Heaven Knows, It's Got to Be This Time

Ahhhh goodreads.com. You were the subject, and heart of my previous post, and as time meandered, slipped slowly off into the nowhere that is the past, you became the heart of this post as well.
Last night I finished Anthem by Ayn Rand. I read in the course of one day, I think everyone should do this.... Because it's 87 pages long. I thought it to be a very powerful, meaningful book about individuality, about the ego, about 'We.' All of that is in typical Rand fashion. But I think it should resonate with audiences. Why would you want to live in a state that doesn't allow individual thought? But in Anthem, it is dramatized, but the point still rings true. Doing what's good for everyone else? Or what's good for you? That sounds egotistical, and selfish, but Rand did kind of invent Objectivism, a philosophy that advocates rational self-interest. You can put yourself in front of others, just not all the time. At least, that's how I understand it.
I look up the reader reviews on Goodreads, and almost all of them are one out of five for Anthem. This outright astounds me. Most of these fellows like agree with each other in saying that Anthem is boring and pretentious, and laughable.
Again, with the ignorance.
Boring? I did not find anything about Anthem boring. It was a compelling read, and was rather hard to put down. Why? Just to see what would happen to our hero, *spoiler* Prometheus. And what kind of punishment he would endure because of the corrupt, and entirely hypocritical Council. (More on that later.) I guess people just don't get it. Or care to try and get it.
To first say that Anthem is pretentious is somewhat absurd. It's not like it's written in a prose only the elites can understand, or people with PhDs in Literature. She doesn't use large, esoteric words. She doesn't do anything that is remotely pretentious. In fact, I am still trying to figure out how Objectivism is pretentious. All it says is that you are you, and you are in charge of you, and no one can take that right away. (It's stated in Anthem.) How is that pretentious? How?! Because it doesn't preach that socialism is the only way? That is just a guess. It just astounds me that they attack that for being pretentious, but not say, The Scarlet Letter. If you've read my previous post, you will understand that I understand The Scarlet Letter, I understand it's themes, I just think it's a terrible book. That is highly pretentious. Everything about it is. At least in modern contexts. Nothing about Anthem can be considered pretentious. Please contact me if you have a reason why it is.
I think this idea comes from how they view the world (well duh). Most of the reviews seem to me to be hipsters. The almighty, all annoying Hipsters. The modern day beatniks. Hipsters are the annoying rich people, who think they know everything about everything, and usually have an iPhone. And use French words in everyday converstaions. Not French based words. Actual French. Quite possibly the most pretentious people on the planet. And they call Anthem pretentious. I see a non sequiter here. Or a lapse of self knowlegde....
Laughable? At points, the prose does seem very dramatic. But, that's the point. Drama. That is Rand. Reading the descriptions of The Fountainhead, and Atlas, Shrugged is dramatic in its self. This point, I might almost agree with.
I think anyone who hates Rand, first of all doesn't understand the power of her words, and are, literally, Socialists. I love capitalism. Who doesn't? It gives you the right to buy what you want, to earn your keep. To be you. And you alone. What the hell is so wrong with that? Some people can't help themselves, which is why I do think Social Welfare is a fantastic idea. But in practice, I think it should be monitored better. But I digress.