ISBN-10: 9780451191144
ISBN-13: 978-0451191144
Publisher: Signet
The protagonists are all headstrong, lone wolves. Their ability to think critically has brought them success. They can overcome any obstacle by their own sheer will. There are few who have what it takes to run a business, and it requires putting their entire being into it. When these great minds encounter each other, they seem telepathically linked. They never joke; jokes are hideous. The public sure is going to be sorry when our protagonists revolt! The fate of the world rests on letting the rich stay rich. Holden Caulfield says, “Everyone’s phony!” Audience gives standing ovation
The antagonists are weak and always scheming. They bumble and fail to make clear decisions. All they do is ask for handouts while claiming that caring about others is important. Their altruism is foolish. Their own ambitions are silly–doomed to failure because they’re vile. At any opportunity they try to bring the protagonists down. The government seeks to destroy freedom and creativity. Robin Hood was a disgusting miscreant. The public needs to die off–maybe in a train accident.
That’s what Ayn Rand thought about the world. She made up these stupid scenarios and went to lengths to prove that this shit would happen if we try to impose on rich people. She believed rich people were rich because of their intelligence and that their intelligence gave people jobs. In reality, rich people do little to no work and don’t pay their employees living wages. Hell, the United States had to have a war to stop people from using SLAVERY, and those slave owners, rich because of their cruelty, never actually paid any retribution. Atlas Shrugged is like a follow-up to Gone with the Wind. “Wheh, I can’t believe the government won’t let me use slaves and now they’re trying to regulate my business so Oliver Twist can get ANOTHER bowl of soup!! Society’s falling apart!!!!!” Yeah, okay, anyways rich people are still using slavery and sweatshops so piss off with this bullshit about how fair and honest rich people are. Put a bunch of rich people in some secret Great Valley such as described in Atlas Shrugged and they wouldn’t last a moment before they started whining because they’re not as smart as they pretend to be. Life isn’t hard because of altruism, it’s hard because rich people are hogging up all the resources. Rand actually has the audacity to have her hero characters say about the United States that, “It was the only country in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by trade, the only country whose money was the symbol of man’s right to his own mind, to his work to his life, to his happiness, to himself.” Fuck you. None of that is true. Even the most conservative history books note that their was unpaid labor.
Absolutely nothing that happens to the protagonists of Atlas Shrugged is an actual concern. If you thought Atlas Shrugged was good, you’re a bad person. There’s no way you could sincerely applaud this book unless you’re a bootlicker or self-righteous businessperson. Get fucked.
The writing itself: lots of head hopping. Dialogue is often interrupted by narration, but it’ll be all in the same paragraph, which is messy and annoying. Most dialogue tags are unnecessary. LOTS of telling instead of showing. A lot of exposition about characters’ previous decisions, or their backgrounds. Repetitive word choices cough-impersonal-cough The monologues are insufferable and there’s no shortage of them. There’s one that lasts 56 pages (in my edition). All of this combined makes the book much longer than it needs to be. I often desperately wanted Rand to get to the point (because you already know what it is), and after the first climax I was mystified as to how there were still 700 pages left. I only remained engaged because the characters are all a bunch of sociopaths.
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