For my birthday, Jose gave me two books (and the fabulous trip to Girona). The first book was _The Painter of Battles_, an amazing novel by one of my favorite Spanish authors, Arturo Perez-Reverte. The second was _Atlas Shrugged_, by Ayn Rand..."the biggest book in English they had." It drives him crazy when I order a book from the UK, wait eagerly for it for weeks, then read it in 2 days. So, determined to make a book last longer than the weekend, he gave me that.
In defense of Jose, Ayn Rand isn't well-known at all in Spain, and he didn't know that her ideas are limited in their anti-communism and naive in their limitations. And, having read Rand before, I did know what her political stand would be and prepared myself for it. I do still read Rand, because although I disagree with every concept, I think she is a good writer with great stories.
So I began with _Atlas_, and almost from the beginning, couldn't put it down. Only because it is over 1,000 pages did it last me the 2.5 weeks I spent reading it, albeit with neck cramps on the weekend. The story was so good, that weeks after finishing it, I'm still thinking about the characters. Hence the post.
In a world where everything is deteriorating into non-chalance and irresponsibility, can the few remaining entreprenuers be able to save it? Why are there only two fully developed female characters, Dagny Taggart and her opposite, and rival, Lillian Rearden? Why is Francisco d'Anconia the ideological leader, then betrayer, then ultimate follower of John Galt? It seemed the book didn't do him justice at the end. Such a great character to turn so uninteresting at the end. Why does Dagny have so many lovers? Why does her "change" seem so anticlimactic?
Gosh! What I would give for a good English 101 analysis right now!
No comments:
Post a Comment