Rating: 
Summary: 'Who is not with us - is against us!'
Review: We The Living is a masterfully crafted tragedy recounting the life of Kira Argounova. Kira, born at the revolutionary dawn of the Soviet Union, is continually alone. Likewise she is doomed to live and die in a dismally solitary existence made even more lonesome by the presence of two men. One is Leo a former aristocrat-turned-dishonest and the other is Andrei the Communist. The men could not be any more disparate in their inadequacies, feelings and ideology. And yet they share Kira, which is a common theme for Ayn Rand: the book's hero(ine) is simultaneously involved with more than one lover . Notwithstanding that, as the protagonists, Kira and Leo are graceful, agile and sharp.
The setting is an abusive state which believes its contribution to its citizens and the world so great as to exceed any kind of justification.
Well-written and eloquent, Kira is exaggerated and yet thankfully disruptive. Romantic and tragic twists and turns follow, but Kira's character is always as dismal and wretched as the book. In this context it is remarkable how Kira unselfishly serves Leo while Ayn Rand goes on to make a career as the advocate for the mantra of narcissism.
Despite Rand's protestations, We The Living is about the Soviet Union - one tainted by her personal outlook. While her Objectivist philosophy has not been fully developed here, it exists at the underlying and subconscious level. Which explains why We The Living remains as Rand's most explicitly political novel. Of course, with passion and resolve running through her, she never paused to consider how the USSR is not what Marx had in mind. Which is just as well, because as noted We The Living lives off the author's unbridled commitment to her conviction. For Rand's world is ultimately made only of two shades, Soviet red and Capitalist eden."Comrade burglars, please don't bother. There's nothing inside"
Rating: 
Summary: Ahem...
Review: As a writer, I must give tribute to Rand's colorful turn of phrase, several enrapturing descriptions, and well-drawn characters. However, as a person I must say I hate this book and don't recommend it to anyone. Don't get me wrong -- it's good as a piece of literature if one takes away the grime of a hard time for Russia, which she holds cruelly under a magnifying glass; if one forgets the fact that she is biased, horribly biased against both Tsarism and the Soviet regime; if one ignores what she wrote about Russia and the Russians in the foreword; if one discounts the fact that she hated the place she was writing her "truth" about. Of course, now that I am stating my view someone will say that I am wrong because I'm Russian and thus biased; perhaps you will even think me a communist. Do that if you like. But because I AM Russian, there's something glaringly wrong to me in the fact that escape is seen as the sign of a good and unbroken spirit in this book. In spite of all claims made to support the opposite, an escaping spirit IS broken if it can't face what its home has become. What is one if one has no home country? If one gives it up? Leaving home is like losing one's identity. I'm nothing if I am not Russian. And neither is anyone else, if they leave.
Rating: 
Summary: Another brilliant work from a genius.
Review: Unlike other reviewers, I will not critize Miss Rand's more famous novels compared to 'We the Living'.
Even though it's far from funny, when this novel was published, critics screamed that she "didn't know what she was talking about!" That this novel "wasn't a true picture of life in the Soviet Union". Well, we now know how accurate a picture she'd drawn for all to see, if they chose to look. Not only a picture of the old Soviet, but as she states in her foreword, "This is a story about Dictatorship, any dictatorship, anywhere, at any time...and that this novel might do its share in helping to prevent a socialist America." Sadly, today "the Left" still spews lies, but that's all they can do, having given up the mantle of reason long ago, and "the Right" is mired in the death throes of religion. We're closer to the precipice than you think.
Speaking for myself, I owe such an incredible debt of gratitude to her, for all her written works, that words nearly fail me. This is a brilliant novel, passionately written and beautifully told. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Deceptively good
Review: Unlike Rand's other novels--supporters will be hard-pressed to state that she is a butle writer--We the Living is a historical snapshot, a supposedly semi-autobiographical novel that does wonders for evoking a specific time period. The characters are beautiful, colorful, and interesting, even against the backdrop of one of the most colorless regimes in modern history. There's no six-page diatribes or harsh anti-religios fervor in this novel, which is surprising given the nature of both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. On the first level, this is a solid novel, written with suspence and surprise, genuine plot-driven episodes and (to use a trite phrase) a great way to capture the imagination of the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Heinlein wrote this book
Review: It's true! As you can verify online, in 1937 Robert A. Heinlein wrote a novel tentatively entitled _For Us, The Living_. It was never published and the manuscript was allegedly destroyed. Meanwhile, "Ayn Rand" published _We The Living_ -- in 1937. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Rating:
Summary: You Will Not be Disappointed
Review: Probably one of the greatest books of the twentieth century, Ayn Rand's "We the Living" is a non-stop course in the early history of society in Soviet Russia. I was extremely thrilled with this novel both in writing and plot. The story is semi-autobigraphical combined with dramatization of the mass sentiment. Rand presents characters the reader can almost feel. Without a doubt the novel exuded depressing elements, but even at it's conclusion you feel a sense of relief. "We the Living" is an easy read, and no matter what your taste you will be glad you read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant--except for the heroine
Review: Ayn Rand proved her genius in this first novel, written in l937. I read it several times a year because Rand brilliantly evokes a long-gone world of Soviet Russia. You won't forget any of the characters which brings me to her heroine, Kira Argonouva. Kira sacrifices her dignity and helps the Soviets kill the only true hero in the book: Andrei. She does this in the name of love for the sleazy, brutal Leo. I can't see anything admirable about this sadistic killer. Kira becomes like any teeny-bopper and can't keep her hands off this muscular hunk. so much for the high ideals of our heroine. Other than that, "We the Living" is a masterpiece. You owe to yourself to see the Italian made film of this book. It was made in l942, literally beneath the war-strewn streets of Italy and stars an all-Italian cast. It's amazing how faithful the movie is to the book. Mussolini hated the movie and tried to have all copies destroyed.
Rating:
Summary: WE THE LIVING
Review: "We the living" is the lesser known of Ayn Rand's novels, yet my favorite.
I'd say without doubt or hesitation that there is no novel which I have loved as much as this one(and I don't think I'll ever love any other as much as this one, too).
Yes, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" certainly are greater, but this novel had an emotional impact on me which the others did not - at least not of the same degree.
Though Rand had not fully defined her unique, ground-breaking philosophy of Objectivism at the time she wrote this novel - it proffers her image of life and man which is fully consistent with her more refined novels. The theme of this novel,strictly speaking,is : "The evil of totalitarianism".
Going deeper, the theme emerges to be : "The sanctity of human life."
Ultimately, this novel dramatizes how totalitarianism violates the sanctity of human life.
But I'd say the fundamental abstraction is : "MAN'S LOVE FOR LIFE, FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS"
And this is what reaches out to every person who reads this emotionally intense novel about a love-triangle involving a woman, an ex-aristocrat and a communist whose lives are destroyed by the system in which they live (in Communist Russia) - for I don't think there is any person in this world,except the most depraved,who doesn't value life,joy and liberty (at least his/her own). "We The Living" is about the human spirit struggling to preserve its dignity, honor and benevolence - in circumstances which break and pulverize, embitter and malign it.
It is about both,the vulnerability,and the indestructibility of the human spirit.
It is about man being driven by despair, hopelessness and pain to resort to incorrect means so as to achieve good ends.
It is about man's struggle to preserve his values. It is about love - the kind of love which, unfortunately, I think, is found only in some novels.
It is Kira's love for Leo and Andrei's love for Kira which makes WTL my best-loved novel..."YOU ARE MY HIGHEST REVERENCE"...no other writer and no other novel has given such a profound, beautiful expression to the phenomena of love.
THIS is poetry, passion and man-worship - which makes love sacred, sex an act of worship and man an object worthy of the devotion which is directed at God. If you want to know what passionate love is, what does one mean by a value-oriented sense of life, what is hero-worship, read "We The Living". Though this novel lacks the explicit philosophic content of the Rand's other novels & one may think that Kira's actions, strictly speaking, are morally wrong - "We The Living" performs its objective with superb effectiveness : it makes you hate totalitarianism - whether Nazism, Fascism, Communism or the Medieval Church, the broader abstraction remains - that totalitarianism is anti-life - because it takes away man's freedom to think, to choose, to act, to pursue his/ her happiness - on his/her on terms.
Rating:
Summary: Best Rand book I've read
Review: I thought this was an excellent novel. If you have issues with Rand's political ideology (I certainly tend to disagree with her) there is still much to enjoy about this novel. Don't prejudge the novel and decide not to read it because you dislike Rand. The story is genuinely moving and the characters, particularly the main character, are well drawn. I understood why she felt the way she did, and why she made the choices she did. Rand created some very evocative images in the novel -- I felt like I was there. I got totally pulled into the story. I can't say that the picture of Communist Russia at that time is particularly accurate or not, as I don't have enough knowledge on the subject to comment on that. I read the book because I was interested in the story, and the characters, not the politics. It does, however, raise some good, thought provoking questions about the dangers of totalitarianism. Thus, I can reccommend the book on two levels -- it will satisfy readers who just love a good story, and those who are interested in politcal systems and political ideology. The book might be hard to track down, but it will be worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: An Early Effort Worth the Read
Review: Rand's literary genius was evident in this early work. The characters were typical Rand, cardboard cut outs of humans. The setting in the early post revolutionary Russia is valuable and informative. Rand was a refugee of sorts from this culture and her insights are key to understanding the corrupt and worthless Soviet system. This book will not change the minds of any Clintonite socialist ... It will provide a peak behind the iron curtain for those of us who wondered about the day to day of the Soviet state. In her descriptions of life in the post revolutionary period we see what a farce the planned economies of socialism are. This is not the book that "Atlas Shrugged" or "The Fountainhead" was, it is simpler and the theme is less complex. Rand's philosophy and themes were not yet fully developed at this point in her career. It is a worthy read.
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