Anthem (Ayn Rand)

Anthem has immediately been added to the top three books I have ever read. The meaning of its name is only revealed in the last two chapters, and it couldn't be more complete.

I had never read anything from Ayn Rand before but I've wanted to read Atlas Shrugged for a long time. I came across this little guy at a used book store and figured I'd give it a shot to see what her writing style is like before taking on Atlas' nearly 1100 pages.

This woman was ahead of her time. Rand was Russian-American and witnessed the October Revolution, so themes of collectivism and totalitarian rule are riddled among the pages.

The Great Rebirth happened only after the end of the Unmentionable Times through fire and flame, producing a dystopian world that I can only describe as a brief outline for Orwell's 1984. Equality 7-2521 is the lone wolf who goes against the many Councils, discovering new sciences about life in his secret tunnel left behind by the Evil Ones. — This is his proof of much that the Council members don't know, or he thinks they don't know. He only knows what they have told him, and he soon realizes this.

The book is disturbing by its words alone, using we and our instead of I and my. Everything is for the group, as Equality 7-2521 is told and taught. Anything joyous is only that which is for your brothers; the only thing worth joy is the work which you do for your brothers. There's discomfort and confusion in new feelings such as love, which is a struggle to understand as he and Liberty 5-3000 become close. Love is not allowed, unless it is for your brothers and the work that you do for them.

There is no I in this book. There is no me. There is only the journey to freedom and disconnection from such a Hell, where the individual is found again in the Unchartered Forest, and an era when Man was free is revealed as truth.

I loved this book. It was extremely short, and it was a page turner. I read it in a day. If you enjoyed 1984, Animal Farm, or maybe The Handmaid's Tale, I think you'd appreciate this. Should you read anything from this book at all, I suggest at least reading the Author's Note at the start, written by Rand herself.

After reading Anthem, I think I'm brave enough to take on her magnum opus now.

10/10