bbluebird916's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
wshier's review against another edition
2.0
I don't get it. I don't mean the point of the book--you get hit over the head with that several hundred times--I mean how anyone rates this as great or influential.Two stars is probably charitable as I seriously considered abandoning on page 900-something.The best review I read (for lovers of brevity--which Ayn Rand is not)..."I shrugged."
jeshiltner's review against another edition
2.0
After reading the Fountainhead, I just couldn't get into this one. Someone convince me otherwise?
maxxxxxdlp's review against another edition
5.0
The story is interesting but not as educational as I would have hoped.
There are basically the good guys, and the bad guys, and nothing in the middle. Real world is not black and white like that but has all shades of gray in between.
Additionally, some faults of capitalism like negative externalities (i.e, environmental pollution) and positive externalities (i.e, education) are not mentioned in the book.
Still, I love how this book teaches you:
- to think with your mind, rather than your heart
- to demand fair rewards for all the services you do
- to not expect to be rewarded unless you produce value
- and similarly, to expect to be rewarded based on how much value you produce for the socieity
There are basically the good guys, and the bad guys, and nothing in the middle. Real world is not black and white like that but has all shades of gray in between.
Additionally, some faults of capitalism like negative externalities (i.e, environmental pollution) and positive externalities (i.e, education) are not mentioned in the book.
Still, I love how this book teaches you:
- to think with your mind, rather than your heart
- to demand fair rewards for all the services you do
- to not expect to be rewarded unless you produce value
- and similarly, to expect to be rewarded based on how much value you produce for the socieity
josiahdegraaf's review against another edition
2.0
The political aspects of Rand's work are interesting, and I was able to somewhat enjoy the story on that merit. Unfortunately, it is not just a political picture of what happens in extreme socialism/communism. The characters are boring, the morality is awful, and as a story it kind of flops. When the only way to get your point across is to write a 40 page dialogue-dump by using a character as a mouthpiece, you know you're doing something wrong. The story is interesting for its political outlook, but only for that.
1.5-2 stars. (Incoherent)
1.5-2 stars. (Incoherent)
goroshyna's review against another edition
3.0
Не можу не погодитися, що ця частина роману виявилася найслабшою.
Майже відсутні ті елементи, що так подобалися мені в попередніх частинах. «А є А» просякнута сентименталізмом і утопічними мотивами, сюжет вже майже не тримає в напрузі.
Як і в двох попередніх частинах, тутешні герої виголошують довгі монологи. Втім одна з промов тут сягає вісімдесяти сторінок! Звичайно, окремі її фрази дуже вартісні, їх можна виписувати та цитувати. Однак здебільшого це було повторенням вже викладених читачеві тез. Також я не могла погодитися з рішенням Айн Ренд злити одного з моїх улюблених персонажів.
Може скластися враження, що мені було нудно дочитувати роман. Це не так. Слідкувати за подіями, що розгорталися в останній частині «Атланта», було неабияк цікаво. Однак роман небагато втратив би, якби «А є А» було скорочено хоча б на третину.
Майже відсутні ті елементи, що так подобалися мені в попередніх частинах. «А є А» просякнута сентименталізмом і утопічними мотивами, сюжет вже майже не тримає в напрузі.
Як і в двох попередніх частинах, тутешні герої виголошують довгі монологи. Втім одна з промов тут сягає вісімдесяти сторінок! Звичайно, окремі її фрази дуже вартісні, їх можна виписувати та цитувати. Однак здебільшого це було повторенням вже викладених читачеві тез. Також я не могла погодитися з рішенням Айн Ренд злити одного з моїх улюблених персонажів.
Може скластися враження, що мені було нудно дочитувати роман. Це не так. Слідкувати за подіями, що розгорталися в останній частині «Атланта», було неабияк цікаво. Однак роман небагато втратив би, якби «А є А» було скорочено хоча б на третину.
susannadkm's review against another edition
3.0
As much as I may be sympathetic to Rand's philosophy and politics, I simply could not stand her writing style. Her choice of words, her sentence-long descriptions of the inflection and meaning of each quote, and her black-and-white characters made this book a mission to read. I listened to Blackstone's audio version, which made it worse as the narrator's interpretation of all the "bad" characters' voices came off as ignorant whines. Perhaps that's how they were supposed to be read, which makes the novel seem even worse. The part of this book that was philosophy was intriguing, but the part that was novel was painful.
sbone's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing, it changed my life completely. The first one I read was Fountainhead and her philosophy didnt take a hold on me until Atlas Shrugged.