Does Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand get better?

[woowoo22]

Few pages in and YAWN. Is it worth it? Looked nice and thick/interesting but might be putting it back to the library at this rate.

[MooncupGoddess]

Well, it really depends what you're looking for. It's preposterous on many levels (politically, emotionally, morally, in plot terms, etc) but I found it strangely gripping. Also really useful if you want to understand the Republican Right.

[DoubleMum]

Nope.

[woowoo22]

I'd heard that it was a biggie for understanding libertarianism, so thought I'd give it a go. Preposterous sounds great! It just seems so overblown though, am struggling as it is v detailed with not a lot happening.

[Sinned]

Sets out the philosophy of true capitalism.

In the real world, greed and a lot of other things get in the way.

[MooncupGoddess]

Ignore the details, OP - it's not like Hilary Mantel or something where every phrase is carefully and beautifully crafted. You can quite happily skim the dull bits until it gets more fun. There is some hilariously bad sex if I recall correctly, and some amusing confrontations between the noble capitalists for whom efficiency is all, and the evil socialists who admit to caring about other people

[CoteDAzur]

I thought it was great when I read it in my teens but don't think I would find it terribly interesting now.

I went on to read her other books We The Living (about Soviet Russia crushing people's spirits) and The Fountainhead (about an creative architect) at about the same time and found them great, but haven't revisited them since then.

[YokoUhOh]

I listened to a radio programme about Ayn Rand recently. She was once being interviewed on US television and announced that the worst thing she could possibly imagine was a female president of the USA.

Don't think I'll bother with the novels.

[CoteDAzur]

She was a very strong woman by all accounts but probably didn't have that opinion about her American contemporaries at the time.