re: Animal farm/ Brave New World/ Fahrenheit 451

Posted by Spyhunter3

Prairieville

Member since Jun 2020

370 posts

Posted on 6/15/20 at 9:42 pm to LoneStar23

F 451 is a great read, but it only pertains to books and works of art. The police/fire fighters are one big Gestapo.

1984 is very relevant. Very. Scary. Orwell knew the winds of change during freaking Truman man.

Likewise Animal Farm is his other masterpiece. Very fitting in the 2012-2020 age.

Brave New World...must admit, never read it.

Posted by crash1211

Houma

Member since May 2008

3131 posts

Posted on 6/16/20 at 12:19 pm to Spyhunter3

Of the ones I've read I would rate them in the following order. I've just reread animal farm for probably the 4th time. I will probably reread 1984 again soon, and then F451

1) Animal Farm
2) 1984
3) F451
4) Brave New World
5) We by Yevgeny Zamyatin I think one of the first books ever banned by the USSR. George Orwell claimed that Aldous Huxley's Brave New World must be partly derived from We

This post was edited on 6/16/20 at 12:24 pm

Posted by BigWhiskeyRiffer

Member since Nov 2018

101 posts

Posted on 6/23/20 at 12:51 pm to LoneStar23

Animal Farm and Brave New World are excellent. Can't go wrong with either. I've never really cared for Fahrenheit 451. I get its message and its importance, but I feel the story and its characters are less interesting than the other two books you have mentioned. And of course if you like AF and BNW, there is the dark dystopian classic, 1984. If you have already read 1984, then definitely read BNW. Two very different visions of a dystopian future.

This post was edited on 6/23/20 at 12:52 pm

Posted by MarinaTigerEsq

Member since Aug 2019

1330 posts

Posted on 7/7/20 at 7:41 pm to LoneStar23

I agree with Brave New World. I reread it last year (last time was in high school). I’m not proud to admit I understood Mustapha Mond a lot better this time around. I reread Animal Farm last month and it’s good but basic.

Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89476 posts

Posted on 7/16/20 at 9:02 am to LoneStar23

Animal Farm can almost be read in one sitting. Since it is, probably, the most straightforward narrative (although the sub-text and themes will remain with you, of course), I would recommend that one first.

Then F451, because I want to recommend a 4th - Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land to read as a companion piece to Brave New World.

So, Animal Farm (and, if you like, 1984 before or after F451 if you want a 5th), F451, Brave New World, then Stranger in a Strange Land.

Posted by Sneaky__Sally

Member since Jul 2015

12364 posts

Posted on 7/16/20 at 9:03 am to Ace Midnight

You can do most of Heinlein though - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers both have good parallels. He was a genius with great foresight

Posted by Ace Midnight

Between sanity and madness

Member since Dec 2006

89476 posts

Posted on 7/16/20 at 9:06 am to Sneaky__Sally

quote:
You can do most of Heinlein though - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers both have good parallels. He was a genius with great foresight

No question his enthusiasm for his own writing bleeds through and it tinges his work with more optimism than the others in this esteemed group (except, perhaps Asimov, but I don't put him strictly in the same category of writer).

Orwell and Bradbury, particularly, were clearly pessimistic about the future and that weighs on their material.