I've read "Altas Shrugged" three times so far in my life.
First in college in 1968 and I didn't follow what is was saying at all. Just too long and confusing for a fun-loving college kid. Too many other things like girls and sports to distract me.
Second time was just before I got out of the Air Force in 1975. It hit me then and a light bulb came on. I made me a conservative almost overnight.
The last time I read it was in 2009-10 just after Obama got elected over that loser McCain. It actually read like I was reading about current events. I could see clearly that events in our country were following the plot of Ayn Rand's novel under Obama's hope and change regime.
I don't think 90%+ of all high school kids could read the book and comprehend what it was talking about. You really need some maturity and real world life experiences behind you to start understanding the messages the book is sending.
I was a good student in high school and graduated near the top of my class, but back then liberalism and conservatives weren't the hot topics in the news all the time like they are nowadays with the stark political and partisan divide we are experiencing. Most kids at that age aren't going to be able to focus on a book that takes even me several months to read, let alone be able to connect all the dots and comprehend what Rand is telling us.
Ayn Rand was prescient in her vision back in 1957 when she wrote "Atlas Shrugged", to know that it could actually happen in America.
Personally, I think young people will better understand the messages in the book when they've gotten out of school and had some experiences in the practical world under their belt, to see how profound this novel is to their way of life.
BTW, it is the best book I've ever read. I refer to parts and passages in all the time. It is a great read, albeit, a long, hard slug of a book to wade through.
Great comment. No, I haven’t read it but rely on excerpts, theme articles, and insightful reflections on her work by commenters such as yourself.
” Most kids at that age aren’t going to be able to focus on a book that takes even me several months to read, let alone be able to connect all the dots and comprehend what Rand is telling us. “
It isn’t getting any easier to sit through a multi-session heavy weight tome in these days of max 280 character tweets and brief excerpts. Plus deteriorating older-age vision is not a facilitator. But reading 500 superficial articles on the artificially-lighted cell phone each day is not much of a problem.
I don’t think 90%+ of all high school kids could read the book-—
How bout making’m all sit thru all three movies ?