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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I found it somewhat boring and pointless. But it beats Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I guess. At least it's more substantive. And it has some memorable quotes, like "If I'm still alive, and if I don't forget" and "No one is to blame for my death" and "But now the boot is red" (I didn't bother looking those up, so the wording may not be quite right—edit: now I have looked up the middle one, and it's really "No one is to be held responsible for my death", and I can't find the last one online, but I'm pretty sure it's in there).
Also, I accidentally got water all over the library's copy of this book. I still feel kind of bad about that. I didn't realize that the water bottle I was using was incapable of sealing fully and carelessly tossed it in my backpack. This was back when the $25 or so the library would have charged me to replace the book, had I not done my best to return it surreptitiously so as to avoid a confrontation with indignant librarians, seemed like a tremendous sum of money.
Also, I accidentally got water all over the library's copy of this book. I still feel kind of bad about that. I didn't realize that the water bottle I was using was incapable of sealing fully and carelessly tossed it in my backpack. This was back when the $25 or so the library would have charged me to replace the book, had I not done my best to return it surreptitiously so as to avoid a confrontation with indignant librarians, seemed like a tremendous sum of money.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As depressing a time as it was, it's important that we not forget the terrible social costs of collectivism run amok. Sadly, it seems that the more things change the more they stay the same. Many of the world's people still have the very humanity crushed from their bodies by ruthless "leaders" whose only aspiration is control and domination. This novel makes me truly thankful for the intellectual and economic freedoms I enjoy.
This is one of the most moving books I have read in quite some time (chalk it up there with Grapes of Wrath but of an entirely different setting). I vs We. Imagine being in a world where an individual has no chance. That individual refuses to give in to the Collective. As such, that individual knows no peace with the exception that the individual knows there are places where one can be an individual. It is worth dying for.
This book really explores the darkness of humanity in the form of the Collective. Such good intentions become perverted by the same institution responsible for it. The institution that wants to remove individual gain generates it for the select few at the expense of all others.
Selflessness, the greater good, absence of humanity.
This book really explores the darkness of humanity in the form of the Collective. Such good intentions become perverted by the same institution responsible for it. The institution that wants to remove individual gain generates it for the select few at the expense of all others.
Selflessness, the greater good, absence of humanity.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I think this might just be my favorite Ayn Rand novel. It's deep, brooding, and so painful. Her characters, though she stretched them so far, remain totally human.
Whoa. This is one of those books that needs to be talked about after finishing. I wish I had a book club!
I will definitely come back to this. I enjoyed what I did read, but then I didn't touch the book for a long time. I just need a fresh start with it.
Written in 1936, this is the first of Ayn Rand's novels and it is simply stunning.
This is set in Lenin and Stalin's Soviet Union and tells of the deep misery and horror faced by the people, but it was written whilst Stalin was still in control, so it is not some remote piece of history, this is as the title implies living.
Rand would go on to write a series of novels where she plies her philosophy known as objectivism, the value of the individual over the collective, which has been very influential today, and one which I don't agree with, but this novel seems to be where it all stems from, and this is well written, thought provoking and tragic.
I am going to work through the works of Ayn Rand - next up is her shorter book Anthem.
This is set in Lenin and Stalin's Soviet Union and tells of the deep misery and horror faced by the people, but it was written whilst Stalin was still in control, so it is not some remote piece of history, this is as the title implies living.
Rand would go on to write a series of novels where she plies her philosophy known as objectivism, the value of the individual over the collective, which has been very influential today, and one which I don't agree with, but this novel seems to be where it all stems from, and this is well written, thought provoking and tragic.
I am going to work through the works of Ayn Rand - next up is her shorter book Anthem.