Atlas Shrugged

Rating:
Summary: Flawed, but still a must read.
Review: Ayn Rand was a giant. Your local university professor or phd in philosophy will almost certainly disagree with that statement, but I believe that I can confidently label Rand as one of the very few legitimate American intellectuals. In the body of work she has published (both fiction novels and non fiction books and editorials) we are presented with the real reasons behind America's incredible and unique success during the last 150 years. Not only that, she gives us clear arguements as to why we should not feel guilty about that success as some "reasonless" bleeding hearts and religionists would have us do.

The problem with Atlas Shrugged is that it attempts to be at once a philosophical treatise and a masterwork of fiction and unfortunately it fails to attain either. We are presented with "good" and "evil". The good people are mostly very attractive, graceful and full of unflappable confidence. The bad people "slide into the room" they have some physical flaw and when you look at them, their eyes "glaze over". It was of course the point of the novel to give us illustrations of the various points Rand wanted to make in unveiling Objectivism to the public. She must have felt that the most effective way was to illustrate good and bad thinking and behavior in a very black and white fashion. This methodology made the various storylines irrelevant to me. These did not seem like characters I might meet in real life (with the exception of some of the more minor characters) and because of this I concentrated specifically on the philosophical arguments. This was very tedious as well because I was forced to wade through hundreds of pages of description and plot development. The Fountainhead was not the last word in Ayn Rand's philosophy, but it is a far better novel. Its characters are much more believable and the arguements are presented in a much more subtle and thoughtful way. With these reservations, I still recommend that you read the book. Some wonderful ideas are presented, and for those who received all of their ethical and philosophical education at church or from college professors this might be a real eye opener.

Rating:
Summary: A life changing book
Review: I read this book for the first time in 1959 on an army base in Germany, and it changed my thinking forever. My family was pro-union, and voted Democratic, but this book made me rethink much of what was happening in the world in 1959. Every time I read the book after that, it solidified my thinking about government, integrity, social consciousness and our role in society. Since then, I have seen the government overgrow and over-control our society, take more and more of our money in taxes to support social programs that don't work, scare us with "Sky is falling" legislation that further inhibits our freedoms, and ignores the needs of the middle class and the role of the upper class in this country. They create the jobs for this country...not the government. This book gave me pride in my own efforts, a truth that I should not live for anyone else, and a goal of striving for my own perfection. 45 years later, the book is as relevent today as it was then.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Overlong
Review: Well this is a 1000 page novel that could easily have been 300. You know from the backcover of the novel all that will happen up to page 650, and you can guess the end from there.

Rand's voice and idea that collectivism was more brutal and inhuman than competition is interesting and valid, but I wonder why she tried to masquerade what is clearly a political manifesto behind a character story. Her characters are horrible from any artistic standpoint, they are inhuman themselves. The novel's view of humanity seems to be that you are either a useless, whining slob or a perfect independent specimen (note how all "bad" people are ugly, and usually fat). No middle. By the way I would love to hear one historical example of a genius inventor/administrator/financier/etc that Rand makes some 50 characters into. I can only assume she meant the story to be an allegory, but it is far to long for an allegory; and far to inhuman for a novel.

Even thought I agree in many aspects with Rand's thought I would truly wish for the novel to be more compact and less repetitious. This could truly have been another 1984 if it were 300 pages long instead.

The most excruciating moments of the novel seem to be when her superficial idealized (or demonized) characters discuss love or try to have an emotion. Other than that the ideas of truly meritocratic system of values is interesting (specially coming from the 50s), and for all its failed characterization the prose moves at a reasonable speed (although it goes nowhere at a reasonable speed most of the time). Sadly the fact that some comments on Amazon mention the "lack of a moral system" indicates how perhaps even 1000 pages of discussion wasn't enough to penetrate some pre-conceived ideas which she wished to challenge.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written
Review: This is a must read. Listen to the story, not the character development. It is a philosophy that still holds true today and everyone should read it. Unfortunately, only the smarter ones of us will really understand it.

Rating:
Summary: One word: Dull
Review: I could write at length about the philosophy, which I find self-destructive. I won't. I could write at length about the characters, about whom the best thing I can say is that they're cardboard. I won't.

What I will say is that I found this "novel" to be indescribably, unspeakably, mind-numbingly boring. Just absolutely insanely dull. Gods. I slogged and slogged out of a sense of duty, but I will never read anything Rand has written ever again. If the only hard and fast rule of writing is, "never be boring," Ayn Rand is about the worst writer I have ever encountered. It wouldn't surprise me if she taped a sign above her typewriter which read, "never say one exciting thing ever".

Of course, plenty of people have told me how boring they thought Dune was, and I love it to death, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Rating:
Summary: Thanks Mom! (eight years later)
Review: Atlas Shrugged has sat on my bookshelf for eight years while I picked it up, put it down, picked it up.....etc.

Finally, in January of 2004, I decided to read the book which bears the inscription 'To my son, Happy Birthday, 1996'

There are so many plot-lines, so many characters, so many situations to encapsulate, but...with so many reviews available, I think I will just stick to a few main likes/dislikes of this book.

Likes: First off; the ability of Ms. Rand to give her characters voices that reflected a decidedly UN-popular viewpoint, that of the individual, or the underdog, in regards to business, politics, and romance. Second; the fact that these characters remained true to their beliefs throughout the story. Even when the going got tough, the tough stuck to their guns. Though the story feels a little dated at times, due to limited technology at the time of writing compared with the modern world...the story is compelling as you witness the fortunes and disasters of most of the principal characters. By keeping them 'true', Ms. Rand also kept them interesting and consistent.

Dislikes: The 'good guys' in the story are meant to represent the author's own viewpoints, and it reads a little self-centered to have them be the 'good guys' in the story, and anyone who goes against these beliefs is painted as a villain. In an attempt, perhaps, to air many, many political, social, and economic beliefs and remorses; the author goes out of her way to make the 'white hats' stark white, and the 'black hats' blacker than a starless night.

The story centers on the rise and fall of certain businesses and their owners as the Government seeks to control production and output, and regulate tax breaks and special considerations for those in their favor, under the guise of 'public protection and benevolence'....its easy to see, while reading this book, where Ms. Rand's affiliation lays.

The heroine of the tale, while a strong and formidable woman, loses her credibility, at least to me, in certain actions she takes. While supposed to be a 'good guy'...I found some of her actions suspect, and the author seemingly trying to cover that with justification. And though I enjoyed Dagney Taggart as a character...somehow I found myself unable to root for her very often as the victor of any conflict she was engaged in.

However...this is an enjoyable story, if you don't mind the length. At 1200 pages, this was quite a time investment for me...and while it was time well spent, with an intersting and capable author, who did have a lot of valuable things to say...its not for the faint of heart to try and lug a book of this weight around for the length of time it takes to read it.

Four stars for voice, content, and the ability to keep a 1200 page story interesting and well-paced.

Rating:
Summary: Great Work
Review: This book has changed my aspect of life.

Nobody should ever dare to speak about life before reading this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Haiku Review
Review: Strike forth the gilded
Lamb and kill the infidels.
Fill the bats with glue.

Rating:
Summary: Note to Ayn Rand: Keep your characters off their soapboxes!
Review: This is an excellent story, readily adaptable to real-life situations. I strongly identified with several of the characters within the story which at times made the book difficult to put down. This was the first Ayn Rand book I've read but I can't honestly say that I'd ever read another one.

Rand seems to have an aversion towards writing as people speak. Significant parts of the book are dedicated towards various soapbox orations by the characters. Real people in the same situation may have a relatively brief conversation that covers all the bases; Rand's characters go on and on (and on and on and on...) covering not only all of the bases but also all of the gridirons, courts, greens, and raceways. It gets monotonous very quickly. You will find yourself skipping ahead several paragraphs (or pages) just to get to the end of an oration which could have been nicely and clearly summarized with significantly less effort. At times this is EXTREMELY painful to wade through. Such attention to detail is better suited towards a technical writer, not to an author of fiction.

That said, the story was great but the writing is in serious need of better editing. Rand needs either a severe lesson in the efficiency of brevity, or a new editor that isn't afraid to cut out a few hundred pages of soapbox oration.

Rating:
Summary: POWERFUL BOOK DEFINED A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Review: Book Review: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand

A POWERFUL BOOK THAT DEFINED A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHYAND INFLUENCED INFLUENTIAL MINDS
Review by Steven Travers
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Published in 1957 after years in the works, Ayn Rand's magnum opus, "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the most influential novels in history. It, and its author, have been vilified and deified. Reviewing this book is as challenging as it was reading all 1168 of its pages. "Atlas Shrugged" is truly a "piece of work." It is a triumph of philosophy, much more so than the quintessential "great American novel." The greatness of this book is in its ideas more so than its literary value. Rand is not a writer on par with Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, or Thomas Wolfe. However, she is a visionary, like her hero, Aristotle. Her fans are fans of her vision, not just her words, and she has spawned millions of them over the years.
"Atlas Shrugged" was Ronald Reagan's favorite novel. It was the most influential book William F. Buckley, Jr. ever read. Obviously, this gives away its premise, which is conservative in nature and therefore anathema to liberals and the literary establishment they control. "Atlas Shrugged" and Rand herself were shoved into second-tier status by college professors and bookstore chains, but long before talk radio, she proved that conservatives win in the marketplace of ideas. Her works have been international best sellers for decades. Clubs, forums, seminars, web sites, and chat rooms devoted to Rand have given her legions of loyal supporters a chance to ask and get answers to the many, many questions that her novels have inspired. For years, Rand toured the country, delighting audiences who seemed to literally worship her. Following her own novel, "The Fountainhead", and influential non-fiction books "God and Man At Yale" by Buckley, and Whittaker Chambers' essential "Witness" (1952), "Atlas Shrugged" gave impetus to the conservative movement, which broke from the Rockefeller wing of the Republican party to launch Barry Goldwater's Quixote-like 1964 campaign; eventually the Reagan Revolution; and finally the sea change which promises to make the first half of the 21st Century an era of unparalleled American power.

Steven Travers is the author of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman" (www.sportspublishingllc.com). He can be reached at [e-mail].