A few weeks ago, a few friends and I formed a reading group, and for our first book we chose Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. For better or worse, I already knew the general plot outline and was already familiar with Objectivism, Rand's philosophy.
It's not my intention to give a plot summary (that's what SparkNotes are for), but to offer my thoughts on the novel thus far. As of this morning, I am at chapter IX (The Sacred and the Profane). The novel is very readable, and very fast paced. Rand sprinkles the backstories of the characters throughout each chapter, often in one or two paragraphs, but never strays too far from the main story, and moving it along. I personally prefer that style than taking multiple paragraphs or even full chapters to explain character background. Related to the first point, the story is very compelling, especially for an entrepreneur like myself. It's the story of the struggle between the creators and those who want to appropriate the fruit of the creators labor for their own ends. In one exchange, Hank Rearden is speaking to a government official who basically wants to shut Rearden down. The official cannot understand why Rearden wants to keep the secret to Rearden Metal, and to keep his business going in the face of such heavy public and governmental opposition. He responds by saying "It's mine". In that moment, I knew what Rearden was feeling. When you put blood, sweat and tears into creating something, the motivation of pride will drive you to fight for it, to keep it protected and thriving. There are elements of mystery (why do successful businessmen keep disappearing? why has d'Anconia gone off the deep end? who is John Galt?!), and also science fiction, which I both enjoy.Some of the criticism leveled at the book has been on two levels: the literary merits of the book, and the philosophical system presented. Having not finished the book, and having not read Galt's speech explaining Rand's Objectivism (which I know is coming), I will withhold from making a philosophical criticism. In college I took "Philosophy In Literature", in which we read Dostoevsky (Poor Folk, Notes From Underground, Crime And Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, Demons). One thing we learned was that Dostoevsky used his novels to respond to the philosophies of his day. He was trying to show the reader: this is what philosophy (socialism, nihilism, etc.) lived out in real life, and taken to it's logical end, looks like. Similar to what Rand is doing in Atlas Shrugged. It's not fair to compare Ayn Rand (or anyone, for that matter) to Dostoevsky, but in Atlas Shrugged, I have so far found the characters a little shallow and unbelievable, especially the capitalists. They show little to no emotion whatsoever, and so they become unrelatable, whereas in Dostoevsky's novels, you can see part of yourself in some of the characters and their struggles. This hasn't made the novel unreadable, and I get what Rand is trying to do, but it is annoying. But it's just one criticism. One friend had this to say about Rand's writing style:
A couple of things I'm noticing that are bothering me about Rand's writing: she uses the word "naked" far too much and I hate how characters infer all this meaning from simple hellos, for example, Reardon will say Hi to Dagny and Rand will comment that although it was a simple hello, Dagny knew there was a depth of meaning behind it, that Reardon was congratulating her and that only they had this ability to know what the other was thinking without anything being said. It happens with other characters too. I find it incredibly annoying. If Rand wanted to say there was more to the hello than the simply greeting, I think she should have had the narrator say it, instead of the characters always inferring it. - @wckruz
So, overall I am really enjoying the book. I can't put it down to be honest, despite my opposition to some of the ideas it promotes. I can see why it is so appealing and I'm glad we chose it.
As a bonus, here is a two-part interview Rand did with Mike Wallace in 1959:
The Church and Postmodern Culture series features high-profile theorists in continental philosophy and contemporary theology writing for a broad, nonspecialist audience interested in the impact of postmodern theory on the faith and practice of the church.
