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kccool12255's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
My stepsister actually gave me this book because she didn't want an extra copy, so I didn't really know what to expect going in. But it was fun! I had a good time, at least partially. Full disclaimer, I actually didn't read all of this book, but it's WARRANTED. I read a few of the short stories, skipped to the ending of the last one because I was struggling, and the rest of the book was full of plays I didn't want to read, and excerpts of books I haven't read, so I think it's fair that I left off where I did. I AM gonna leave reviews for the short stories I read, though, because I liked a lot of them.
The Husband I Bought
This story is SO GOOD. It's so hauntingly beautiful, and packs a lot of punch with meaningful themes and lessons to learn from. Irene's love for Henry is such that she lets him go to be with the woman he truly loves. It's so devastating that their love for each other was once so strong, so unbreakable, and then it deteriorates over time, but Henry is unable to leave her. I think Irene is someone that audiences of all kind can relate to, left with a love that is not returned. This story left me so sad afterwards, but it's so well-told and honestly, really impactful.
Good Copy
This story was a WILD ride. It's a fun time, and I just read it and had a good time. For context, I do wanna say that for the first half of this read, I thought this man's name was LARRY and not LAURY. I have nothing to blame but my own stupidity for that. But like this man wants there to be some news in his boring town, so he MAKES the news by kidnapping this rich girl? GENIUS, and SO FUNNY. I have mixed feelings about Laury and Jinx falling in love, but....oh well, I don't care. Jinx is a neat character though, I like her name for one, and she's SO CHILL with the idea of being kidnapped. She's just like, "oh, okay!" All of the characters in this story were really fun, I can even vibe with the bad guys because it's just goofy and fun. The ending was kinda confusing for me, and I don't know why, but the story was fun and I had a good time, so I think that's what really matters.
Escort
For how short this story is, SO MUCH is packed into it. It's SO SMART how Ayn Rand does the plot twist at the end of this story. I have nothing else to say, this story is pretty perfect.
Her Second Career
I'm conflicted, to be honest. I like the story good enough, but it's just kind of depressing for Jane/Claire. Basically this girl tries to get a fresh start with Hollywood and become a star, but she literally can't do it. Like, it's crazy how sad it is for her. Meanwhile, the guy she makes the bet with raises up this other girl, previously an extra, to be her replacement, per se. I hate that her name is HEDDY LELAND. I am fully aware that this is Russian, but it's a really stupid name, I'm sorry. It's worse that she eventually marries Winston Ayers, because Heddy AYERS is also a stupid name. But I digress. Thoughts about Winston and Heddy's relationship? I mean, it kind of caught me off guard, I feel like there could've been more build-up to it, and there just wasn't? And they get married SO FAST, like it's kinda scary. But that's not really the main focus of the story, so it didn't bother me too much. But the ending is so depressing and genuinely shocking. I don't mind if an ending is shocking if it's GOOD, but it just made me depressed afterwards. Claire finally does her best acting in this movie, and the critics hate it, like it's just sad. But it was a decent read, just could've been better.
Red Pawn
Don't get me wrong, the story is good. The set-up is there. But it drags on for so long. I was struggling during the ending of this book, so I literally just skipped to see what the ending was. The characters in this story fell flat. Commander Kareyev could've been developed so much better than he was, because we don't get to SEE any of it. One minute he's a stone-cold commander, and the next he's smiling big because he's fallen in love with this girl, but I can't TELL that. (Also, I'm pretty sure he gets her sent to this island in the beginning just for sex? Like, it's never EXPLICITLY said, but it's kind of implied, and I'm...concerned. Also, I think there's some questionable sex, which again, is KIND OF IMPLIED, but I'm just very confused.) The plot twist that Joan is Michael's wife is NICE, but then it loses its brilliance after a while, because you just see him be sad about it. This story goes on for so long after the three of them escape the island, and like, I get they have to be caught, but good grief, for an action-packed sequence, it is LACKING. Kind of ended the book on a bad note, but oh well, I liked the overall story okay.
I'm sorry I'm not marking this for spoilers, I'm too lazy.
But overall, a nice read! Not bad at all.
The Husband I Bought
This story is SO GOOD. It's so hauntingly beautiful, and packs a lot of punch with meaningful themes and lessons to learn from. Irene's love for Henry is such that she lets him go to be with the woman he truly loves. It's so devastating that their love for each other was once so strong, so unbreakable, and then it deteriorates over time, but Henry is unable to leave her. I think Irene is someone that audiences of all kind can relate to, left with a love that is not returned. This story left me so sad afterwards, but it's so well-told and honestly, really impactful.
Good Copy
This story was a WILD ride. It's a fun time, and I just read it and had a good time. For context, I do wanna say that for the first half of this read, I thought this man's name was LARRY and not LAURY. I have nothing to blame but my own stupidity for that. But like this man wants there to be some news in his boring town, so he MAKES the news by kidnapping this rich girl? GENIUS, and SO FUNNY. I have mixed feelings about Laury and Jinx falling in love, but....oh well, I don't care. Jinx is a neat character though, I like her name for one, and she's SO CHILL with the idea of being kidnapped. She's just like, "oh, okay!" All of the characters in this story were really fun, I can even vibe with the bad guys because it's just goofy and fun. The ending was kinda confusing for me, and I don't know why, but the story was fun and I had a good time, so I think that's what really matters.
Escort
For how short this story is, SO MUCH is packed into it. It's SO SMART how Ayn Rand does the plot twist at the end of this story. I have nothing else to say, this story is pretty perfect.
Her Second Career
I'm conflicted, to be honest. I like the story good enough, but it's just kind of depressing for Jane/Claire. Basically this girl tries to get a fresh start with Hollywood and become a star, but she literally can't do it. Like, it's crazy how sad it is for her. Meanwhile, the guy she makes the bet with raises up this other girl, previously an extra, to be her replacement, per se. I hate that her name is HEDDY LELAND. I am fully aware that this is Russian, but it's a really stupid name, I'm sorry. It's worse that she eventually marries Winston Ayers, because Heddy AYERS is also a stupid name. But I digress. Thoughts about Winston and Heddy's relationship? I mean, it kind of caught me off guard, I feel like there could've been more build-up to it, and there just wasn't? And they get married SO FAST, like it's kinda scary. But that's not really the main focus of the story, so it didn't bother me too much. But the ending is so depressing and genuinely shocking. I don't mind if an ending is shocking if it's GOOD, but it just made me depressed afterwards. Claire finally does her best acting in this movie, and the critics hate it, like it's just sad. But it was a decent read, just could've been better.
Red Pawn
Don't get me wrong, the story is good. The set-up is there. But it drags on for so long. I was struggling during the ending of this book, so I literally just skipped to see what the ending was. The characters in this story fell flat. Commander Kareyev could've been developed so much better than he was, because we don't get to SEE any of it. One minute he's a stone-cold commander, and the next he's smiling big because he's fallen in love with this girl, but I can't TELL that. (Also, I'm pretty sure he gets her sent to this island in the beginning just for sex? Like, it's never EXPLICITLY said, but it's kind of implied, and I'm...concerned. Also, I think there's some questionable sex, which again, is KIND OF IMPLIED, but I'm just very confused.) The plot twist that Joan is Michael's wife is NICE, but then it loses its brilliance after a while, because you just see him be sad about it. This story goes on for so long after the three of them escape the island, and like, I get they have to be caught, but good grief, for an action-packed sequence, it is LACKING. Kind of ended the book on a bad note, but oh well, I liked the overall story okay.
I'm sorry I'm not marking this for spoilers, I'm too lazy.
But overall, a nice read! Not bad at all.
marimoose's review against another edition
3.0
For all Leonard Peikoff's periodically pointing out that Ayn Rand's grasp of English was poor in the beginning of her writing years, it is still much better than a lot of native English writing today. Sure, some of the phrasing was a little awkward, and I cringed a bit at her attempt at capturing the slang in "The Night King," but overall her style and sense of the dramatics hasn't disappeared.
I actually liked some of her earlier works, and a little sad that she didn't further develop her more humorous side to storytelling. I loved her works during the '20s ("The Husband I Bought," "Escort," "Good Copy," and "Her Second Career"), which, while they were clearly the beginnings of various philosophical ideas, had a more light-hearted style as opposed to her dramatic and passionate works in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. This is probably owing to the fact that her later years were littered with rejection letter after rejection letter. You can tell the bitterness in her stories during that time.
"Red Pawn" was probably a personal favorite for her stories in her later years; but again, this story was much closer to her actual writing than the early stuff. I barely touched the two plays, mostly because by that point I wanted to get straight to the Fountainhead excerpts (the bit about Vesta Dunning is the closest to a fanfic that Ayn Rand herself wrote about Howard Roark!), which were amazingly written, if a bit out of character for the orange-haired architect.
Now that I've read excerpts of Roark, I'm almost tempted to pick up The Fountainhead again. Almost. But a re-read of Ayn Rand would probably last me weeks.
Perhaps just a few skimmed passages then...
I actually liked some of her earlier works, and a little sad that she didn't further develop her more humorous side to storytelling. I loved her works during the '20s ("The Husband I Bought," "Escort," "Good Copy," and "Her Second Career"), which, while they were clearly the beginnings of various philosophical ideas, had a more light-hearted style as opposed to her dramatic and passionate works in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. This is probably owing to the fact that her later years were littered with rejection letter after rejection letter. You can tell the bitterness in her stories during that time.
"Red Pawn" was probably a personal favorite for her stories in her later years; but again, this story was much closer to her actual writing than the early stuff. I barely touched the two plays, mostly because by that point I wanted to get straight to the Fountainhead excerpts (the bit about Vesta Dunning is the closest to a fanfic that Ayn Rand herself wrote about Howard Roark!), which were amazingly written, if a bit out of character for the orange-haired architect.
Now that I've read excerpts of Roark, I'm almost tempted to pick up The Fountainhead again. Almost. But a re-read of Ayn Rand would probably last me weeks.
Perhaps just a few skimmed passages then...
kumosayi's review against another edition
5.0
This book shows how much it's possible to improve if you put your mind to it. I was also really happy to read shorter stories of Rand's, and see more of how her ideology has evolved through the years! I don't doubt I'll go back to this book at times, and read stories like Good Copy and Ideal over again. I also greatly enjoyed the unpublished parts from We the Living and The Fountainhead. Definitely a must-read for those who enjoyed Ayn Rand's other novels.
magicschooltokoro's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
***** for "A Good Copy," (1920s) the character of Steve Ingalls from the "Think Twice" whodunit play (1930s), and what was cut from the final version of "The Fountainhead"— which had what Leonard Peikoff described as her best writing and so far. I agree, as well as characterization of Howard Roark here.
****ish for Red Dawn (1930s), but I was not pleased with how she ended it.
I got it on a whim to see what the development of her mind and writing looked like, to hopefully contribute to understand her being so hated and loved. This is my semi-introduction to Rand in an extended manner, as I've only read the first 40 pages of The Fountainhead at a Books-A-Million once.
I will expand later by including some of Peikoff's notes on her writing in general and on these cut Fountainhead sections, which he sees as not contributing to the novel, but beautiful nonetheless.
***** for "A Good Copy," (1920s) the character of Steve Ingalls from the "Think Twice" whodunit play (1930s), and what was cut from the final version of "The Fountainhead"— which had what Leonard Peikoff described as her best writing and so far. I agree, as well as characterization of Howard Roark here.
****ish for Red Dawn (1930s), but I was not pleased with how she ended it.
I got it on a whim to see what the development of her mind and writing looked like, to hopefully contribute to understand her being so hated and loved. This is my semi-introduction to Rand in an extended manner, as I've only read the first 40 pages of The Fountainhead at a Books-A-Million once.
I will expand later by including some of Peikoff's notes on her writing in general and on these cut Fountainhead sections, which he sees as not contributing to the novel, but beautiful nonetheless.
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