Along the same line as 1984 and Brave New World. Loved it. ( )

Ayn Rand is an incredible writer; unfortunately, too many people take her writing too seriously. Think along the lines of The Da Vinci Code: it's fiction, people. ( )

As a fan of both dystopian novels and absolutist manifestos, I really enjoyed this. It was a quick read--the 90 pages took me about an hour, all told--and obviously much less fleshed-out or developed than Rand's other works. Like I said, I had fun with this book, but I will say that Zamyatin's We does "it" a lot better. ( )

I didn’t really know anything about Ayn Rand before I read Anthem – only that she seems to have the marvelous ability to polarize her readers into opposing camps: those that love her and those that hate her. So when I picked up this novella, I did so hoping that Rand would rouse great passion within me. I didn’t really care whether I fell in with the lovers or the haters, but I did want to fall in with one side or the other.

It didn’t happen. Anthem left me completely apathetic. Because it’s…well, it’s a bit boring. For a dystopia, it seems rather tame, doesn’t it? There’s certainly no question of liking the characters. And though the prose isn’t bad, it isn’t particularly spectacular either.

The only moderately interesting element is the Objectivist doctrine with which Rand insistently browbeats the reader. Really, I think Rand could have compacted this 70-some page story into a 10 page essay, and it would have been much more effective.

Probably, these are issues that Rand’s later and longer works (The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged), don’t suffer from as much…but Anthem didn’t particularly leave me wanting more. I suppose I wouldn’t object to reading more of Rand someday – but I’m not in any hurry to do so. ( )

This is the first Ayn Rand book I've ever read. I'm currently reading The Fountainhead as well.

I've been aware of Ayn Rand's views on collectivism, capitalism, and objectivism for many years now and I share her beliefs and ideology.

Anthem is a very simple story, I read the whole book in about two hours. It's the story of a man who grows up being constantly punished for thinking for himself. The concepts of "I" and self are completly forbidden in this mass collective society.

I love Miss Rand's style of writing and the great use of metaphor and imagery. The protagonist, Equality 7-2521's discovery of electricity and light describes the underlying theme that the collective mind lives in darkness and ignorance. It is the individual that matters, the individual that discovers and invents, the individual that creates.

How poignant it is to think that this book, written in the 30's, really speaks to our day and our society's slow migration towards collectivism. It's a frightening wake up call for anyone who wishes to remain free from slavery. In Ayn Rand's own words, from the forward - "People who want slavery should have the grace to call it by it's true name. Collectivism is slavery." ( )