Book Reviews – You Truly Assumed and Animal Farm

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen

You Truly Assumed really showcases the good and love that can stem from acts of hate. Washington D.C.: Sabriya’s plan is to focus on ballet programs and camps. Lullwood, Georgia: Zakat expects a quiet summer working at a local bookstore. Inglethorne, California: Farah wants to spend time with her boyfriend and work on computer programming. Three Black Muslim girls, Sabriya, Zakat, and Farah all plan to have a normal summer, when all of a sudden, a terrorist attacks a train station where Sabriya lives. Many people jump to the conclusion that the terrorist was Muslim, resulting in lots of Islamophobia towards these girls. Fueled by this Islamophobia and a want to get rid of the hatred, Sabriya decides to use her online journal as an outlet, but little does she know, she created a public blog. After Sabriya’s blog goes viral, Zakat and Farah find the blog and reach out to her. Then, the blog’s admin team is created with Sabriya, Zakat, and Farah, and with their respective talents in writing, art, and web design, they work together to make a safe, welcoming space. The blog may not be as safe as they hoped, though. Hate seeps into this place created out of love. This book goes through these girls’ struggles with racism and Islamophobia, as well as normal teenage life, and showcases great lessons on how important friends can be in times of hardship.

I really enjoyed this book. It is similar to books I normally read, as it is YA fiction, but there are more, deeper themes. I loved reading about other people’s experiences, even if it is fiction, and the message that positivity that can be created and brought up from acts meant to tear people down and apart was a very good take-away.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm reflects on society and shows how easily a shift from equality to totalitarianism can occur. This book opens with Major, a pig, giving a speech to all the other animals about how humans are evil, and that if the animals take over the farm everything would go well, as long as no human traits are exhibited. From that speech, a list of commandments is created for the animals, the most important being “all animals are created equal.” Shortly after, Major dies and the decisions for the revolution are left up to the pigs, the “smartest” animal on the farm. The animals overthrow Mr. Jones, the farmer, and all is peaceful, at least for a while. The pigs take the role of leaders for the farm, and start planning and delegating tasks to all of the other animals. Slowly, the farm shifts from a total democracy to more of an oligarchy, then finally to a totalitarian dictatorship where the pigs take the same role that the humans did in the original farm. The pigs underfeed and overwork the animals, change the commandments so they can “violate” them, and wholly become more and more human until, eventually, the pigs and humans are indistinguishable.

I also really enjoyed this book, as I think it shows a very good reflection of society, not only at the time it was written, but now as well. It shows how dangerous an uninformed public can be and how easily rights can be taken away under smoke and mirrors. I don’t read a lot of dystopian books, but when I do, I tend to enjoy them, meaning I should probably read more from this genre.

Closing

Though book reviews don’t necessarily have conclusions or takeaways, I would like to add one anyway. Firstly, I would definitely recommend reading these books. Secondly, and more importantly, don’t be scared of reading books that aren’t in the usual genres you read. I have been trying to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to the books I’m reading, and I have ended up really enjoying a lot of books that are different from the books I usually read.