This was a good one. Quite a different format than Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead. It seems like this would be a good primer for the longer works. ( )

This was a good one. Quite a different format than Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead. It seems like this would be a good primer for the longer works. ( )

I think that Anthem does a good job of thinly veiling the ideas of Objectivism, as well as telling a vaguely compelling story that's only slightly ripping off Nietzsche's Zarathustra. I'm not sure that this is the most amazing piece of writing, but it's certainly great for the first few years of high school, and the idea that eschewing society for the greatness of the self might seem really awesome then. In all seriousness, the book is an alright little bit of dystopian fiction, but if you remove it from the Ayn Rand "brand", it's little more than a clever short story with a predictable plot. ( )

“Anthem” takes place in the future in a dystopian (opposite of Utopian) society. No one is allowed to address themselves as “I”, “me”, etc. Under the title of my ancient copy (this version was printed in 1963– before I was born!!), it’s subtitled “A Great Novelist’s Provocative Story of a Fearful Society That One Man Dares to Defy”. That One Man is known as Equality 7-2521.

Equality 7-2521 is unhappy. Then he falls in love. However, love is forbidden in this society. Members are allowed to reproduce only once a year. No love-making allowed at any other time. Equality 7-2521 eventually runs off with Liberty 5-3000. They learn the meaning of the word “I” and what it means to be individuals.

My copy of the book was only 123 pages long. So it was a quick read.

So what did I think of it this time around, since the last time I read it was at least 20 years ago? Well, it was OK. I felt the writing was somewhat dated; and that the portion of the book after the defiant couple runs off was very short compared to the rest of the book. I’m not sure that they could really have lived Happily Ever After, just the two of them, as a new Adam and Eve.

Ayn Rand seems to be an author whose works readers either love or hate. At the time of this review, I have not yet read any of her other works; so based on that, I rate this book two stars. ( )

Man is individual, unique. It is the mind that makes each person different from another. When the mind is twisted, warped, centered on the 'we' as opposed to the 'I' something gets lost. That is what Anthem is about. It's about the heart of man, the spark of the individual. It's about how one life means more than the betterment of the whole. That's not to say one should choose their life over the whole, but merely that they should have a choice because it is their life. The last two chapters are the declaration, the anthem, of what it is to simply be. ( )