I try to keep my reading projects updated on the side of our blog. I belong to Good Reads because of a friend who signed me up, but I have yet to post anything on it. I rarely talk about things I've read on the internet, but I have to say something about the book I finished last night.
First of all, I feel that it was a monumental accomplishment for me to finish this book. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, is 1069 pages long. And we're talking 1069 pages of teeny, tiny, dense font, with NO white space, chapter separators, or anything. One chapter ends in the middle of the page, and the next one begins on the very next line. If it was printed the way most novels are printed, it would easily be a 2000 page book. I know you can cruise through 600 pages of a Harry Potter or a Twilight in a day, but this book is not that way. Ayn Rand does not waste ONE word. You cannot skip a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a page. Every single thing is important. Her writing is immaculate. She is truly a master.
We started reading it a year ago as a book group project in an effort to read "a major classic." We intended to read it "on the side" for a year while continuing to do another, easier read, each month for our monthly meeting. I did start out reading it "on the side", but this thing is so massive and requires so much attention that you can't really read it on the side. I got through a couple hundred pages and didn't get back to it for several months. Then, when we decided on a date to discuss it, I did start reading it more and more. It seemed like I was "half way done" for absolutely weeks. It wasn't until we devoted this last month, to ONLY this book, that I was able to finish it. And, let me just say, that many other areas of life have been put on hold so that I could finish it. It feels like I have had this book in my hand for the whole month. I take it everywhere I go trying to get one more page read wherever I am.
Well, I did it. I finished last night! I have never read anything like this before. I feel like I did when I finished Harriet's Christmas stocking. I really thought it might not happen, but I did it! (book group is tonight!)
If you have never read it or have never heard of Ayn Rand, she was a Russian-born woman who immigrated to the US in the 1920's seeking a better life. She was a student of philosophy and has developed her own brand of philosophy - "objectivism." Her views are pretty controversial and as I started to read, I wasn't sure if I could really buy into them, but in the end, her entire message is to live by truth and virtue, use your brain, seek for real happiness, stick to your values at all cost, and accept nothing else. How can you argue with that, really? Her opinions are extremely complex and so interesting and thought provoking. It is going to provide for a super cool discussion at book group tonight.
I have loved reading this book. It is a story about a woman who runs a transcontinental railroad in an era of giant industrial successes dominated by men. As I started reading the book, I thought of my daughter, Grace (who used to tell us she wanted to be a choo choo train driver and has the largest train collection of any girl I know.) Dagny Taggart and Grace have so many of the same characteristics. I could totally see Grace in as an adult in the descriptions of Dagny with her long skinny body, blonde hair, love of railroads, fierce personality, and black and white value system. Not that I wish for Grace to do EVERYTHING Dagny does, but if Grace turns out to be that kind of person, there wouldn't be a prouder mother than me.
The book goes through the struggle of Dagny and her industrial friends, as the entire country is brought to complete ruin by the corruption and shady values of the national leadership, and describes how they rise above it. Even though the book was published in 1957, it eerily mirrors things that are currently happening in the United States with all the government bailouts, sinking economy, and standards that seem good one day but are so bad the next. It feels like it should be required reading for every citizen of our nation right now. People are starting to realize it, I think. Sales of Atlas Shrugged have tripled in sales this year.
The woman who suggested it for our book group has read it 3 times. I couldn't believe that when I heard it. I couldn't imagine devoting that much time to one book. It took so long just to do it once. But, then, on Sunday, I heard that her husband, our stake president, has read it 10 times! He used to have the goal to read it once every single year, it was that important to him. Now I see why.
I'm really glad I did get through it. I highly recommend it. It makes me want to read more of Ayn Rand's stuff, although, I think I need to let my brain rest for a while. I need a good fluffy, summer, sit on the beach, and veg out book!
4 comments:
Way to go Michelle -- you're my hero! :)
I am STILL plugging away at it and fear that I will not reach my goal, but I'm giving it my best effort and will enjoy talking about it either way. I've actually been surprised at how much I have enjoyed reading it - every. single. word.
What am I doing typing this? Gotta go!! :)
Glad you liked it! I read it in college---so it has been awhile.
Thanks for the update----now you need to read Fountainhead....heh, heh.
I agree with you completely about Rand's writing. She is a talented, gripping writer. Something tells me, though, that Rand would not agree with, say, the Sermon on the Mount, and the values of humility, meekness, putting others before yourself, and so forth. There is a delusional individualism about it all -- the idea that we make ourselves independently -- that I don't really agree with. But, as you said, she sure can tell a story.
Bryan
You're probably right Bryan, I'm still trying to make it all come together in my head how you would live up to both "kinds" of high standards. I think they actually come together at a point and I think she reaches for it and just misses the mark because she takes the spiritual aspect of things out of play.
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