Anthem is a great introduction to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. A dystopian novella, it is much less intimidating than The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. I guess it’s considered science fiction as well, so I also counted it for Carl’s Sci-Fi Experience.
It was extremely fascinating reading this book after having read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and The Giver by Lois Lowry last year, both of which were in my 2007 Top 10. Anthem definitely borrows from We, and The Giver most definitely borrows from Anthem. In Rand’s book, the main character even refers to himself as ‘We’ because in his society individuality is highly suppressed, and the goal is for it to be eliminated. Everything must be done for the brothers in the collective and nothing for the individual.
While I agree with Rand’s philosophy to a point, I believe she takes it just a bit too far. I very much enjoyed this book, but at the end it just felt too preachy to be rated the same as We and The Giver, which both received 4.5 stars.
1938, 105 pp
Rating: 
I’ve read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, as well as We The Living, which isn’t so much about her objectivist philosophy. She definitely advocates the individual over any kind of “brotherhood!” I didn’t realize she’d written anything that could be classified as SF–I’ll have to look that one up. Thanks for the review.
I agree with you. I agree with her to a point but, yeah, she goes a bit far. Have you read Atlas Shrugged. It’s huge and there’s a 20 page speech by one of characters!
I really liked Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, but probably because I skipped the speeches. The stories are incredibly interesting and I was able to disagree with some of her ideas and agree with others.
I need to look this up. I have read all her other books.
I read Anthem years and years ago and loved its simplicity.
I read anthem with my class the past month and i find it very intresting and complex yet very hard to understand
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