Anthem is the story of a man who breaks free from a civilization where the people aren't even taught the word "I." They refer to themselves as "we," and every aspect of their lives is controlled - down to their forced retirement when they are declared "useless" at the age of forty.
I'm still reeling from my first "Ayn Rand" experience. If all of her books are half as good as this (which I'm sure they are - the popular Atlas Shrugged being an example), I'll be one satisfied reader. This book really is a "thinking" book, one which I'll need to read over and over again to fully absorb the importance of its message: The individual verses the group. The source of our inspiration, the reason behind everything we do.
A few of my favorite quotes from the book:
"My home will be the capitol of a world where each man will be free to exist for his own sake."
"They have nothing to fight me with, save the brute forces of their numbers. I have my mind."
"I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word "I" could give it up and not know what they had lost."
"I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man, nor the sense of truth within him."
Wow. This is amazing and thought-provoking stuff! Ayn Rand is my newest favorite author. Can't wait to get to her other stuff!
I have been pondering reading Rand for a long time, thanks for the review and further motivation to get around to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading another of her books right now, the Fountainhead. I can't wait to write the review! She's an incredibly talented author.
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