Feb 03, 2004 12:48 PM
1912 Views
(Updated Feb 03, 2004 12:48 PM)
Atlas Shrugged is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world -- and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged stretches the boundaries further than any book I have ever read.
On seeing a few of my friends reading this novel over the past 4 yrs I have never found the strength of purpose to start my own journey due to its intimidating size and a couple of off the hip comments on how the novel is harsh in terms of its philosophical stand etc. 15 days ago I somehow managed to buy a copy of the book and hence started my journey on the road of Ayn Rands philosophy of objectivism.
Even though the initial phase was a bit slow in taking off, by the time one reaches 100 odd pages the story, the style, the illustrations, the characters have taken you captive and one remains their hostage for the entire duration of the expedition of scaling 1200 pages of profoundly realistic yet sublimely abstract philosophical adventure.
Potrayed by larger-than-life heroes and villains, and charged with awesome questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a novel of tremendous scope. It presents an astounding panorama of human life.
One gets the feeling that in her pursuit of driving home a strongly felt standpoint the author becomes quite verbose in a few instances and very repetitive in others. With a conscious effort the length of the novel could have been reduced easily to about 800 pages as after a point in time all the examples of riots, factories closing,a deep gloom settling over the country etc were indeed repetitive.
The crux of the matter lies in the fact that the author is a supremely gifted individual who has the ability to express in impactful language her convictions and her dreams which appeals to the mind of any reader and takes him/her along with her canvas of subjective experiences, beliefs, visions and related examples in life.
Overall my moment of truth with ?ATLAS SHRUGGED?, has been amazingly exciting and it has also instilled in me the urge to read ?FOUNTAINHEAD? next.
I am eager to debate and exchange viewpoints on this novel with all who have read it and would like to engage in a discussion.
Barus.
