Scan barcode
angelicat's review against another edition
So unnecessarily long. Very repetitive. Badly written dialog. Insufferable characters. Overall terribly classist premise that is never adequately addressed, at least not within the first 6 hours of the audiobook. Racism against Mexicans, including the slur spic . A sexual assault scene that is framed as the aggressor “taking what’s his” and results in the victim giving in, enjoying it, and realizing that she sees herself as his property.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
singerscientist's review
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? It's complicated
1.5
This is a compelling piece of drivel that is riddled with logical fallacies and... well... lack of logic. Her failing to grasp basic economics is fascinating, seeing as libertarians who claim to understand economics cling to this book as doctrine (if supply of oil goes down, and then demand for cars goes down because people have to find other modes of travel, she says the price of cars will skyrocket? I may not have taken many econ classes at this point, but if demand goes down it is my understanding that prices usually go down too... This is one of the most glaring examples, but this behemoth of a book is riddled with this type of logical loping).
Rand likes creating types of people that do not exist or are at the very least extremely rare, including "socialists" that want to stop innovation altogether and CEO's that could do any job in their business, including smelting and fixing broken machines. I get it, we all want the Musks of this world to actually be good at innovation and working with the things they are managing, but the thing is they mostly are just skating on their parents' money being able to buy the right engineers. I can believe that a few CEO's would be like that, but to have that be the rule rather than the exception is quite the fantasy.
The self-insert for Rand being super sexy to every man she meets is a choice, but it was definitely the most compelling part of the book. Rand is very good at making the reader feel powerful and giving them that cathartic "YEAH Get 'em!" sneer as long as they don't critically think about her points or understand that she has simply created fun, punchable straw men that don't have any bearing on the real world. It is made for 15 year old boys that will never think past that glowing feeling it gives them and its license to be greedy. This book is a skip unless you're intending to get the scholarship the Rand foundation puts out every year.
Rand likes creating types of people that do not exist or are at the very least extremely rare, including "socialists" that want to stop innovation altogether and CEO's that could do any job in their business, including smelting and fixing broken machines. I get it, we all want the Musks of this world to actually be good at innovation and working with the things they are managing, but the thing is they mostly are just skating on their parents' money being able to buy the right engineers. I can believe that a few CEO's would be like that, but to have that be the rule rather than the exception is quite the fantasy.
The self-insert for Rand being super sexy to every man she meets is a choice, but it was definitely the most compelling part of the book. Rand is very good at making the reader feel powerful and giving them that cathartic "YEAH Get 'em!" sneer as long as they don't critically think about her points or understand that she has simply created fun, punchable straw men that don't have any bearing on the real world. It is made for 15 year old boys that will never think past that glowing feeling it gives them and its license to be greedy. This book is a skip unless you're intending to get the scholarship the Rand foundation puts out every year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: War, Death, Misogyny, Torture, Sexual content, Abandonment, Murder, Violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Fatphobia and Ableism
More...