Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand, 1957. Read 9/22/21

I'll start off by saying I enjoyed this one. I didn't expect to enjoy it. I know Rand's political philosophies and that she was obsessed with a guy who murdered a little girl. She was a character. But I was surprised to find her writing enjoyable and the story interesting.

That said, she very clearly created the main character, Dagny, as her "OC-Don't-Steal" imagined self. Dagny is thin, brilliant, and of the highest moral character. All the men want her, and all the women want to be her. (Blech).

There was also, like reading Tolstoy, long passages of preaching that interrupted the flow of the story. She argues against a version of communism that has never existed in our world, and goes to the farthest levels of ridiculousness to show how awful it is. Also Dagny is supposed to be this super intelligent woman who is also shallow as shit.

Granted the times when this was written, but...Science? Never met her. This is like, the OG Star Trek levels of "scientific" magic. Nonsense.

Finally, I felt really, really bad for Eddie. He got a hell of a short stick. I do wonder who he represented in Rand's life lol.

Rereadability: it is very, very long (500 pages more than necessary) so probably not

Time to Read: 8 days

Classic: not for the writing, but perhaps for the world-building