Well, I'm an adamantly against censorship or book burning, but if every work of Ayn Rand's was on fire I'm not sure I would bother to call the fire department. IMHO it's claptrap.

Of course, many people here will count her as their favorite author, so who knows.

As a general rule, no matter how great the book is supposed to be, if you're not enjoying it or getting anything positive from it, put it back on the shelf. There are too many other good books to be read.

When I was in high school, this was one of the really "in" books to read. I remember being riveted by it and that I couldn't put it down, not that I bought any of Ayn Rand's philosophy. And I did skip that endless, tedious speech by John Galt near the end--was it fifty pages?

When I tried her other books, such as "The Fountainhead", they were all the same long rant. Living in the NY area, sooner or later every celebrity shows up, as did Ayn Rand. I went to hear her speak and it was same-same. Got it out of my system. I definitely think her time is past and at her height, she was someone for students to debate into the wee hours but not to be taken seriously as an acceptable political philosophy.

I agree-life is too short to waste it on Ayn Rand. Unless you are doing research or really want to try to see WHY she enjoyed and enjoys her reputation, I'd return it to the library or list it on PaperbackSwap and move on to something you really want to read. Your life will probably not be improved, enriched or pleasured by persevering.

I tried to read her, once. Clap trap is a good way to describe it - tho I know fans would defend her to the death.

BTW, one of the best episodes of The Simpsons was when Maggie escapes from the Ayn Rand Day Care Center.

I tried Atlas Shrugged once or twice. I just could not, no matter how hard I tried, to get started on it. I decided that if I didn't appreciate it, it must be because my intellect was deficient which didn't bother me one whit or else I was out of step with the rest of the reading world.

My thought is that once you are out of school and you aren't going to get graded on it, there is no point at all in reading something that isn't interesting or enjoyable.
PB

It has taken me many years to accept that beginning a book and not finishing it is not some sort of moral failing. I can't count the number of times I have forced myself to finish reading books that I thought were horrid but that I thought I should read because of critical acclaim.

I'm proud to say that I've finally broken myself of that habit. It doesn't matter how many awards a book as won or how critically acclaimed it may be, I will stop reading it if I don't feel like I'm gaining anything from it. Life is too short and precious to waste even a moment. And I don't think that when I step into the afterlife in the hopes of entering heaven, there's going to be an entrance exam with a bunch of questions on it about all the books I didn't finish. I hope not. *gulp*

no-that's the English GRE...and it's at the gates of "elsewhere."

I think Ayn Rand's writing appeals to those college aged readers who are uncertain of their own worth, reassured that someone tells them that they are secretly better than anyone else, and that they don't have to take any responsiblity for those less fortunate than themselves. The appeal continues for older adults who have not outgrown this egocentric world view typical of some (though certainly not all) in that age group.

You can see what a fan I am.

Paula

Great support! I had to laugh because I always thought Rand was a "supposed to." I read most of Fountainhead a few years ago but took it back to the library unfinished. I saw Mark Cuban on Brian Lamb's show and he said he has read Fountainhead many times. He said, "IÂll pick it up when I need motivation but then if I read too far I get too much motivation and I get too jittery so I have to put it down." Discovering that book led him to read all her others. I plan to take AS back today and choose something else.

James Joyce is a "supposed to" too-and Faulkner-but they both give me the heebie jeebies! Ulysses defeated me early on, and all the way through As I Lay Dying (HAD to read it) I prayed for a cataclysmic earthquake to swallow them all up. Or that the stream of consciousness would flood.

Funny. I wouldn't touch Atlas Shrugged today and in high school it was not assigned but considered rather forward to be reading. I loved the book at that time but would gag if I had to read it today. I think some books are best read at a certain point in your life. I can't imagine reading Catcher in the Rye today either, but I devoured it at fourteen. That was definitely one you read when your parents weren't looking--now it's assigned reading. Takes away the fun of rebellion.

I finally got around to reading Atlas Shrugged a couple of years ago. I did finish it but I, too, skipped the long John Galt speech toward the end. I found myself disagreeing with a lot of her premises and as I read about her and her philosophy I decided that my time was not worth reading any more of her books. The only good thing I can say is that, if you were a fairly young reader (college?) maybe some of her stupid ideas would give you something to think about and analyze, as long as you were able to take her as "misguided."

I've got to admit I'm having a bit of a chuckle over this thread. When I posted the first (negative) response, I was a little afraid I would offend someone. I didn't want to hurt feelings, but I wanted to state my opinion. So I guess I'm not the only Ayn Rand non-fan here!

Ayn certainly doesn't have many fans here! It helps to understand her if one recalls her life. She was born in Russia in 1905 and escaped from what it had become, the USSR, at the age of twenty. So she saw experienced first-hand not just the horror of war but also the deeper horror of the Bolshevik revolution and the Communism that followed. She was already a student of philosophy and a critical thinker. IMO it was inevitable that she would become an ardent capitalist and a lover of the USA, after what she had witnessed in her homeland. She had watched the Russian people fall helplessly to their revolutionary brethren in massacre after massacre for the sake of collectivism. So she extolled individualism, based on an admiration for the honest work of the single person. Too bad that she went around talking of "selfishness"; it undermined her complex economic theories (not that I understand them!), which are more accepted today than one might think.

I read The Fountainhead when I was 19 and bought it hook, line and sinker. A few months later I met the incarnation of Howard Roark. Getting past that whole saga, I read Atlas Shrugged, forced myself to finish it, didn't like it at all - it's unwieldy, l-o-n-g and fairly boring. Fountainhead gets the point across much better. I'm no longer a fan, but I do admire the woman. She was a rugged individualist, a brilliant and independent woman, and was unable to control her heart when it came to men. I personally like that - it makes for a great biography!

Helen Mirren made a movie about her called The Passion of Ayn Rand. It's a fun flick, very sexy and doesn't cover up Ayn's flaws.

Oh, please, count me in as another disliker of Ayn Rand's books! I read two of them in my youth and hated them--don't know why on earth I persevered.

I don't mind her philosophies-I can read and enjoy a story even if the underlying theme isn't one I would espouse in real life-I just don't like her writing-it's a slog through cold treacle to get to the end of the book.

sable,

my experiences with Rand's books mirror yours. I read The Fountainhead around age 20 -- liked the book with some misgivings, particularly as it relates to Dominique. In fact, Rand's portrayal of women in general in her fiction was highly problematic for me. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged a few years after that, but couldn't get through it. Once I realized where she was going with Hank Reardon, I gave up, went to the library and read a book on Rand's life and some critical reviews of her books as well. It really helped to put in context for me what she was attempting. I haven't tried to revisit her books since then. I think they would be even more problematic for me now. I agree that she was an interesting and complex person and that the Helen Mirren movie about her life brought some of that across. I often think that someone needs to take some of her ideas and try to write a work of fiction to convey them in a more satisfactory manner than Rand did, but I've yet to come across a book that has been able to do that. If you go to Objectivist sites, Joanne Harris' book Chocolat gets mentioned as an example, but I've only seen the movie, not read her book.

OMG! I think there were only two of us on this board years ago who were not great admirers of Rand. In fact I always called her "she who must not be named" because I didn't want anyone searching on her name to come here.

I was a great admirer at 16, much less so as I aged. I think as my own world became less black and white, her world became less viable and inflexible to the point of stagnation. There is still an inner Dagny in me, but I don't like her.

The book I'm reading now, Up From Zero is about the politics and architecture of rebuilding at ground zero. At one point an architect tells a critic, "You have an idea of architecture that comes straight from Ayn Rand." The author goes on to say that the critic "seemed intent on viewing arctitecture as incompatible with human spiritual needs...."