About 8 years ago I started reading the book Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I very much enjoyed it until page 698 when I placed the bookmark in it for the last time and was distracted by some other book. Thereafter, the thick, almost-1100pg tome with the ethereal sketch portrait of Ayn Rand sat on my shelf, mocking me.
About 6 months ago I started the 333-track audiobook and have spent much previously idle time jacked in to my second attempt. In sum, I liked it a lot but don’t feel that I gained that much over Rand’s The Fountainhead. The two books are very similar but Fountainhead is more streamlined and palatable. It lacks the long soliloquies of suffering that the main characters indulge in and the hamfisted sexuality that never really matches the epic personalities. I found myself often thinking that I understood why I never finished it in print, but glad to have had the opportunity to finish it and satisfied with the exercise.
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2 responses to “Atlas Shrugged”
So would you just recommend Fountainhead and not Atlas Shrugged? I’m working through my list of classics as well. I’m having problems with “of Human Bondage” at the mo.
Pretty much. I just don’t think the benefit is there to read the extra 500 pages. The Fountainhead is definitely a better place to start.