08 Jun 2001
The inner-workings of the mind of an aged American intellectual? Possibly not the most enticing prospect for an enjoyable read, but Bellow's skill in capturing *humanity* in all its variations pulls this off magnificently. Herzog is reminiscent of one of those displaced characters Nabokov created - trapped in an age that doesn't quite accept him, or vice versa. This relationship is even more interesting against the backdrop of the brief fetish of intellectualism in the Kennedy era. However, the real attraction of this book is Bellow's superlative ability to capture the essence of Herzog's increasingly fractured mind, taking the reader on a ride into his own personal world.

An excellent piece of classic American literature., 05 Sep 2000
Of all the contemporary American authors, Saul Bellow ranks as one of the best. He has a wonderful control of the English language and a fine sense of humour. "Herzog" is one of his funniest, most touching books. It is abounding with energy and character. Meet Moses E. Herzog, a man who, at middle age, is looking back on his life by writing letters that are not to be sent, to his two ex wives, friends and collegues. Out of all Saul Bellow's books, this one ranks as my favorite so, if you're looking for a book that will both move you and make you smile, look no further than "Herzog".

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

A truer word was never spoke..., 28 Dec 2008
Contrary to the back cover precis of EM Forster's classic, I found this story neither a '...brilliant social comedy...' nor '...a witty observation of the English middle classes...'In short I found it a disappointingly dreary love story and filled with characters none of whom, with the exception of George Emerson and his father, was particularly likeable. The author himself over-egged the pudding somewhat by inserting far too many personal observations,which bordered at times on pomposity, seemingly to try to point the reader in the direction he/she is meant to think. But amongst it there was a nugget of truth, which shone above all else - "Though you...never see him again, or forget his very name, (he) will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal." (p.223 Penguin Classics edition). For this alone, the trudge was worth it.

And so it goes..., 09 Dec 2008
Intelligent social observations and subtle wit make this a pleasant little novel. To be fair, this is not Jane Austen, though it does fall into that kind of genre. Now Beauty and Passion seem never to have existed I know. But remember the mountains after Florence and the view. And so it goes, love and romance. Wrong suitor, definitely. Right suitor, possibly.


A Personal Awakening a Century Ago - Still a Valid Lesson, 23 Nov 2008
This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centennary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many.
The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse.
When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free.
What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for.

Mostly very dull, 05 Oct 2008
I read this purely because of the Italian setting, though only the first section is set there, in Florence. A lot of action then takes place "off-set" as it were in Rome, before the setting transfers to England. I found most of the characters rather irritating and the situations esp in the England section very dull, though there are a few funny moments due to the ridiculous snobbery of some of them.

The best drug, 03 Apr 2007
It's very simple really. I work all day in an office as part of a modern globalised monoculture.

And then on the way home I read A Room with a View and reacquaint myself with everything that's true.

Books like this are treasured friends.

Sampling of Modernism, 24 Jul 2001
In the introduction, the editor, Malcom Bradbury, sets out his intention in producing this collection: one was to 'display...the achievement of some the best work produced by the strongest of...recent Britsh authors'; and the other, what Bradbury claims to be a more difficult task, to be 'broadly representative, so that the book might give not only a reasonable idea of the variety, but also the general trends and directions that have been taken by British fiction in the years since 1945'.

Bradbury succeeds in both attempts. This is not paritcularly surprising since this is Bradbury's territory. The collection contains works by some of the biggest names in British Literature: William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, John Fowles, William Trevor, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro--to name a few. The reason, Bradbury explains, is 'that many of the authors in this collection are our major writers of prose-fiction in general'.

Some of the stories are definitely modern, with self reflexiveness, lots of white spaces, single line paragraphs, whimsical subjects, and inscrutable titles; there are pseudo-stories, stories pretending to be something else when all the while the author is trying to tell a story without letting you know the story is being told since it was the 1960's or thereabouts when the writing a straight forward story was almost a shameful act. But none of this stories are the kind found at the height of modernism, where the reader had no idea what was being said. Each of these authors are aiming at something, something new and different, and not just for the sake of only new or different, (though there are a few that fall into that) but going beyond the traditional story and exploring the truth in new ways. There are also some 'straight' acts. And these are the ones that stay in your mind, unlike the others which are fun to read for the moment but which you then tend to forget. Of the former category is Kazuo Ishiguro's tightly written gem 'A Family Supper'. A simple story about the return of a son to his native Japan after his mother's death. In the few pages Ishiguro shows the crumbling of a family. Another story in a similar mode is Graham Greene's 'The Invisble Japanese Gentlemen'. In both cases the commentary on life is left to the reader. In this category one can also include William Golding, V.S. Pritchett, William Trevor, and Ian McEwan. (Here the author simply leaves this thread and jumps to something else).

If you want to know the shape and growth of British Literature, and quickly, or if you want to read something different then this book is a good starting point.

Superlative US novel about an academic's touch with madness, 27 Sep 2008
Stunning novel about a middle aged academic almost driven insane by various personal and ideological crises, but who eventually manages to find some peace after experiencing events that finally seem to connect him with reality. I absolutely adored the quality of style and character, and although the plot is incredibly thin, you don't care because it is constructed so brilliantly to allow all those fascinating, perfectly described reminiscences. Definitely I was generally having that feeling of sickening jealousy for the sheer ability demonstrated, albieit in quite a showy way. There are many incredible lines, either simply involving profound observations on life, or via the wonderful eye for character details that Bellow has. The use of letters as a kind of stream of consciousness device works fantastically. Herzog's character is one of the most stunningly rich and real I've ever come across in literature, and the peripheral characters also feel very real and vivid. This novel seems incredibly autobiographical, in fact, and many of the details probably were taken from Bellow's life. The only slight criticism I have is that in one or two places it felt a little contrived. Ramona is obviously set up as the "healthy" choice and feels slightly thin for it. And why oh why would Herzog keep his gun in his pocket when visiting his daughter? This to me seemed totally unbelievable, and merely a silly device. But these tiny quibbles aside, this is definitely one of the best American novels I've ever read.

A brilliant, gripping study of value, intellect and breakdown, 10 Jun 2008
This novel starts with a ferociously strong image, then moves us into the mind of Moses Herzog. Herzog is a failing professor with an unfaithful second wife, a treacherous best friend, unwritten books and theses which remind him of his failings. Also, in a bizarrely wonderful twist, we find that Herzog writes letters avidly, even compulsively. These are largely to dead people, either relatives or historical figures he has never met. Also mathematicians - he writes to Euclid and points out why his theories don't add up.

The novel also contains a profound and bitter sense of betrayal, Herzog's as his marriage fails and his child whisked from him, Bellow's as similar events in his life mirrored the plot.

This is Bellow's most autobiographical work, including his bizarre childhood and the way he sees an exiled, crushed class (and race) adjust to their new lives, while he with his fabulously realised child's eyes sees only the surface, but sees things an adult would consider sinister.

This book is either a masterpiece or so close it makes no difference. Check it out when you're prepared to be tantalised and confused.



Memorable portrait of a troubled man who thinks too much, 02 Aug 2001
Moses Herzog is a Jewish academic living in New York in the early Sixties. Following the disastrous break-up of his second marriage, he begins writing letters - first, to practically everybody he has ever met, and then to a varity of public and cultural figures living and dead. It doesn't take the reader long to realise that Herzog is having something of a crisis: his behaviour is erratic and his mind distracted as he remembers in vivid detail key scenes in his life. Perhaps we can make allowances, though - he is trying to make sense of what it means to be alive in the Western world in the second half of the twentieth century, after all. The book is not exactly big on plot, but a certain suspense does build as to whether he's going to get through it with his mind and body intact. The novel is also very well written, and at times dazzlingly so. As a character, Herzog is brilliantly realised - unquestionably an intellectual, he is entirely believable as betrayed husband, doting father, rebellious son, hesitant lover and more besides. The book is a modern classic which captures its time, and still has a lot to say to us about our lives as part of a society too advanced for easy comprehension.

A real grower!, 08 Jun 2001
The inner-workings of the mind of an aged American intellectual? Possibly not the most enticing prospect for an enjoyable read, but Bellow's skill in capturing *humanity* in all its variations pulls this off magnificently. Herzog is reminiscent of one of those displaced characters Nabokov created - trapped in an age that doesn't quite accept him, or vice versa. This relationship is even more interesting against the backdrop of the brief fetish of intellectualism in the Kennedy era. However, the real attraction of this book is Bellow's superlative ability to capture the essence of Herzog's increasingly fractured mind, taking the reader on a ride into his own personal world.

An excellent piece of classic American literature., 05 Sep 2000
Of all the contemporary American authors, Saul Bellow ranks as one of the best. He has a wonderful control of the English language and a fine sense of humour. "Herzog" is one of his funniest, most touching books. It is abounding with energy and character. Meet Moses E. Herzog, a man who, at middle age, is looking back on his life by writing letters that are not to be sent, to his two ex wives, friends and collegues. Out of all Saul Bellow's books, this one ranks as my favorite so, if you're looking for a book that will both move you and make you smile, look no further than "Herzog".

Outdated Tripe, 03 Jul 2007
I have seldom read as unsympathetic, unloving, and unenjoyable novel as Bradbury's 'The History Man'. The author, with his unrelenting pushing of irony and pages-long tracts of dialogue, has created a narrative voice which makes you feel neither empathy nor hatred towards a single character.
As other reviewers have hinted at, but not said explicitly, the book is hideously of its time, and totally irrelevant to the modern reader. All great art speaks towards a timeless quality within ourselves; all 'The History Man' speaks towards is a general dislike for 70's marxists and hippies.

Still relevant in the 21st century, 08 Dec 2003
Bradburys work was undoubtedly more relevant when it was written, and it must have been a daring attack on the radical side of student life when it came out. While now somewhat dated - some of the references have been obscured by time - this novel still possesses the power to attract and compel the reader.

The History Man is about Howard Kirk - a sociology lecturer at a modern university. The book mainly concentrates on Kirks life and relationships over a single term, but with many references to his past - especially his relationship to his wife. Kirk is a radical sociologist, daring everyone else to be radical, confronting their conformity and lecturing all he meets about challenging their social norms. As the book goes on, he is revealed as a twisted individual who believe his rhetoric only as it applies to others. He manipulates his way through the book, using every tool at his disposal (inclduing sex and politics) to ensure his position remains secure. And in that we see the main irony of the book - the so-called radical rebel desires nothing more than to remain comfortable in the social niche he has created for himself.

Bradburys style is an uncompromising one, with long paragraphs of text that do not help the comprehension of the novel. However, it is very readable and Kirks manipulations draw you through the book. It has the potential to be a very dry topic - but Bradbury's wry and ironic wit pervades the book making it a pleasant read.

A beautifully written campus novel, 16 May 2001
It is sad that Malcolm Bradbury passed away last year, as it means that there will no longer be any more novels like this. If you know David Lodge's novels and like them, then you will love "The History Man". Somehow Malcolm Bradbury managed to dig a bit deeper into the characters that he wrote about leaving a sense of having known them, whether it be Howard Kirk in this book or Doctor Criminale in his later book of the same name. With both of these books I felt a profound loss when I came to the end - I wanted the book to go on and on.

Superb Portrait of a Monster in Academia., 15 Sep 2000
A quarter of a century may have passed but Bradbury's work is still a brilliant - if now criminally neglected - portrait of the academic world. Set in a thinly disguised version of the University of East Anglia in Norwich in 1972 the novel depicts the life and activities of the popular but ultimately monstrous Sociology lecturer and Marxist poseur Howard Kirk. At times hilarious in its portrayal of the Kirks' thoroughly modern marriage and in detailing the appallingly tedious minutiae of office meetings the novel is at its most compelling in its portrayal of Kirk's ruthless thwarting of unfortunate and unfashionable Tory boy George Carmody 'the only student in the university with a trouser press' as Kirk cynically pigeonholes him. Although perhaps dated in its depiction of an academic world where talk of "reactionaries" and espousal of Marxism was far more commonplace than it is today, the novel nevertheless remains a powerful lesson as to the dangers of allowing one philosophy to overwhelmingly dominate in any environment (lecturer and student alike crudely dismiss all views not to their liking as "reactionary" or "fascist") and also of the dangers of the potential for abuse of power by individuals in everyday life. An enjoyable academic classic to rank alongside the best of Kingsley Amis or David Lodge.

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

A truer word was never spoke..., 28 Dec 2008
Contrary to the back cover precis of EM Forster's classic, I found this story neither a '...brilliant social comedy...' nor '...a witty observation of the English middle classes...'In short I found it a disappointingly dreary love story and filled with characters none of whom, with the exception of George Emerson and his father, was particularly likeable. The author himself over-egged the pudding somewhat by inserting far too many personal observations,which bordered at times on pomposity, seemingly to try to point the reader in the direction he/she is meant to think. But amongst it there was a nugget of truth, which shone above all else - "Though you...never see him again, or forget his very name, (he) will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal." (p.223 Penguin Classics edition). For this alone, the trudge was worth it.

And so it goes..., 09 Dec 2008
Intelligent social observations and subtle wit make this a pleasant little novel. To be fair, this is not Jane Austen, though it does fall into that kind of genre. Now Beauty and Passion seem never to have existed I know. But remember the mountains after Florence and the view. And so it goes, love and romance. Wrong suitor, definitely. Right suitor, possibly.


A Personal Awakening a Century Ago - Still a Valid Lesson, 23 Nov 2008
This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centennary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many.
The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse.
When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free.
What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for.

Mostly very dull, 05 Oct 2008
I read this purely because of the Italian setting, though only the first section is set there, in Florence. A lot of action then takes place "off-set" as it were in Rome, before the setting transfers to England. I found most of the characters rather irritating and the situations esp in the England section very dull, though there are a few funny moments due to the ridiculous snobbery of some of them.

The best drug, 03 Apr 2007
It's very simple really. I work all day in an office as part of a modern globalised monoculture.

And then on the way home I read A Room with a View and reacquaint myself with everything that's true.

Books like this are treasured friends.

Sampling of Modernism, 24 Jul 2001
In the introduction, the editor, Malcom Bradbury, sets out his intention in producing this collection: one was to 'display...the achievement of some the best work produced by the strongest of...recent Britsh authors'; and the other, what Bradbury claims to be a more difficult task, to be 'broadly representative, so that the book might give not only a reasonable idea of the variety, but also the general trends and directions that have been taken by British fiction in the years since 1945'.

Bradbury succeeds in both attempts. This is not paritcularly surprising since this is Bradbury's territory. The collection contains works by some of the biggest names in British Literature: William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, John Fowles, William Trevor, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro--to name a few. The reason, Bradbury explains, is 'that many of the authors in this collection are our major writers of prose-fiction in general'.

Some of the stories are definitely modern, with self reflexiveness, lots of white spaces, single line paragraphs, whimsical subjects, and inscrutable titles; there are pseudo-stories, stories pretending to be something else when all the while the author is trying to tell a story without letting you know the story is being told since it was the 1960's or thereabouts when the writing a straight forward story was almost a shameful act. But none of this stories are the kind found at the height of modernism, where the reader had no idea what was being said. Each of these authors are aiming at something, something new and different, and not just for the sake of only new or different, (though there are a few that fall into that) but going beyond the traditional story and exploring the truth in new ways. There are also some 'straight' acts. And these are the ones that stay in your mind, unlike the others which are fun to read for the moment but which you then tend to forget. Of the former category is Kazuo Ishiguro's tightly written gem 'A Family Supper'. A simple story about the return of a son to his native Japan after his mother's death. In the few pages Ishiguro shows the crumbling of a family. Another story in a similar mode is Graham Greene's 'The Invisble Japanese Gentlemen'. In both cases the commentary on life is left to the reader. In this category one can also include William Golding, V.S. Pritchett, William Trevor, and Ian McEwan. (Here the author simply leaves this thread and jumps to something else).

If you want to know the shape and growth of British Literature, and quickly, or if you want to read something different then this book is a good starting point.

Superlative US novel about an academic's touch with madness, 27 Sep 2008
Stunning novel about a middle aged academic almost driven insane by various personal and ideological crises, but who eventually manages to find some peace after experiencing events that finally seem to connect him with reality. I absolutely adored the quality of style and character, and although the plot is incredibly thin, you don't care because it is constructed so brilliantly to allow all those fascinating, perfectly described reminiscences. Definitely I was generally having that feeling of sickening jealousy for the sheer ability demonstrated, albieit in quite a showy way. There are many incredible lines, either simply involving profound observations on life, or via the wonderful eye for character details that Bellow has. The use of letters as a kind of stream of consciousness device works fantastically. Herzog's character is one of the most stunningly rich and real I've ever come across in literature, and the peripheral characters also feel very real and vivid. This novel seems incredibly autobiographical, in fact, and many of the details probably were taken from Bellow's life. The only slight criticism I have is that in one or two places it felt a little contrived. Ramona is obviously set up as the "healthy" choice and feels slightly thin for it. And why oh why would Herzog keep his gun in his pocket when visiting his daughter? This to me seemed totally unbelievable, and merely a silly device. But these tiny quibbles aside, this is definitely one of the best American novels I've ever read.

A brilliant, gripping study of value, intellect and breakdown, 10 Jun 2008
This novel starts with a ferociously strong image, then moves us into the mind of Moses Herzog. Herzog is a failing professor with an unfaithful second wife, a treacherous best friend, unwritten books and theses which remind him of his failings. Also, in a bizarrely wonderful twist, we find that Herzog writes letters avidly, even compulsively. These are largely to dead people, either relatives or historical figures he has never met. Also mathematicians - he writes to Euclid and points out why his theories don't add up.

The novel also contains a profound and bitter sense of betrayal, Herzog's as his marriage fails and his child whisked from him, Bellow's as similar events in his life mirrored the plot.

This is Bellow's most autobiographical work, including his bizarre childhood and the way he sees an exiled, crushed class (and race) adjust to their new lives, while he with his fabulously realised child's eyes sees only the surface, but sees things an adult would consider sinister.

This book is either a masterpiece or so close it makes no difference. Check it out when you're prepared to be tantalised and confused.



Memorable portrait of a troubled man who thinks too much, 02 Aug 2001
Moses Herzog is a Jewish academic living in New York in the early Sixties. Following the disastrous break-up of his second marriage, he begins writing letters - first, to practically everybody he has ever met, and then to a varity of public and cultural figures living and dead. It doesn't take the reader long to realise that Herzog is having something of a crisis: his behaviour is erratic and his mind distracted as he remembers in vivid detail key scenes in his life. Perhaps we can make allowances, though - he is trying to make sense of what it means to be alive in the Western world in the second half of the twentieth century, after all. The book is not exactly big on plot, but a certain suspense does build as to whether he's going to get through it with his mind and body intact. The novel is also very well written, and at times dazzlingly so. As a character, Herzog is brilliantly realised - unquestionably an intellectual, he is entirely believable as betrayed husband, doting father, rebellious son, hesitant lover and more besides. The book is a modern classic which captures its time, and still has a lot to say to us about our lives as part of a society too advanced for easy comprehension.

A real grower!, 08 Jun 2001
The inner-workings of the mind of an aged American intellectual? Possibly not the most enticing prospect for an enjoyable read, but Bellow's skill in capturing *humanity* in all its variations pulls this off magnificently. Herzog is reminiscent of one of those displaced characters Nabokov created - trapped in an age that doesn't quite accept him, or vice versa. This relationship is even more interesting against the backdrop of the brief fetish of intellectualism in the Kennedy era. However, the real attraction of this book is Bellow's superlative ability to capture the essence of Herzog's increasingly fractured mind, taking the reader on a ride into his own personal world.

An excellent piece of classic American literature., 05 Sep 2000
Of all the contemporary American authors, Saul Bellow ranks as one of the best. He has a wonderful control of the English language and a fine sense of humour. "Herzog" is one of his funniest, most touching books. It is abounding with energy and character. Meet Moses E. Herzog, a man who, at middle age, is looking back on his life by writing letters that are not to be sent, to his two ex wives, friends and collegues. Out of all Saul Bellow's books, this one ranks as my favorite so, if you're looking for a book that will both move you and make you smile, look no further than "Herzog".

Outdated Tripe, 03 Jul 2007
I have seldom read as unsympathetic, unloving, and unenjoyable novel as Bradbury's 'The History Man'. The author, with his unrelenting pushing of irony and pages-long tracts of dialogue, has created a narrative voice which makes you feel neither empathy nor hatred towards a single character.
As other reviewers have hinted at, but not said explicitly, the book is hideously of its time, and totally irrelevant to the modern reader. All great art speaks towards a timeless quality within ourselves; all 'The History Man' speaks towards is a general dislike for 70's marxists and hippies.

Still relevant in the 21st century, 08 Dec 2003
Bradburys work was undoubtedly more relevant when it was written, and it must have been a daring attack on the radical side of student life when it came out. While now somewhat dated - some of the references have been obscured by time - this novel still possesses the power to attract and compel the reader.

The History Man is about Howard Kirk - a sociology lecturer at a modern university. The book mainly concentrates on Kirks life and relationships over a single term, but with many references to his past - especially his relationship to his wife. Kirk is a radical sociologist, daring everyone else to be radical, confronting their conformity and lecturing all he meets about challenging their social norms. As the book goes on, he is revealed as a twisted individual who believe his rhetoric only as it applies to others. He manipulates his way through the book, using every tool at his disposal (inclduing sex and politics) to ensure his position remains secure. And in that we see the main irony of the book - the so-called radical rebel desires nothing more than to remain comfortable in the social niche he has created for himself.

Bradburys style is an uncompromising one, with long paragraphs of text that do not help the comprehension of the novel. However, it is very readable and Kirks manipulations draw you through the book. It has the potential to be a very dry topic - but Bradbury's wry and ironic wit pervades the book making it a pleasant read.

A beautifully written campus novel, 16 May 2001
It is sad that Malcolm Bradbury passed away last year, as it means that there will no longer be any more novels like this. If you know David Lodge's novels and like them, then you will love "The History Man". Somehow Malcolm Bradbury managed to dig a bit deeper into the characters that he wrote about leaving a sense of having known them, whether it be Howard Kirk in this book or Doctor Criminale in his later book of the same name. With both of these books I felt a profound loss when I came to the end - I wanted the book to go on and on.

Superb Portrait of a Monster in Academia., 15 Sep 2000
A quarter of a century may have passed but Bradbury's work is still a brilliant - if now criminally neglected - portrait of the academic world. Set in a thinly disguised version of the University of East Anglia in Norwich in 1972 the novel depicts the life and activities of the popular but ultimately monstrous Sociology lecturer and Marxist poseur Howard Kirk. At times hilarious in its portrayal of the Kirks' thoroughly modern marriage and in detailing the appallingly tedious minutiae of office meetings the novel is at its most compelling in its portrayal of Kirk's ruthless thwarting of unfortunate and unfashionable Tory boy George Carmody 'the only student in the university with a trouser press' as Kirk cynically pigeonholes him. Although perhaps dated in its depiction of an academic world where talk of "reactionaries" and espousal of Marxism was far more commonplace than it is today, the novel nevertheless remains a powerful lesson as to the dangers of allowing one philosophy to overwhelmingly dominate in any environment (lecturer and student alike crudely dismiss all views not to their liking as "reactionary" or "fascist") and also of the dangers of the potential for abuse of power by individuals in everyday life. An enjoyable academic classic to rank alongside the best of Kingsley Amis or David Lodge.

Unexpected wow, 24 Nov 2004
I wouldn't have chosen a book such as this normally - it took a good few people telling me to read it before I finally did. But it was an amazing surprise.
It presents a wonderful picture of 1920's America - sparkling with colour and glitter and wit and alcohol, but scratch just a little below the surface and there are always the darker undertones of corruption and deceit, the tensions, the constant hint of aggression - this is a book to tantalize the senses and confuse the mind.
It's one of those books where there is no real solution - you decide who you believe or trust, and who you don't - and take it from there.
A definate recommendation - everyone should read it!

Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has been recognized as a classic of modern political satire. Fuelled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing--both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson

All superlatives due, 20 Dec 2008
The annoying thing about 'classics' is that there is a discrepency between a true classic and a book that is deemed such by the fact that it is old and in a genre that passes as one of this kind. Maybe this view is a personal one, but to me a classic is timeless and holds pearls of wisdom. Animal Farm is a true classic. A poignant and very moving story written by someone who seems to have been at times living on the perimeter of society and possibly as a result or consequence saw things clearer than most.
It's interesting to read the hugely broad range of interpretations of the books story and wider meaning. It's a perfect fable because it genuinely hits all levels from a relatively simple storyline. A number of people have stated that it stayed with them, which I would count myself among these. One of the best books I have read. Different class.

Animal Farm, Probally my favourite book!, 03 Dec 2008
This book by Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) is probally the best book i have ever read! George Orwell is such a brilliant & Detailed writter, not only that but Animal farm is good for all ages, My 78 Mum loves it, I love it and my two children love it. A****

Political satire at its best, 06 Jun 2008
I first read George Orwell's Animal Farm in high school. And even though I was far more interested in Molly Ringwald films and boys, I quickly came to appreciate Orwell's subtle humor. Fast forward to 2008 and I'm reading Animal Farm to my almost 8 year-old daughter, who equally enjoyed it. This is political satire at its best. What's more, it's not condescending or judgmental. Orwell doesn't tell you what to think, he just sets the scene and allows you to reach whatever conclusion you come to.

And here's the real beauty of this classic tale.... scholars and politicos laud it, yet 8 year-old little girls can still comprehend and enjoy it. That, perhaps more than anything else, is its finest point.

It is clear that Orwell is sadly misinterpreted by many readers, 20 Mar 2008
Orwell was a socialist and fought with the POUM and was a member of the ILP. This quote is from the preface of the 1947 Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm:

Indeed, in my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of Socialism as the belief that Russia is a Socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated.

And so for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the Socialist movement.



The idea that Animal Farm is a critique of socialism, therefore, is complete corruption of what Orwell was arguing. What Orwell was criticising was the counter-revolution that took place in Russia under Stalin (Napoleon). This book should be read in its proper context to see the message that Orwell is trying to present. It is more subtle than simply 'socialism/communism is bad'.

Can be enjoyed at more than one level, 21 Oct 2007
Timeless classic that can be enjoyed at various levels: adults, especially those familiar with Soviet history, can appreciate the political allegory, while children could still appreciate this as an amusing and frightening tale of animals taking over from people. Orwell's original foreword, reproduced at the end of this edition, is also worth reading for its salutary lesson on how liberal intellectuals can sometimes fool themselves into supporting the most illiberal regimes.

A truer word was never spoke..., 28 Dec 2008
Contrary to the back cover precis of EM Forster's classic, I found this story neither a '...brilliant social comedy...' nor '...a witty observation of the English middle classes...'In short I found it a disappointingly dreary love story and filled with characters none of whom, with the exception of George Emerson and his father, was particularly likeable. The author himself over-egged the pudding somewhat by inserting far too many personal observations,which bordered at times on pomposity, seemingly to try to point the reader in the direction he/she is meant to think. But amongst it there was a nugget of truth, which shone above all else - "Though you...never see him again, or forget his very name, (he) will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal." (p.223 Penguin Classics edition). For this alone, the trudge was worth it.

And so it goes..., 09 Dec 2008
Intelligent social observations and subtle wit make this a pleasant little novel. To be fair, this is not Jane Austen, though it does fall into that kind of genre. Now Beauty and Passion seem never to have existed I know. But remember the mountains after Florence and the view. And so it goes, love and romance. Wrong suitor, definitely. Right suitor, possibly.


A Personal Awakening a Century Ago - Still a Valid Lesson, 23 Nov 2008
This charming little novel which has recently celebrated its centennary can be easily put down as a period piece. E M Forster foresaw it already in his note which he added to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Yet a prospective reader would be most wrong to do so. There is a lesson here which still needs to be learned by many.
The title gives away some of the content - the main heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, needs to get away from the stuffy atmosphere of late Victorian England in which she was brought up - the symbol of which is for EMF the room. Her escape takes place in stages - the first of them is her trip to Italy where she finds landscapes and people most different from those she was accustomed to. It is also there that she meets the man she falls in love with, George Emerson. Yet these changes come too quickly for her. Lucy yields to the demands of her chaperone and escapes back to England, finding on the way a more appropriate suitor, Cecil Vyse.
When the three young people meet again in England, a fight for Lucy's soul begins anew. Lucy has to decide whether she prefers Cecil who will keep her under his protection in his house as a work of art for others to admire, or George with whom she will have to face the challenges of the world but be free.
What is the lesson for us today in a world where there are no chaperones or stage-coaches? We also must make similar decisions - choose freedom which always comes at a cost or safety for which we must pay with our freedom. We choose between being true to ourselves or satisfying the demands of others. Lucy's adventures may serve as a perfect food for thought for those facing seemingly dissimilar but actually very similar decisions. It is the more valuable as Forster does not show easy decisions or easy solutions. The happy ending is never free and yet still worth striving for.

Mostly very dull, 05 Oct 2008
I read this purely because of the Italian setting, though only the first section is set there, in Florence. A lot of action then takes place "off-set" as it were in Rome, before the setting transfers to England. I found most of the characters rather irritating and the situations esp in the England section very dull, though there are a few funny moments due to the ridiculous snobbery of some of them.

The best drug, 03 Apr 2007
It's very simple really. I work all day in an office as part of a modern globalised monoculture.

And then on the way home I read A Room with a View and reacquaint myself with everything that's true.

Books like this are treasured friends.

Sampling of Modernism, 24 Jul 2001
In the introduction, the editor, Malcom Bradbury, sets out his intention in producing this collection: one was to 'display...the achievement of some the best work produced by the strongest of...recent Britsh authors'; and the other, what Bradbury claims to be a more difficult task, to be 'broadly representative, so that the book might give not only a reasonable idea of the variety, but also the general trends and directions that have been taken by British fiction in the years since 1945'.

Bradbury succeeds in both attempts. This is not paritcularly surprising since this is Bradbury's territory. The collection contains works by some of the biggest names in British Literature: William Golding, Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, John Fowles, William Trevor, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro--to name a few. The reason, Bradbury explains, is 'that many of the authors in this collection are our major writers of prose-fiction in general'.

Some of the stories are definitely modern, with self reflexiveness, lots of white spaces, single line paragraphs, whimsical subjects, and inscrutable titles; there are pseudo-stories, stories pretending to be something else when all the while the author is trying to tell a story without letting you know the story is being told since it was the 1960's or thereabouts when the writing a straight forward story was almost a shameful act. But none of this stories are the kind found at the height of modernism, where the reader had no idea what was being said. Each of these authors are aiming at something, something new and different, and not just for the sake of only new or different, (though there are a few that fall into that) but going beyond the traditional story and exploring the truth in new ways. There are also some 'straight' acts. And these are the ones that stay in your mind, unlike the others which are fun to read for the moment but which you then tend to forget. Of the former category is Kazuo Ishiguro's tightly written gem 'A Family Supper'. A simple story about the return of a son to his native Japan after his mother's death. In the few pages Ishiguro shows the crumbling of a family. Another story in a similar mode is Graham Greene's 'The Invisble Japanese Gentlemen'. In both cases the commentary on life is left to the reader. In this category one can also include William Golding, V.S. Pritchett, William Trevor, and Ian McEwan. (Here the author simply leaves this thread and jumps to something else).

If you want to know the shape and growth of British Literature, and quickly, or if you want to read something different then this book is a good starting point.

Superlative US novel about an academic's touch with madness, 27 Sep 2008
Stunning novel about a middle aged academic almost driven insane by various personal and ideological crises, but who eventually manages to find some peace after experiencing events that finally seem to connect him with reality. I absolutely adored the quality of style and character, and although the plot is incredibly thin, you don't care because it is constructed so brilliantly to allow all those fascinating, perfectly described reminiscences. Definitely I was generally having that feeling of sickening jealousy for the sheer ability demonstrated, albieit in quite a showy way. There are many incredible lines, either simply involving profound observations on life, or via the wonderful eye for character details that Bellow has. The use of letters as a kind of stream of consciousness device works fantastically. Herzog's character is one of the most stunningly rich and real I've ever come across in literature, and the peripheral characters also feel very real and vivid. This novel seems incredibly aut