About three weeks ago I finished listening to Atlas Shrugged. (A big, big thank you to Marie for providing the option to listen rather than read! I never would have finished if reading were my only option.) I listened primarily when I was up nursing Andrew during the night, so I may have dozed off a time or two, but I think I heard most of it! :)
Have you finished it yet? Although I cannot say that I liked this book, I am glad that I "read" it if only to provide a humorous comparison each time Obama comes out with a new program and a new office to run said program. And truly, there needs to be something to laugh about as I watch my freedoms be ripped from my hands one at a time! I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if Rand had left out about a third of the book. I think it could have been easily condensed by at least a third without losing any of the plot and details important to the story line. Plus I felt like she wrote this book with a thesaurus in hand. Have you felt that way? I wish I could think of a specific example, but since I listened mostly at 4:00 AM, one eludes me just now, but it seemed like she would pick a big descriptive word from the book, use it three or four times in a paragraph, and then realize, "Oh, I've used that a few times now, I should find another "smart" word now!" Perhaps it was just my general frustration with the overly long descriptions of things having nothing to do with the actual plot that made me think this.
Even with those complaints, I do think I am glad I "read" this book. It made me think a bit more about what is going on around me politically, which is something I don't generally do on my own. Sadly, unless I try really hard, I do not usually pay attention to politics until they intrude upon my life in a way I cannot ignore. I think it is probably time for me to change that.
2 comments:
Wow, that's amazing. I'm still in chapter 8 or 9. It's fun to read it to see the parallels but you're totally right; some of the sub-plots are totally pointless or she wrote too much about them. I am at a point right now where I'm asking her to "please get on with to the meat of the matter."
Politics...both fascinating and frustrating. As much as I want to ignore it, I can't.
I enjoyed listening to it, but I remember getting a little bored at times, too :)
It has a good story to it, though. The political parts, I think are important to think about. Even if we don't feel like we can do much about them...
One thing I dislike about it is the whole "it's all about me, all the time" feeling I got from the book.
I agree that capitalism is the best way to do things, and you have to look out for yourself in that system, but there also has to be charity. :)
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