Talk Back

[ariel05]

I'm back, for another year.

Before I get into the review, I was wondering... when it becomes 2010, will there be a "30 in '10", or a "20 in '10"?

OK, "We the Living".

Dammit, all my comfort reading is turning against me! (I don't know anybody else who reads Rand fiction for comfort, but I'm weird like that.)

I donated all my other Rand fiction to the library. (Atlas, Fountainhead, and Anthem.) Though there was a ton of awesome ideas and concepts in the books, I LOATHED the way she ultimately treated her women in the book. Plus, I hated the way so many of her characters were standup cardboard characters spouting off her philosophy. And I don't like the way she applies her own philosophy. Her world seems to be very black and white. In spite of that, I love her ideas and concepts, and they've changed the way I look at and think about the world.

I kept "We the Living" because I remembered it wasn't as dogmatic as the rest.

I remembered correctly. At least there's no long monologues in this book.. but I still had problems reading it. It wasn't that all the main characters had committed suicide in one way or another by the end of the book. It wasn't that the overall tone was hopeless and grim. I don't know what it was. I didn't like it all that much this time around.

Oh yeah.. a brief plot outline: A three-way romance between 2 men and a woman, set in the early days of Communist Russia. Though Ayn Rand insists in her introduction that it has nothing to do with Russia, it's difficult to escape that this is where it's set. I can see how it's a good description of the evils of communism, and how it would be a good description of life under communism. I just can't see very far past the setting.

This isn't my best review - my apologies. Eh, it's a start for the year.

[shaw]

I disagree with her philosophy, but I think she is one of the greatest authors of all time.

[jeffp]

Welcome back! It's good to see you posting again.

I wonder if we can round up Bea too?