Book Review - "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

I had been wanting to read this allegorical novel for a long time but never got round to it until a couple of days ago. Thanks to my Goodreads friends who gave me a much-needed push, I have finally read it.

Orwell wrote the manuscript between 1943 and 1944, subsequent to his involvement in the Spanish Civil War, which he described in Homage to Catalonia (1938). His own personal experience with the Communist purges in Spain taught him how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of even enlightened people, and this was what inspired him to write Animal Farm.

The book was meant to expose and condemn the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals. But it probably didn’t occur to Orwell at the time that the book’s revelation would also apply so aptly to other parallel or subsequent authoritarian regimes.

In the book we see how an ambitious demagogue’s (Napoleon’s) unchecked power turns him into a cruel and self-serving despot, preying on an unwary group of ordinary folks for his own personal benefit and the benefit of his cronies. The controlling tactics he employs are incitement of fear and insecurity in those under his rule and terrorizing them, changing the laws at will to suit his whims, entitling himself and his cronies to exclusive privileges (so as to establish an authoritative status), using trolls to disrupt any rational discourse, spreading malicious rumors about his opponents, telling blatant lies to confound the masses, convincing them that hardship is good for them and imposing a cult of personal worship.

In the Animal Farm, what Napoleon preaches can be easily summed up in this maxim: “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”

If you substitute the word “Animals” with the word “Men”…..

I personally find the allegory adds a certain charm and endearing quality to this sobering novel.


P.S. Without genuine democracy, Hong Kong will be like Animal Farm, oppressed by Napoleon and his cronies, who will say to Hong Kongers that "the truest happiness lay in working hard and living frugally" (so that they can stuff themselves to the gills)!!

Book Review - "The Red and the Black" by Stendhal

This novel is much more than a bildungsroman. Set in the Restoration Period (1814 – 1830) in France (i.e. the restoration of the Bourbon  monarchy to power after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte), it is a story of the social-climbing feats and two separate love pursuits of the lowborn protagonist Julien Sorel from a keen psycho-analytical perspective, threaded through a richly textured social and political fabric with a satirical undertone. This fabric, unique in a historical sense, reflects the then ongoing contentions for wealth and power, often tainted by hypocrisy, greed, corruption, sycophancy and chicanery, among the chief stakeholders in society, namely: the clergy, the pro-Bourbon aristocrats (called “legitimists”), the ministers and the provincial parvenus. Such was the order of the day for the constitutional monarchy in the Restoration Period. The embedded message of the novel is to say that there was no place in the circle of stakeholders for the plebeian class in that era.  In this grain, the novel almost hints at great social discontent that was brewing and that, in reality, led to the final breakup of the Bourbon monarchy.

As for the protagonist, Stendhal seems to have made him out to be more human than heroic. Like all humans, Julien Sorel naturally has his strengths and weaknesses and makes mistakes. It should not be surprising for readers to learn that he, as a person born into poverty, desires but at the same time despises the high society of his times. His incessant inner struggles with his own moral principles during his social ascent and his final choice of lover are perhaps enough to tell readers that he is ultimately a man of conscience.

Stendhal is considered the creator of the psychological novel. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche referred to him as “France’s last great psychologist” in his 1886 work Beyond Good and Evil. Regarding The Red and the Black, given the meticulous way Stendhal describes paradoxes and tensions between rational deliberations and emotional sentiments that go on in his principal characters’ hearts and minds, especially where courtship and love relationship are concerned, I would tend to agree with Nietzsche.

The version that I read is a Kindle edition which was translated by C. K. Scott Montcrieff from the 1925 Bossard Editions of the text of Le Rouge et Le Noir, Chronique du XIXe Siecle.

Book Review: The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

This was an engrossing and breezy read. The novel is narrated in first person and tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of Edward IV, in her prime years. For someone like me who has only limited knowledge of English history, this novel also provides an intriguing glimpse into the bloody period of English dynastic rule that was marked by internecine power struggles between the House of York and the House of Lancaster in 15th century England, more commonly known as the “Wars of the Roses”. The period covered by the novel is from Spring 1464 to April 1485.

Driven by ambition, lust for wealth and power and perhaps even loyalty for the love of her life, this queen assumes it her duty and obligation to manipulate, cajole and coerce all those around her, including her own kinsmen and children, to get at what she wants at all costs – preserving the ultimate honor and privilege, the throne, for posterity. Scheming, plotting and even witchcraft are her natural means, especially after her royal husband’s untimely death. Viewed from another perspective though, she is the shining beacon of wisdom, foresight and self-preservation in peaceful times and, in times of turmoil, she becomes a bedrock of bravery, tenacity and resilience. She seems to possess all the necessary qualities for success. But I have to admit that I do not like her calculating character.

While the novel was unquestionably an engaging read, I had a little problem with the first-person narrative and the use of present tense throughout, which I found incongruous for an ancient character and ancient settings.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Book Review - "Imperial Woman" by Pearl S. Buck

This historical novel was first published in 1956, some forty eight years after the death of the last Qing Empress Cixi (named “Tzu Hsi” in the book). It tells her extraordinary life story from childhood to the time near her death.

The author skillfully weaved intricate historical accounts of Cixi’s 47-year reign (her reign was in most part unofficial) which was marked by her tyranny, paranoia and xenophobia, with enthralling fiction that paints a lively portrait of her person, complete with colorful characterization and romantic love.

After so many years, although there is general consensus that Cixi was a strong-willed and manipulative ruler, opinions are still divided as to whether she was shrewd and fair-minded in state affairs or whether she was obsessed with vainglory and self-interest. It would seem that Pearl Buck did succeed in presenting a somewhat balanced view, with sympathetic undertone.

There is no lack of evidence showing Cixi’s hard-heartedness and scheming nature in dealing with whoever she perceived to be her enemies, but then she was after all just a lonely, insecure and helpless woman locked within the unforgiving Forbidden City, trying first to preserve herself and later to shoulder an impossibly heavy state burden in times of great turmoil (with internal rebellions and foreign enemies at the gate). On the one hand, she could be extremely petty-minded, vengeful and ruthless when her feathers were ruffled, on the other she could also be gentle, considerate and gracious to those who loved her and were loyal to her. As sympathetic as Buck tried to be, she didn’t make any effort to gloss over the Empress’s lust for extravagance, pomp, jewelry and luxury as well as her reckless self-indulgence. However, in order to soften Cixi’s image, the author lent her power of imagination and created a life-long, handsome lover for the Empress, who is said to have fathered her only son – Emperor Tongzhi (named “Tung Chih” in the book). This creation not only served to bring out the woman side of the Empress, but also helped to spice up the entire novel a good deal.

I think it would be fair to say that Cixi was not any different from other tyrannical despots, past or present, east or west. When a nation leader has absolute power, unchecked in any way, he/she is bound to fall into the trap of megalomania and varying degrees of narcissism, to the detriment of all those under his/her rule.