We the Living [Mass Market Paperback]

Ayn Rand (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: New Amer Library (1991)
• ASIN: B000HJO3SE
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (175 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, was published in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved spectacular and enduring success. Through her novels and nonfiction writings, which express her unique philosophy, Objectivism, Rand maintains a lasting influence on popular thought.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

177 of 191 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely amazing book, May 11, 2004

By 

Bethany (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We the Living (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

78 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I felt like I was meeting Ayn Rand in person..., March 26, 2002

By 

J. Kane "AbleKane" (Balad, Iraq) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We the Living (Mass Market Paperback)

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!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Magnificent, and Often Overlooked, August 23, 2007

By 

Brandon Killen (Forsyth, MT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We the Living (Mass Market Paperback)

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.