Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Anthem

I read "Anthem" by Ayn Rand for the first time in 9th grade. It bored me to tears. Then we were made to watch the movie "THX 1138" and I thought I would die. (Having just read a summary of the plot to that movie, I'm kind of appalled I was shone it at school. Is it as bad as the summary makes it sound?) Anyway...

So I just reread "Anthem," having heard a lot about Ayn Rand recently. Wow, do I think more people need to read this book. Seeing as I don't want this blog to be a political blog (there's lots of things I don't want this blog to be--what I WANT it to be, I'm still not sure), I won't go into a lot of the things I liked about this book. But I do encourage all of you to read it and I would love to hear what you think individually. (Really. I would. It's really short. About 100 very small pages. Big type. Go ahead. Read it!)

My one big bone to pick with this book was how close it came to truth and then it lacked one very essential ingredient. I loved it until the last two chapters. And I even loved parts of the last two chapters. This is definitely one to add to your must-read-before-I-get-too-much-older list.

4 comments:

Kaylynn said...

I'm not sure I know what I want my blog to be--hopefully something that shows real life! Miss you Sara!

pcNut said...

Must-read-before-I-get-too-much-older...How long is that? Just teasing.
Fun suggestion:)

Becky said...

I used to teach this book, so I've got a better developed opinion than most.

Obviously, there are some things to take into consideration when one sits down to read a book like this. First, Ayn Rand was a bit of an atheist, so her presentations of religion or faith outside of one's self come off as a bit one-sided and skewed (I would say, "Bless her heart." But she didn't believe anyone would, so I'm tempted to save my breath).

Also, Anthem was written as a cautionary distopia novella, and for better or worse, there's always a streak of paranoia running through it that seems to suggest: "Better read a book, or eventually you'll forget the pronoun for 'I' and become a street sweeper." Forgive my conservative optimism, but as long as there are good people willing to fight for the cause of right, this society would never be entirely possible (Unless, of course, all the good guys are dead. "Jaredites anyone? Do we have a Jaredite in the house?").

Those opinions aside, what I love most about this book is its powerful presentation of the indomitable nature of the human spirit. If we all fought this hard or believed this much in the value of personal knowledge and, more specifically, truth, this world would be a much better place than the hole its become.

ps Is it political to share an opinion?

Sara Lyn said...

Kaylynn - Miss you too. Come back to FL for a visit sometime!

Sarah - It's a very long list for some people. Mine keeps getting longer... :)

Becky - It's not political to share an opinion, but I don't want to share much of my opinion because my opinion is awfully political. I like what you said about it's "powerful presentation of the indomitable nature of the human spirit." That's what I really loved to. Excellent book! Thanks for sharing your opinion!