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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing read, June 19, 2008
Where to begin?
I picked this book up in a local bargain bin thinking it might contain some contemporary, witty satire on Ayn Rand... woe is me. This book is full of cliche's, badly written metaphors, and generally uncreative material.
If you're a fan of Rand, avoid this book. If you're a critic of Rand, avoid this book. But if you're looking for cheap fuel for your furnace in the midst of these high gas prices, this is a great buy--only 59 cents for a used copy on Amazon!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Libertarians will enjoy Bell-Villada's Rand satire, October 24, 2007
Libertarian satires of Ayn Rand extend at least as far back as Jerome Tuccille's nonfiction IT USUALLY BEGINS WITH AYN RAND (1971). Such works appeal to libertarians' conflicted admiration for Rand; her books inspired many readers to trek down the intellectual path to libertarianism, yet Rand's authoritarian personal life was a Stalinist parody of her individualist philosophy (e.g., her living room "show trials" of acolytes who'd violated the Objectivist "party line").
Rand herself was in no way conflicted over libertarians, whom she called "a random collection of hippies of the right." In 1976, she enthusiastically supported Gerald Ford for president over both Reagan and Carter, never mind the LP's Roger MacBride. Nor did she share many a libertarians' self-deprecating humor, which she regarded as a form of "sanction of the victim." She'd reputedly said that "laughing at yourself is like spitting in your own face." Who would John Galt laugh at? Not himself, certainly.
But all this history is mostly unknown to "outsiders," who often confuse Rand's Objectivism with libertarianism. Thus it may surprise Gene H. Bell-Villada (a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and, one presumes, a good "progressive") to learn that many libertarians will delight in his "The Pianist Who Liked Ayn Rand," a 63-page novella that also lends its title to his 13-piece collection.
The novella will resonate with libertarians. Many of us have seen, or read of, or heard of real-life versions of Bell-Villada's characters. (I had a high school classmate who turned "Randroid" for a few years.) In "The Pianist," a university music student studies Rand to impress an Objectivist coed. But despite mastering an ability to spout boilerplate Objectivism, his amorous advances fall short of the Roarkian aggression needed to impress the coed.
Most of Bell-Villada's protagonists are nerdy Latinos; bookish beta males with a love of classical music. In "The Prize" a Puerto Rican boy is obsessed with a classical music radio station. But when he finally finds the courage to call the station and win a classical recording, it turns out to be an LP -- and his family's record player only accepts 78s. In "The Customer" a lonely engineer spends every Saturday savoring The New Yorker--articles, advertising, and all. His admiration for an unseen model's legs inspires him to drive to the liquor store and see if he can find a display ad featuring that same model.
In Randian terms, Bell-Villada's stories are naturalistic rather than romantic. Brief sketches of ordinary people pursuing minor dreams, defeated by petty, random events. His stories are satirical, minimalist, and literary. The sort of "slices of life" favored by university presses. Heavy on character rather than plot.
THE PIANIST WHO LIKED AYN RAND may be out of print, but inexpensive used copies are available on Amazon.com. Some of the stories are better than others, but libertarians shouldn't care. "The Pianist Who Liked Ayn Rand" alone is worth the price.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More of a medley than a concert..., November 29, 1999
As in Thomas Mann stories, the author's protagonists are often passionate about classical music. However, the overall tone of these tales are light and humorous: a difference between Latino and German styles perhaps. Nonetheless, the "review" of the San Juan piano recital and murder, one of my favorites, reminded me slightly of Mann's "Mario and the Magician". Unfortunately, the events of this particular story evolve in the 3rd person, leaving me with many unanswered questions of character and plot motivation. Although the book comes across as a fairly loose collection of unrelated stories and satirical essays, a unifying theme becomes clear as one reaches the last page. One perceives a description of the common impulse towards the careless, ofttimes hapless, adoption of the seemingly new or sophisticated, and the resulting descent from what was initially mere self-delusion towards self-made hells.
The author's darkening vision unfolds as a series of tableau. It begins as a journey from a young boy's energetic innocence in the Dickey stories, of the first half of the book, and concludes with a description of an island society that has become too sophisticated to have any further use for human speech. One contemplates if this book could have been meant as an allegory of American cultural life, as it appears to decline horribly with every passing year. Instead, the world depicted is much too intelligent for this possibility and more resembles the isolated jungles of academia, where Ayn Rand briefly had an influence on many students in the 1960's that is nicely depicted in the title story.
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