Customer Reviews

We The Living

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

This was the first of Rand's novels to sell fairly well commercially. Initially it did well in Europe and less so in the USA. When the first printing was sold out in the USA, the plates were destroyed and it went out of print for close to 20 years before the combined success of THE FOUNTAINHEAD and ATLAS SHRUGGED cried out for its re-publication in the United States.

There is much truth in other reviewers comments here that this book seems to be written so differently than Rand's later novels. I will not disagree with anyone on that. Along with ANTHEM and a play titled THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 16th, Rand used WTL as a laboratory to express her anti-totalitarian ideas in English and in novel form. It should be remembered that Rand came here as a penniless Russian immigrant. She initially lived with relatives in Chicago and then made her way to Los Angeles where she earned her way (and began to write).

Rand herself said that this book was the closest she would ever come to writing an autobiography. Obviously, Kira is an idealized fictional symbol of all that Rand held to be virtuous and worth aspiring to. She conflicts good and evil and in the process, we see that even though Kira idolizes freedom (both political and economic), she cannot accept contradictions in the man she has chosen to love.

This novel portrays the impact of the Bolshevik Revolution on the lives of three people. Three people who meant very little to the totalitarian Soviet state and the Communist Party but as individual Russians, living through that dark midnight that almost extinguished hope in the hearts of the Russian people, Kira, Leo and Andrei are as alive as any of the classic characters found elsewhere in important literature.

Kira comes to the story as part of an affluent Russian family that loses everything after the Bolsheviks seize power during "kraznaya Oktobriana." After the Bolsheviks expropriate all of their property for the "good of the proletariat," their lives change dramatically. Kira, who wanted to be a builder loses her chance for continued education and position because she will not conform to the new "Soviet ideal."

Eventually, she meets Leo Kovalensky, a Russian aristocrat who stands unbowed before the altar of Soviet justice. He refuses to recognize the hegemony of the new system over any aspect of his life. Kira, admiring this fierce individuality, falls for Leo and comes to stand by his side. She knows that she has met her "Viking god."

Andrei Taganov is the ultimate instrument of the Soviet state. He wears a leather jacket and carries all the authority of the new dictatorship. In ages past, he would have worn the helmet of a Roman Centurion or the armor of a crusading knight. But always, he would have been the symbol of some governmental oppression. He is a born secret policeman in a system that required men all too willing to torture and imprison their fellow men.

As Rand writes about the early Soviet system, it is obvious that this novel could have been set in any system that denied individual freedom. Rand chose to write about Soviet Russia because it was what she knew. Similar stories could have come out of Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. Rand chose Russia.

This is a story of what happens to people when all freedom is lost. It is a marvelous tale of people who struggle valiantly against insurmountable odds to maintain their individuality, dignity and freedom. It is a moral allegory of just what happens to the human spirit when the individual is subjugated to the mind-numbing and degrading indignities imposed from above by second-handers who created nothing but only denied everything.

This is one of the finest novels of its type that you will ever read. It is worth reading, especially if the reader has already read THE FOUNTAINHEAD and ATLAS SHRUGGED if for no other reason than to discover Rand's starting point. If you have not read any of Rand's other works then, this is a great place to start. WTL is where she began to formulate her ideas on the ultimate value of the individual and the worth of the reasoning human intellect.

To be sure, this is an indictment on the danger to mankind everywhere on the depredations of any collective system. This is an unapologetic damnation of Communism as it was then and what it eventually became. Rand has no mercy and shows no compassion or willingness to understand why men and women would give up themselves to be part of a system that denies basic rights and degrades the individual.

Read this book and you will come to understand why Communism was ultimately destined to fail. It failed because it collapsed under the weight of its own inherent internal contradictions. We are all the more fortunate that Rand saw all of this so clearly early on. We are even more fortunate that her predictions for the ultimate demise of Communist tyranny came true and that individual ploitical and economic freedom have taken root throughout countries that once denied even the slightest scintilla of personal liberty.

Read WE THE LIVING and discover one of the most original minds in the 20th Century.

I was not surprised at all to find reviews that only attacked Ayn Rand's vivid account on Soviet Russia. As a 14 year old, I read The Fountainhead and taking into consideration the disgust of society on Gail Wynand makes me perfectly understand why I could only find bad reviews on We the Living. I similarly noticed that reviewers did not enjoy the novel because it was "too depressing." Well I would believe that Soviet Russia in the early 20th century was not exactly roses and sunshine. We the Living was one of the most realistic novels I have ever read. This was actually my very first introduction to Ayn Rand and made me admire Ayn Rand as my favorite author. The vivid descriptions of how communism destroyed Russia were amazingly intense, and her portrayal of the protagonists and antagonists elevated this level of intensity and intrigue.

Many people despise Andrei for being a communist, Kira for devoting her life to an empty man, and Leo for being that empty man. I am almost positively sure that Ayn Rand already had all this in mind for her readers. Such conclusions on these characters are superficial. Andrei is labeled as a communist, but the reader must grasp the value behind this label. He is an individualist at heart, and commits suicide because he realized the waste of his life as a supporter of communism. Kira is a bold young woman pillared by ambition. What makes her a heroic character is that she never sacrifices her morals or values for her surrounding etiquette that plagued man. Leo is the complexity of the novel because he leads readers to despise both Andrei and Kira, but in the name of individualism, Andrei and Kira must be recognized as individuals and not because of an empty man.

I have never cried at any movie or any book before We the Living. The intellectual intensity collapsed at the end, and I could not help myself from sobbing because of my deep appreciation for Kira's character.

I challenge every person who detests We the Living to read it once more and think deeper of the wider meaning of this powerful message to man.

"We the living" is the lesser known of Ayn Rand's novels, yet my favorite.
I'd say without doubt or hesitation that there is no novel which I have loved as much as this one(and I don't think I'll ever love any other as much as this one, too).
Yes, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" certainly are greater, but this novel had an emotional impact on me which the others did not - at least not of the same degree.
Though Rand had not fully defined her unique, ground-breaking philosophy of Objectivism at the time she wrote this novel - it proffers her image of life and man which is fully consistent with her more refined novels.

The theme of this novel,strictly speaking,is : "The evil of totalitarianism".
Going deeper, the theme emerges to be : "The sanctity of human life."
Ultimately, this novel dramatizes how totalitarianism violates the sanctity of human life.
But I'd say the fundamental abstraction is : "MAN'S LOVE FOR LIFE, FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS"
And this is what reaches out to every person who reads this emotionally intense novel about a love-triangle involving a woman, an ex-aristocrat and a communist whose lives are destroyed by the system in which they live (in Communist Russia) - for I don't think there is any person in this world,except the most depraved,who doesn't value life,joy and liberty (at least his/her own).

"We The Living" is about the human spirit struggling to preserve its dignity, honor and benevolence - in circumstances which break and pulverize, embitter and malign it.
It is about both,the vulnerability,and the indestructibility of the human spirit.
It is about man being driven by despair, hopelessness and pain to resort to incorrect means so as to achieve good ends.
It is about man's struggle to preserve his values.

It is about love - the kind of love which, unfortunately, I think, is found only in some novels.
It is Kira's love for Leo and Andrei's love for Kira which makes WTL my best-loved novel..."YOU ARE MY HIGHEST REVERENCE"...no other writer and no other novel has given such a profound, beautiful expression to the phenomena of love.
THIS is poetry, passion and man-worship - which makes love sacred, sex an act of worship and man an object worthy of the devotion which is directed at God.

If you want to know what passionate love is, what does one mean by a value-oriented sense of life, what is hero-worship, read "We The Living".

Though this novel lacks the explicit philosophic content of the Rand's other novels & one may think that Kira's actions, strictly speaking, are morally wrong - "We The Living" performs its objective with superb effectiveness : it makes you hate totalitarianism - whether Nazism, Fascism, Communism or the Medieval Church, the broader abstraction remains - that totalitarianism is anti-life - because it takes away man's freedom to think, to choose, to act, to pursue his/ her happiness - on his/her on terms.

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.

I found this to be an interesting read and a good plot, however, I didn't think any of the main characters were admirable at all. Not that likable main characters are essential to a book/plot, but I am surprised by the other reviewers who really admire Kira and others who find that Andrei is the only "real man" in the book; a man who never betrays his values. First, on the Andrei front, while he does display the most virtue regarding his loyalty and stoicism, let's not forget that his loyalty led him to gun down peasants and farmers whom the communists felt were "cheating" them out of their share of crops. While the reader only sees Taganov when he's being an upstanding, passionate man who has strength of character and loves Kira honestly, Andrei's monologues allow us a glimpse into what he does on the job with the GPU. He seems comfortable with the killing and torture that made the USSR such a fun place to live under the communists.

Regarding Kira, her determination to live as an individual is admirable, however, her devotion to the empty Leo seems out of character. It's as though she's really only attracted to him physically. That makes her interesting, but not someone to model your life after, as so many other readers seem to suggest.

I thought the description of life in Soviet Russia was particulary well done. It's hard to believe that people (communists) actually talked like that, but Rand grew up in this period and has indicated that this aspect is accurate.

This is an excellent story, but it's thoroughly depressing.

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.

I have read virtually all of Rand's works; studied them, in fact and written reviews on most of them (favorably, always). But this book, We The Living, by Ayn Rand, I suggest reading AFTER you have read one of her popular (very popular) fictional works such as Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead. My reason for this suggestion of time-ordering your selection of reading is this: Please read all of the reviews in this section and take them as fact (believe them, quite literally), then consider how different this work has been described as compared to Rand's popular fiction and also the fact that "We the Living" was rand's first attempt at making it big (in the sense of getting her message across, which she acomplished Quite well). You will see that she changed her format: We the living was described by Rand "as being the closest she had come to an auto biography."

This is the most powerful, moving book that you will experience (period). If you know of another which forms an exception to my statement, please email me. But,THIS, her early life, in Soviet Communist Russia, a hellish (to say the least) existence is what motivated Rand to speak out, to write about philosophy... When you read The Fountainhead, you will have fun, no doubt, and that is why it sold... but we the living is for Lover's of existence, un-coerced existence, which brings me to my final point on this book:

NOBODY can disagree with this book; note that no no one has, in the reviews above. In itself, the omission of negative reviews is amazing. If you read this book and are passionately moved (motivated) by it, then then you owe it to yourself to OBJECTIVELY (with an "open/active-mind," ) pick up and study another of Rand's non-fictional works such as "the Virtue of Selfishness," or "Capitalism the Unknown Ideal," or "The New Left: the Return of the Primitive". Don't get me wrong: There are plenty of people who will disagree, on first reading her non-fiction (possibly her fiction too), but there are essentially NONE who disagree, upon reading "We the Living,". My point is: They are ALL the same! Only presented in different formats.

You won't find anyone, today, who will even attempt to tell you that communist or socialist systems are better than capitalism. 1989, in Russia, was a clear demonstration, and stands as a refutation to any such suggestion. Rand was and is correct. Read her work. This one will bring tears to your eyes, enlightenment to your soul AND will, once and for all... if you have the discipline to think about it long enough, concretize (to use Rand's terminology) exactly why tax-and-spend-big-government is a threat to the best within us: INDIVIDUALITY. A quote from Rand "thinking is not a collective activity." Think about it, PLease.