A review by thomasgoddard
Anthem by Ayn Rand
4.0
"I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others."
If you ever want a good popcorn moment, go read the comment section of an Ayn Rand novel. It's the eye of the storm. Left wing fanatics and right wing zealots duke it out in the most tiresome and dull-witted of confrontations.
The above line is a perfect test of political leaning. If you're left wing you'll read "Selfish" And if you're right wing you'll read "Self-reliant".
I'm no Objectivist and I'm no Socialist. I read it and just think, fair enough. If you're going to live for your own happiness, it is definitely better to do it this way, demanding nothing from anyone else. I guess if you want to be more independent, so long as you're not insisting that others help you or that you get something for nothing, go for it. It's not a great way to live, I'd sooner be a little more plugged into society. But, to each his own.
I don't get what the fuss is about. It's just a writer using an outlandish plot to drive home her opinion that collectivist values can come at a cost of individual freedom. The book is a folk tale in style and substance. The hyperbolic plot isn't proof of her madness. It's a story that aims at extending a political position until it appears as hideous to the reader as she already believed it was.
I actually think that if you take any political position and stretch it out, you'll find it unsettling; or at the very least get a dystopian setting out of it.
This is not a bad novella. I feel, if she'd taken her foot off the pedal, she'd have been a lot better understood and a lot less polarising. Overwrought, that's the word for it. But I liked it enough to overlook its faults.
After finishing it, one thing was absolutely certain... love her or hate her, if you're reacting to her then her ideas aren't going away any time soon.
If you ever want a good popcorn moment, go read the comment section of an Ayn Rand novel. It's the eye of the storm. Left wing fanatics and right wing zealots duke it out in the most tiresome and dull-witted of confrontations.
The above line is a perfect test of political leaning. If you're left wing you'll read "Selfish" And if you're right wing you'll read "Self-reliant".
I'm no Objectivist and I'm no Socialist. I read it and just think, fair enough. If you're going to live for your own happiness, it is definitely better to do it this way, demanding nothing from anyone else. I guess if you want to be more independent, so long as you're not insisting that others help you or that you get something for nothing, go for it. It's not a great way to live, I'd sooner be a little more plugged into society. But, to each his own.
I don't get what the fuss is about. It's just a writer using an outlandish plot to drive home her opinion that collectivist values can come at a cost of individual freedom. The book is a folk tale in style and substance. The hyperbolic plot isn't proof of her madness. It's a story that aims at extending a political position until it appears as hideous to the reader as she already believed it was.
I actually think that if you take any political position and stretch it out, you'll find it unsettling; or at the very least get a dystopian setting out of it.
This is not a bad novella. I feel, if she'd taken her foot off the pedal, she'd have been a lot better understood and a lot less polarising. Overwrought, that's the word for it. But I liked it enough to overlook its faults.
After finishing it, one thing was absolutely certain... love her or hate her, if you're reacting to her then her ideas aren't going away any time soon.