yn Rand. This is a book that Greg was reading when we went to Las Vegas and he told me he had heard lots of good things from everyone about it! It was a little daunting because it has over 1,100 pages! It took me a little over two months to read it but I felt compelled to finish it once I started.I've been wanting to post about it for over a week now, but I'm not really sure what to say about it. This is one of those books that I would consider to be an American classic because it talks a lot about how our society works and the morality of capitalism. But, I'm not fully sure if I liked it or disliked it, which I have to say, this is the first time I didn't have a strong opinion either way.
I obviously liked it enough to finish the whole book, but I mainly kept reading because I was anxious to read about the ending. However, after reading the ending, I'm not sure it was worth the wait or the last two months.
I thought the topic was fascinating but it took around 700-800 pages before anything exciting happened. Before that, it was a lot of character development, which I don't think should take that long to happen. I was really interested around this point in the book, but about 100 pages later, I lost interest again.
Oh, and then there is that annoying 69 pages of pure dialogue, given by someone over the radio. Now, that was painful! Especially, when the whole point was clearly communicated in the first two paragraphs. Talk about beating a horse to a bloody pulp! And, that was near the very end of the book, which almost persuaded me to stop reading it all together!
One of the main reasons I read the book is because it is supposed to be similar to what is happening in today's economy. While I can see a loose connection, the story in the book is so unrealistic to me that it kind of loses some of it's power. Although I agree with a lot of things in the book, I'm not sure I can agree that sacrificing for the needs of others is a bad thing, which Rand claims.
While she had good points about it, I think if someone wants to sacrifice some of their fortune to those less fortunate, it isn't going to cause the world into a free-spin to hell, which I think is what the book tries to portray. But, that could just be my interpretation of what she was trying to say.
Anyway, if anyone out there is interested in the economy or reading classic books, this is probably worth reading at least once. Or, maybe, just check out the Atlas Shrugged Web site to read about the concepts in the book, which may just save you two months of your life
2 comments:
Bryan read it and felt the same way. He told me about the ENDLESS dialogue part, too - no thanks for me!
But I do think it's quite an accomplishement to have read it, so good job!
oh my gosh, you are such a great academic writer, heidi. no wonder you loved school so much & did so well! i feel like i just read a paper about the book that was informative, interesting and full of personality all at the same time. that is the writing i CANNOT do. you rock.
oh, and atlus shrugged looks painful. i'm not even going to attempt it. i think g is on like page 300. hehe
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