First off, let me point out that I know nothing of the Russian Revolution, of which this book is an allegory. I'm sure I wouldn've learnt about it in high school, but that was a long time ago and I've long since forgotten. Therefore, I started reading the Preface, but since it was pretty meaningless to me (and such things tend to bore me to tears), I skipped to Chapter 1.

This book blew... my... mind! I'm struggling to come up with things to say about it that wouldn't give too much away for the few people who haven't read it yet. It really doesn't take any understanding of the historical events to understand what this book is about.

It's extremely easy to read and quite short. It truly ropes you into the lives, hopes and dreams of the characters in a way that few other books have.

It conjured up thoughts in my mind of people like Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe, both freedom fighters and struggle heroes of their own time. It shows that a socialist state will never work because of the simple human flaw: Power corrupts. It shows that the vast majority don't actually want freedom, don't know how to be free, and quite possibly don't understand what freedom actually is. People need to be led, and that those leaders will always take advantage of that.

I'm glad that people (and really, there were around four or five people that simultaneous suggested I read this book... and then I started seeing it everywhere on Goodreads) finally convinced me to read this book. I'm only sorry it took me 32 years to finally do so, when so many had actually had it as a set-work in school.

I would've given it more stars, were it not for the boring and unnecessary preface - which according to Wikipedia was only added later anyway.