Dagny: "Oh, Hank! Your wondrous bridge of Rearden Metal has saved my railroad!"
Hank: "Ha ha ha. Dagny, don't talk like a looter! What do I care for your railroad? I built the bridge to advertise my metal."
Dagny: "Take me."
Yeah, I'm re-reading Atlas Shrugged. Philosophically, it's as close to Holy Scripture for me as anything on my bookshelf, but... Jeez-o Pete! Is Ms. Rand one ham-handed novelist, or what?
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11 comments:
Reminds me of South Park on Barbrady learns to read and reads Fountainhead:
I read every word. Every horrible word
-SayUncle
Heh. I haven't read her books, but from watching The Fountainhead it seems more accurate to call Rand a propagandist than a novelist.
- Les
I agree. I did read We The Living well enough. I'll admit that I just couldn't get through Atlas, though. Rand lays it on pretty thick.
Bryan
Readers may be divided into two classes: those who have read Atlas and the lucky ones.
Nicely put. Ms. Rand raises some good points, but for the love of God, does Galt's radio address really need to go on for fifty-seven pages?!
Once is educational. Twice is masochism.
FIVE times? It would require this.
I barely made it through the first time. Rand wrote good essays. As a novelist...
There aren't words.
Tam,
Does that mean I'm the only person in the world who likes Rand's writing style?
Dayum. You were my last hope, too.
pax
Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends. -- S. Weir Mitchell
pax,
Robin likes Rand's writing style too. She says it's kind of Hemingway-esque...well, at least the parts that are not monologues.
pax,
Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite books. I even like the dialogue. It's just that when, for instance, D'Anconia blurts into a three page monologue in the middle of a party, or Dagny has a three paragraph epiphany right before gettin' jiggy wit' it with Hank... well... It can be a little easy to poke fun at at those times, too.
Rand could never quite pull off romance. The Fountainhead was just as bad.
I never made it to Atlas Shrugged, since Fountainhead damn near killed me. She is one of the most stylistically challenged authors going. What really bugs me is the tendency, about 3/4 of the way through the book, to beat us over the head with her message by giving the main character a forum to preach objectivism at us for 40-odd pages.
That's why I like Anthem. It's just as obnoxious in that regard, but so much shorter.
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