Book Review We the Living


We the living review
Ayn Rand 1936

Why review a book from 1936? Because it’s timeless. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It matters more who you know, than what you know. Together they plot productivity out of existence. This is just as true today as it was then.

It reminded me of Animal Farm by George Orwell. Different vehicle same story.

This is her first novel. Later in life she looked back to see how well she said what she wanted to say. She said that she did better than she thought she had. She uses novels to make her points about socialism/communism. She lived in and escaped from Russia (Soviet Union) before coming to the United States in 1926 and was shocked at how we were following the Soviets in extinguishing free enterprise.

We The Living  follows the life of a young woman, Kira, trying to fulfill her life’s dream to build big, beautiful buildings. Her family once owned a successful retail establishment. Her lover, Leo, wants to be accepted for his ability not his politics. His father was a senior military officer under the Czar. Her other lover, Andrei, dreams of a society where all were equal and all are rewarded for their work. He was born in poverty to a revolutionary father and was orphaned early.

The love story is the vehicle to show how a totalitarian society run by politically correct rules and politically connected people operates in the real world. How it destroyed all three of them. In the end, it is worse than the tyrannical government it replaced. Playing the system is more important than contributing to society.


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