Oh, no...

I loved this when I read it 8 years ago, but now that I've reread it, I kinda... hated it.

It's sooooo heavy-handed, oh my god. It does introduce Rand's philosophy effectively and clearly, I give it that. But also, it was ridiculous sometimes and I hated the writing style.

My biggest issue is that it feels like Rand thinks individualism is only for men. Why would you rant and rave about it, and then have your female character just be a worshipper for this man? Going so far as to have your male character give her a name instead of setting it up so she has the freedom to choose her own name like he did.

And she was just fine with it. Of course she was! She was given no personality traits other than worshipping this guy. And when he spoke about remaking the world, he was specific about referring to men ("his sons and chosen friends") as the builders instead of just saying "people." As if women's only ability would be to make sons??? I felt so misogynistic.

There are some aspects of Rand's philosophy I can get behind, but I also think it's taken to the extreme. It feels like Rand is saying, at least in this book, that being altruistic and wanting to help people who aren't as enlightened or smart or whatever as you is for absolute losers. They don't deserve that if they're not on your level, it devalues you.

Ma'am... calm down.

Anyway, this is going from 5 stars to 2 stars. What a plot twist...