We The Living (Student Edition)

I am a huge fan of Ayn Rand and while many of her readers think The Fountainhead, and especially Atlas Shrugged to be her best novels. I think We The Living is right along up there. This is a good deal smaller than Atlas Shrugged, but it still has a lot of power in it. This book is a tragedy. So do not read it if you want a happily ever after. While the story is filled with misery, you are still filled with a profound longing for a better world. That quality is something Rand puts in all her works. This book is not just about the evils of communism, it encompasses the entire spectrum of the 'individual vs. the state'. She shows what the state can do to a person, the state can grind a man down to nothing, it can leave an empty shell. And Rand shows what the state can't do to some people, the state can restrict a person, they can impose laws, they can cause tremendous suffering, but the state cannot always take away hope and desire even in the last few breathes one might take before they die.

There are a lot of people who dislike Ayn Rand. Whether for the rather didactic and lengthy sermons that populate most of the plots of her novels, or her own theories which tend to be underdeveloped and difficult to understand, she is not the most popular author or person in the philosophical realm. We the Living, however, is a book that one must read in order to change the perception of Rand doing what she does best: writing fiction. The novel is a harsh look at communism in the post-Red revolution of Russia, following three people: Kira, a young, idealistic, woman who bourgeois family was left poverty-stricken following the revolt; Leo, an indifferent young man haunted by the Communists due his late father's war glory; and Andrei, a Communist questioning his own beliefs in the system he has risen up in so quickly. Despite the fact that this novel is set in a far-away time and place to most of its readers, it is a book which I felt an extremely strong connection with. Everybody knows a Leo: flippant, handsome, could get any girl he wants -- but he has serious character flaws, and tends to be abusive of Kira's love for him. And Kira, the novel's protagonist, is very similar to any youth of today: she does not understand the ideals of the Communist party, but she does know what she believes and is wholeheartedly committed to fulfilling the promise she had at birth. The entire novel is beautifully written in moving prose that reflects both the harsh conditions for the people of Russia and the emotions felt between Kira, Andrei, Leo, and others as they attempt to make life better for themselves in a regime that denies them anything good without punishment. The climax of the novel is breathtaking -- by the time the final words have been read, the reader is totally attached to the characters. As with any other great novel of its time, We the Living not only characterizes the time period it is based in, but its characters live on as people of today's world, in today's capitalistic society. It questions the principles of freedom and what people will do for that freedom. This is Rand's greatest work: the philosophy is subtle, with more emphasis on the plot and the characters, but is there. Whatever you may think of Ayn Rand, you must read this novel -- it is a moving portrait of human life.

One thing always there but often not noticed in Ayn Rand's other works is an amazing sense of the environment. One really feels like one is living in the worlds Rand creates. This is particularly noticeable in this book, and it gives the reader a great awareness of what it is like to live under communism. Not only are the results of communism evident, but so are clear links to the cause (the absence of human rights). On top of all this, We the Living has great characters whom we get to observe as they change (or not, in Kira's case) under the brutal regime.

Ayn Rand said that "We the Living" was the closest she would ever come to writing an autobiography. Maybe that's why when I was reading WTL I got the impression that I was witnessing real scenes from Ayn's past life under the Soviet system. The uncompromising and highly principled behavior of the main character, Kira is inspiring and horrible to witness when you realize what she was up against(communist rule).Kira is not the superhero type Rand would create so well in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, but she was as close as you could expect to find in Soviet Russia. And unlike Rand's later fiction, WTL has a sad ending... an ending which really drives home the point of how collectivism's ultimate result is death -- death of the mind, death of the individual, and eventually death of everything good in society.It kept me up nights reading and many more nights pondering what it all meant. A great read!

That so many people find this their favorite of Ayn Rand's work is not surprising; of all of her novels, this is the most straightforward. The narrative carries the story forward, rather than the philosophy, and a great narrative it is. Rand manages to encompass almost all of the dreariness and paranoia of Stalinist Russia by following the lives of three young people involved in a love triangle of sorts. We the Living explains why Rand took such "harsh" stances in favor of capitalism - she lived the alternative, and found it repugnant in the extreme. Highly recommended.