Some books have been on my "want to read" list for many years...Atlas Shrugged being one of them, but it was one that I didn't know if I'd ever get around to it. I actually didn't know anything about it besides it was supposed to be excellent. I finally did get around to it and on the whole I really loved it...but still have mixed feelings about parts of it.
When I was looking for a book on CD to listen to while going to Vegas and back in August, I saw "Atlas Shrugged" and grabbed it...finding out later that the 26 disc set was only half the set. 50 CDs and 63 hours of listening pleasure...only I wound up checking the book out of the high school library this week so I could finish it more quickly (reading goes faster than listening to the CDs).
Basic theme: socialism doesn't work and the free market system does.
Basic run down...there are a few industrialists working hard to keep their industries going in spite of governmental interference because, according to the government, everything should be done for the common good--meaning lots of regulations and "evening of the playing field" by taking from those that have and deserve to give to those that don't have and don't deserve. The industrialists start disappearing one by one just when their sector is about to go under (they are "on strike"...and Glen tells me the original title to the book was "Strike.")
I was fascinated by the story line and really couldn't wait to see how it would all play out. However, there were a few things that keep me from being totally thrilled: the love affairs of the main character Dagny, the fact that there wasn't any middle ground for some things (ie the socialists believed in all mercy and no justice while John Galt's people were all about justice and I didn't see much mercy going on), and then at the end Dagny kills a man when I don't understand why she didn't just wound him...she's a murderer in my eyes. Big bummer for me. Then, in the end, why wasn't Eddie brought to Atlantis?! He was so deserving!
Very thought provoking. They probably could have (and probably somewhere do have) college courses devoted to some of the monologues (Francisco's on money goes for about 5 pages, but John Galt's on evil, morality, socialism, looters, etc. goes on for 50 pages and I admit, I didn't understand a lot of it). The characters were all or nothing however...like the mercy and justice concept. They didn't have any "normal" people featured in the book...they were either totally greedy, sniveling idiots (though that was really fun to see the whiners get their due) or were rich and super intelligent.
The other thing besides money that I often notice in books (due to the fact that I'm not rich or thin) is that every good person seems to be beautiful, handsome, and has a great body...flat stomach, good curves, etc. So, Dagny, who spends 90% of her awake time at her desk (and half of her sleep-time, too), has this gorgeous body...and there is no evidence that she ever exercised besides the few crises where she had to run down to the railroad tracks. The good guys with the flat stomachs...we don't know enough about them to see if they get to exercise or not. The bad guys are the ones described as being the ones with extra flesh... Like I said, I guess I notice those things because of my state, and they really don't mean much, but I do notice them.
My next read from the list of books that have been on my "want to read" list for too long: Paradise Lost by John Milton. And I'm hoping the library can get in a Les Miserables book on CD for me (though they only have abridged copies available at the other branches and my sister says the unabridged is the best).
