10 replies to this topic

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Just finished reading it again. Fantastic book.

[Delhomeboy]

Hmmm. Interesting take. I'm definitely of the complete opposite opinion.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Hmmm. Interesting take. I'm definitely of the complete opposite opinion.

Don't agree with the premise or don't enjoy the writing style?

[Delhomeboy]

Don't agree with the premise or don't enjoy the writing style?

Well, both. I don't completely disagree with her ideals (what's it called, objectivism or something?), but as usual with political ideologies, she takes it a little too far.

But yeah, the writing style is horrendous. I could handle the wooden prose in The Fountainhead, but Atlas Shrugged was more than wooden, it was titanium-encased reinforced steel. Plus, a general writing rule is that you never put a speech in a novel, and not only does she do so, but said speech is 200 pages long! I literally just skipped that entire section.

Not to mention the thing dragged a little, plotwise.

Not the worst thing I ever read, but it definitely huddles in the lower-middle of my book rankings. And I know plenty of people who love it, too. But, IMO, I think everything that was good about The Fountainhead wasn't present in Atlas Shrugged.

[Fiz]

terrible book written by a horrible writer with a rape fetish

just read the big speech at the end and you'll get the gist of the terrible philosophy

[Fiz]

[Fiz]

[pstall]

ha ha. when i saw the title I knew fiz would be in here firebombing

[Happy Panther]

I like how children are treated in the book

[Fiz]

you see architecture is the only art form independent of influence because ...uh...um...i know nothing about art and im counting on my readers not knowing anything about it either

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Well, both. I don't completely disagree with her ideals (what's it called, objectivism or something?), but as usual with political ideologies, she takes it a little too far.

But yeah, the writing style is horrendous. I could handle the wooden prose in The Fountainhead, but Atlas Shrugged was more than wooden, it was titanium-encased reinforced steel. Plus, a general writing rule is that you never put a speech in a novel, and not only does she do so, but said speech is 200 pages long! I literally just skipped that entire section.

Not to mention the thing dragged a little, plotwise.

Not the worst thing I ever read, but it definitely huddles in the lower-middle of my book rankings. And I know plenty of people who love it, too. But, IMO, I think everything that was good about The Fountainhead wasn't present in Atlas Shrugged.

Oh structuraly I will very readily agree that Rand is a terrible writer. No question.

And the book would work much better if she weren't trying to force it as a vehicle for what clearly should have been a philisophical disertation and not a fictional monologue. Also, the heavy emphasis on sex detracts from major points of the storyline.

However, I'm in love with the idea of a top down destruction of society and I suppose for me that is enough to save the book.

But what do I know....I write books about people being mutilated. I doubt I'm any better.