Atlas shrugged

I have to admit that I have been putting off this blog mostly because there is so much to say about this book. You may have noticed that Atlas Shrugged Part 2 is now in theatres and is a very big deal in pro-capitalist circles.  I haven't seen either of the movies yet but plan to.  When books are adapted to movies a lot has to be cut out much to the disappointment to fans of the book.  In the case of Atlas Shrugged, that could be a good thing.

This book was Ayn Rand's pride and joy and she felt very passionately about the subject matter.  Unfortunately I think she felt maybe a bit too passionately about this subject because the plot gets bogged down in places by long, looonnnggg speeches that tended to repeat earlier speeches in the book.

Atlas Shrugged is about the endeavors of one woman to keep her railroad company afloat in the face of overwhelming opposition from a country that seems to cut off every chance for success with do-gooder regulations that backfire.  Only the legislature instead of seeing the error of there way add more regulation to stem the results of their errors until the employers of the big businesses just quit and disappear.  No one knows where they are going and it's a mystery that hints to something supernatural.  Sort of.

The biggest problem I have with this book is that it never quite develops into science fiction.  It's almost dystopian but it doesn't quite go there either.  It's strongest thing it had going for it was the relationship between Hank Reardon, the steel tycoon and Dagney Taggert, the railroad tycoon and Francisco the copper tycoon (I listened to it on audio so I may be misspelling the names).  It's almost an Arthurian love triangle and very dramatic akin to Ernest Hemingway.  And then in part 3 the character of John Galt is introduced and messes that whole thing up the one thing the story had going for it.

I know this is capitalist blasphemy but I was really disappointed with this book.  Although the politics are actually in line with my own the story itself despite 60 hours of my life spent to listening to this it never really developed completely.  I know it's amazing that a book that long can feel underdeveloped but trust me a good 10 hours of this had to have been long speeches that ran together and in some cases used the same examples almost verbatim as used by other characters earlier in the book (i.e. John Galt's 3 hour speech in some places sounded identical to Hank Reardon's 45 minute speech earlier to the point it sounded like he was the one talking.)

I really wanted to give this one a higher score but I'd have to say 6 out of 10.

House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons

Most reviews I have read regarding this book have compared it to Downton Abbey.  I would say a better comparison is Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca or Jane Eyre.  (If you have not read Rebecca or Jane Eyre they are two Gothic romance must reads that have both been adapted for the big screen several times.  Hitchcock's version of Rebecca is a first rate must see.  Even if you don't like black and white movies, you'll like this one.)

Elise Landau is a privileged non practicing Jew living in Vienna in the 1930's but in the spring of 1938 she is forced to leave home and become a parlour maid in England at the Tyneford estate as her parents wait behind for their own visas to arrive so that they can come to America and send for her.  As time passes she gains and loses love all while holding the mystery of a novel in her father's old viola.

There isn't the same air of mystery that there is in Rebecca or Jane Eyre.  No mysterious voice in the attic or long dead rival hanging over the place but it is told with that same first person point of view with a mysterious older gentleman that may or may not be in love with her.

But there is something the House at Tyneford has that these other influences don't have.  That is Mr. Rivers's son, Kit, a character that I pictured as a young Brad Pitt full of life and charm, the one person to lighten Elise's otherwise dreary life.  He brings energy to the story that you can never fully get attached to because of all the foreshadowing that something bad was coming for him.

Tyneford is based on a real place called Tyneham in Dorset in England.  It is a place that the villagers were forced to leave in 1943 after being requisitioned by the war office.  When they left on Christmas eve, they pinned this note to the door:

‘Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.’

They were never allowed back and it remains in ruins by the coast owned by the British Ministry of Defense.  The author was inspired by this and stories of privileged Jewish women forced into becoming domestics after being having once had their own servants.  The novel opens with the same sighing remembrance as Rebecca's, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderlay again."

"When I close my eyes I see Tyneford House."

Authors don't write books like this anymore.  Romantic, mysterious and nostalgic I would rate this an 8 out of 10.