wintermoon Wrote:Just thought of another...
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
I'm sorry to speak so bluntly, but the people who subscribe to this woman's philosophy must not have a shred of empathy or human decency in their body.
I don't think Ayn Rand did, and probably not her cult either. But I've met some good people who (for reasons that escape me) seem to revere her and are quite compassionate. I suppose it's kinda like Christians who are opposed to slavery despite that the Bible endorses it. I'm especially mystified why many devout Christians (whom Ayn Rand despised) admire her, and also Libertarians (given that she hated them and called them "hippies of the right"). I don't think anybody made her happy, the best you could be in her book was a mindless sycophant who worshipped her and even then she'd still think you're scum. At least that's the impression I get from her writing and interviews. The only time she didn't seem filled with a dismissive contempt and/or bitterness was whenever she discussed architecture. I've even quipped "even Ayn Rand might smile" as my own version of "Hell may freeze over." :tongue:
That aside, her fiction sucks! In addition to her attitude that just comes through her writing, I find her boring and pompous, and her way too long speeches (who made Drizzt Do'Urden seem brief and to the point) she has her main heroes give just destroy the story, it's so dry, and her fictional characters are REALLY over the top in being epically heroic or dastardly villains, with minds and bodies as beautiful or ugly as their ideals (at least in AR's way of seeing things), I mean practically L. Frank Baum's Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West ridiculous (which is fine for children, but come on), and even her heroes are unsympathetic (to me), and I mean even in just their more mundane desires and deeds, I'm not talking about their philosophy. After trying really hard to read her fiction (and I recall thinking "if there are libraries in Hell, they'll be filled with books like these") I finally tried listening to a book on tape (I think the Fountainhead, though I'm not certain) while I did housework and I STILL couldn't stand the story. This has nothing to do with the philosophy either, it's the style that totally turns me off and leaves me mystified how she ever founded a personality cult.
So yeah, I can agree that her fiction counts as some of the worst books in the world.