Anthem

by Ayn Rand

book data

15,544 ratings, 3.56 average rating, 1,454 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		23%
4		31%
3		28%
2		11%
1		5%

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published

February 23rd 2007 by Classic Books Library (first published 1938)

details

Paperback, 61 pages

characters

Liberty, Equality

isbn

1600965687 (isbn13: 9781600965685)

description

A stunning and brilliantly realized future world in which individuality has been crushed is the theme of Ayn Rand's bestselling masterpiece, "Ant…more

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Nov 08, 2007

Pete rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

recommends it for: pretentious Ron Paul fans

Congrats, Aynnie! You've received my first single star rating! I read this in high school when I was reading a lot of dystopian future literature and thought it was by far the worst of the lot. Granted, if I'd read it when I was younger I might have liked it more, but saying that the even younger, less mature, more pretentious version of my teenage self would have liked something is hardly a glowing endorsement.

As such I've steered /way/ clear of her door-stoppers. I don't think ...more

Like this review? yes (17 people liked it)

7 comments

May 21, 2007

Zora rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

bookshelves: gawdawful

Read in January, 1995

recommends it for: oblivious egotists

The real tragedy of this book is that the billions of copies that have been printed could have been more appropriately used to build homes for people in third world countries. This book could not be more self indulgent if it came with a bottle of Absynthe and a membership to MENSA. Not only is it impossibly boring to read, the characters are so one dimensional that they put V.C. Andrews to shame. Do yourself a favor: set this on fire and use the fourteen hours that it burns to read Martin's Song...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

11 comments

Oct 22, 2007

Irina rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in November, 2007

The book is about human identity and freedom, and how one can degrade under the chains of collectivism.

A lot of reviews on this book, which are posted on this site, use the word “futuristic” events. I intentionally put the quotes around this word as I tend to totally disagree with the choice of this word. I used to live under socialist regime, a collectivistic society. So I can relate and completely understand the events described in the book, where the word “I” doesn’t exi...more The book is about human identity and freedom, and how one can degrade under the chains of collectivism.

A lot of reviews on this book, which are posted on this site, use the word “futuristic” events. I intentionally put the quotes around this word as I tend to totally disagree with the choice of this word. I used to live under socialist regime, a collectivistic society. So I can relate and completely understand the events described in the book, where the word “I” doesn’t exist, when it is a shame to stand out and be different from the rest.
However, you don’t need to come from the socialist country to understand that this is about NOW, and not the future. We face this “phenomenon” (again I am using the quotes to underline that this actually is a normal event that we face every day), when we need to struggle to form our own opinions to think this is white, when everyone else thinks this is black. We struggle to stand up and not to get under the influence of the media propaganda and continue to act with the high integrity and high morals no matter what.

This book is about the man, who stands out on his own and is not afraid to position himself against everyone else just to rediscover his “I”.

My favorite quotes:

"My hands...My spirit...My sky...My forest".

"I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning"
Many words have been granted me,...but only three are holy: "I will it!"

"I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before."

“ I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned."

And now I see the face of god... . This god, this one word: 'I'

"...man will go on. Man, not men."

"I am. I think. I will."(less)

Like this review? yes (14 people liked it)

3 comments

Jul 05, 2007

Jonathan rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in July, 2007

Of all the dystopian novels I have read, this one felt like one of the least inspired. The characters are one-dimensional, the story lacks context altogether, and is entirely made to support Rand's liberal philosophies. Sure, it's really short--so is Animal Farm, but that is a story with depth. Ironically, they both claim to be about Soviet Russia--or at least the author's experience with such. I hope I can claim that my reasoning for disliking this book has more to do with its content, and less...more

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Sep 04, 2007

Phyllis rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in July, 1992

ridiculous

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

2 comments

Jul 25, 2008

Danny Salinger rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

bookshelves: half-read

recommends it for: emotionally mature people interested in a good laugh.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Alright. If, for some reason, the values of individuality or independence are completely alien to you, you should read this book. Everyone else is better off skipping it. It has nothing else to offer and it's got a good chance of convincing that you're smarter or more enlightened than you actually are.

Granted, I was a bit biased against Ayn Rand while reading this. But before reading this I had that sort of play-aversion that you carry around because it's fun to make fun of famous d...more Alright. If, for some reason, the values of individuality or independence are completely alien to you, you should read this book. Everyone else is better off skipping it. It has nothing else to offer and it's got a good chance of convincing that you're smarter or more enlightened than you actually are.

Granted, I was a bit biased against Ayn Rand while reading this. But before reading this I had that sort of play-aversion that you carry around because it's fun to make fun of famous dead people. After reading this my contempt for her has become deep and far-reaching.

The setting is simplistic and nonsensical. Unlike other dystopias such as 1984 or Brave New World, it's not portrait of a functioning oppressive society or a sad commentary on human nature as much as it is a vague, untenable strawman. Other dystopias are written with an awareness or sensitivity towards the human condition. 1984 dealt with our willingness to circumvent logic for a comfortable, patriotic lie. Brave New World dealt with our willingness to completely ignore issues and problems as long as we're entertained. Anthem on the other hand, deals with our willingness to sacrifice logic, comfort, entertainment, and freedom for the good of our neighbors.

Oh wait... that doesn't make sense. In fact it flies in the face of the oldest, and most confounding problem in the social sciences, The Tragedy of the Commons. Biology and psychology have also found that self-sacrifice without compensation is an exceedingly rare phenomenon, and that animals (including humans) are ,as a general rule, selfish. Even the Soviet Union, a major influence behind this book, was only maintained by the general acceptance of the communist ideal for a short time before it was replaced with the KGB and the threat of the gulags. Considering how easy it was for Equality to escape from confinement, I'm comfortable saying that critical element was absent. This might be more excusable if it was meant to be a highly stylized hyperbole like The Giver, but Rand says herself in the introduction that this is not only the inevitable sum of collectivism, but what all socialists and collectivists secretly WANT.

All this leads me to believe that a person who could seriously believe, much less write, this would have to be someone who saw their self-interest as unique, and imagined the majority of humanity a swathe of ambitionless drones. That, or a reader who's mouth salivates at the word "individuality" and who, when it comes to the affairs of the world, automatically equates cynicism to realism because it makes them look clever and critical.

The writing's painfully overwrought as well. You have to understand this book is listed as half-read because despite my several attempts I can't finish it. I either get tired of self-indulgent prose and put it down or I start reading it out loud and I can't take it seriously (a friend and I did this to pass the time while waiting for a bus once.) The character thinks in short, declarative sentences that seem to rely on the reader seeing his struggle as novel and impactful. If you don't do this automatically there's nothing really there to MAKE you. The struggle in question, is a one-dimensional tug of war between We and I without the complexity or variability seen in actual human thought.

Even the treatment of individuality once it's "achieved" is trite. After you figure out the "I" and the "ego" you're pretty much scott-free. You don't have any uncertainty about what you want to do or who you want to be, and you don't have to worry about things like self-deception, insecurity or over-confidence to mess with you. Congratulations, you are one of an elite few! Rand's portrayal of selfishness and independence as some miracle cure is sophomoric and overly simplistic, and it gets hammered into you from the beginning. It's not even as if calls to challenge, question, and break social oppression or embrace your individuality are hard to find, even in Rand's time, and a lot of these calls don't have to resort to strawmen or heady promises of perfection. Read Ender's Game, The Giver, My Side of the Mountain or any other young adult novel. Even song lyrics (Tilly and the Wall, Say Anything, Incubus) treat the topic of self-definition and social constraints with more intelligence. This book might have been revolutionary for its time, but we've moved on as a culture. We've gotten over the novelty of selfishness being a virtue and social control being a bad thing, and we've managed to produce far more intelligent treatments of the subject.(less)

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Apr 23, 2007

Conrad rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

bookshelves: fiction, read-in-high-school

Definitely the only book by Ayn Rand I will ever need to read, unless I happen to be reincarnated as an asshole. When people start modeling their book covers after Mussolini-era Italian architecture, worry.

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

5 comments

Jul 01, 2007

Mads rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in January, 1987

I never quite figured out why my highschool lit teacher made this required reading. It's something I've always wondered about. Anthem struck me as too much "anti-communist." Somewhat propaganda material for the anti-communist forces. I've always been skeptical of rabid anti-communism. In the novella, the characters have serial numbers instead of names, isn't that what's happening in the capitalist system as well, with our identity cards and employee numbers?

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Jul 25, 2007

MissJill rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

bookshelves: criticism, fiction, society

Read in January, 1991

Ayn Rand was the most overrated writer (I can't even call her a philosopher) of the 20th century, and a great gaping asshole to boot. This book is yet another to support those facts.

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

4 comments

Aug 18, 2007

Jodi Lu rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in January, 1994

recommends it for: suckers that don't suck as bad as the suckers that read her other books and pretend they like them

see i could DEAL with rand's writing this. she says what she's gotta, then ends it. she's like, "okay let's be honest, i'm not a novelist b/c i really don't write very well BUT i have this THING i really believe in and i wanna share it and gosh darnit people like parables so HERE." why ANYONE would want to read MORE about it and suffer through the out-of-her-element (yes donnie, i said it) torture of the other beasts is beyond me.

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

3 comments

Mar 14, 2007

Edward Park rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

recommends it for: No one really

Witless, styleless, and self-righteous. "1984" and "A Brave New World" are far more effective books. Although I can't say I agree that individualism is more important than collectivism, especially when people come together as a whole to do things positive in this world.

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comment

Apr 17, 2007

Michelle Cavalier rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

I know it is one of her lesser works, but I feel it gave me a full impression of her: self-absorbed, capitalistic, pedantic, overbearing, ignorant, ect. The story has been told before and by better writers.

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comment

May 01, 2007

Peter rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: nobody

did you guys know that conformity is bad and indviduality is better?

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Dec 26, 2007

Heather rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

bookshelves: old-favorites

Read in January, 1990

This book really helped me get my self esteem back together. This was my mantra going into college.... I think it got me through a lot of BS. It is not bad to remind yourself of the following things every once in a while.....

"I am. I think. I will.

My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . This earth of mine. . . . What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer.

I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my hea...more

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Mar 25, 2007

Kamyar rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Neither a science-fiction masterpiece, nor a futuristic predicament, ANTHEM is a personal reaction to the collectivist system, dominant in Soviet Union and its modernized colonies for more than seven decades. Assumed too much reactionary by leftist intellectuals for rather a long time, it depicts the apocalyptic chaos in a world ruled by collectivist thoughts in the same way that Orwell’s 1984 builds it (for instance, you can think of a world after a nuclear crisis and then come to the meaning...more

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Aug 29, 2007

Jae rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in February, 2006

I’d been meaning to read some more Ayn Rand ever since I finished Sewer, Gas, and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy, which includes a 6-page synopsis of Atlas Shrugged. Oh, and one of the characters is a virtual Ayn Rand that exists inside an electronic lantern. Anthem trumpets a familiar Randian theme: Everything good about the world derives from individuality and personal freedom. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about Anthem, but it does smell a bit like Corporate America. And it c...more

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Feb 25, 2008

Kat rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

Read in January, 2000

recommends it for: precocious 3rd graders

Futuristic society that doesn't recognize individuals -- everyone's name is "Equality" followed by a number. Cute, huh? One day, Equality-some-number-or-another stumbles across a cave with books in it and discovers the word "I" and immediately realizes what it means even though his cultural and linguistic backgrounds have in no way equipped him to understand but whatever, it's a novella and Rand doesn't have time. Anyway, now Equality-### has an "I" and so he liv...more

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5 comments

Jul 04, 2007

Aerin rated it:

(review of isbn 0452281253)

bookshelves: dystopia, lit-ra-chur, read-for-class

Read in January, 2001

What was Ayn Rand smoking, seriously? Can I have some? No, nevermind, then I might start spouting off about rational self-interest and the evils of altruism and the knock-down drag-out world of architecture. Whatever, Ayn Rand. WHAT-ever.

This is my favorite of her books. It is also the shortest. There may or may not be a causal relationship between those two statements.

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2 comments