Depicting the daily struggle of the individual against a tyrannical dictatorship, We the Living shows the terrible impact of a revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives and pursue their happiness. Kira, determined to maintain her independence and courageous in the face of starvation and poverty; Leo, upper class and paralysed by state repression; and Andrei, an idealistic communist and officer in the secret police who nonetheless wants to help his friends.
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Ayn Rand (1905-1982) published her first novel, We the Living, 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.
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Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Petrograd smelt of carbolic acid. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Blackbeard
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book was one of my greatest literary pleasures and surprises in recent years. I had somehow managed not to read anything by this writer, even though the genre this book can be categorized in is probably my favorite, i.e., classic Russian literature. Apparently, Ayn Rand grew up in Russia, in the same period as this book (early twentieth century), and it's clear that she still had a huge Russian influence when she wrote it, because in some aspects it is almost indistinguishable from the style and atmosphere of the Russian greats. She seems to also have inherited a great deal of passion, and she excels at expressing her beliefs in noble and beautiful ways. Her characters are well-drawn, deep, realistic and diversified, and she was obviously an intelligent and perspicacious woman, who had a good grasp of the human psyche in all its varied forms. Her depiction of the incredible and impossible conditions which people had to suffer through in this period in Russia is extremely well-written, as is all the absurdity of the communist doctrine, and how it made people act and even think. I think I can say that Ayn Rand has become one of my favorite writers through one book alone, and I look forward with the greatest pleasure to read the rest of her work.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
We the Living is Ayn Rand at her greatest. Her phenomenal writing talent moves the story along at a fascinating pace. The characters are totally believable. They don't become the non-human symbols of people which populate her other two masterpieces (although they're all fascinating, you can't relate to them on a human level). She manages to interweave her philosophy in bits and pieces, rather than the page-after-page rants in Atlas Shrugged. Kira, though, is a frustrating heroine to admire. While she treats Andrei like crap, she pours her life into Leo, a fascinating but brutal hero. Also, if a basic tenent of her philosophy is self-reliance, of holding no one higher than one self, one wonders why Kira becomes dependent on Leo, and sacrifices so much for him. In re-reading this masterpiece again and again, I kept thinking of how Rand was using Greta Garbo as her heroine. Also, the Italian movie made of "We the Living" is an absolute must-see for any admirer of this book. It runs over 3 hours and is amazingly faithful to the book. To think that this film was made in Italy and not in Russia is a shock. And to think it was made right at the height of World War II, with bombs exploding all over the place, makes it even more extraordinary.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Historically interesting but philosophically uncompelling introduction to Ayn Rand
2 Dec 2012
By Nicholas J. R. Dougan
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"The basic cause of totalitarianism is two ideas: men's rejection of reason in favor of faith, and of self-interest in favor of self-sacrifice."
So says Leonard Peikoff, a philosopher and executor of Ayn Rand's literary estate, in the 2008 introduction to this edition. In We the Living, Ayn Rand's first published novel, she presents this philosophy clearly and entertainingly. In so doing, however, she demonstrates what is, in my view, the weakness of this philosophical approach, and the one that, I suspect, will prevent me from ever identifying myself with the Objectivist movement. Kira, the novel's heroine, is certainly a reserved and critical rationalist in a world gone mad, but she is a lonely and selfish one too. I struggle to think of a single example of her having helped anyone to whom she was not bound by ties of kin or love. While I'm all for rejecting faith in favour of reason, I cannot but believe that great human beings find space in their spirits for a little self-sacrifice in the service of the common good as well as their self-interest.
Rand draws on her experience of Soviet Russia in the years just after the Revolution, but it seems to be a frequent claim for this book - one she made herself - that this background is a mere detail and that its message stands independently to that. That might be the case, but for me the historical elements about life in St Petersburg, Petrograd and Leningrad was a major element of my enjoyment. Fascinating, for example, to learn of the importance of the primus stove in the daily life of urban Russians in the early twentieth century, as they more or less camped in the luxurious buildings vacated by their bourgeois former owners. I wonder how well the message of the primacy of individual freedom over collectivity would look contrasted with societies that were, while communal in nature, much less authoritarian, and far less murderous, than the Soviet Union. That would include societies like Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, indeed much of western Europe at the time when Ms Rand wrote this book and enjoyed her fame.
Still, it's good to have made a start, and now on to The Fountainhead - which, annoyingly, is not available on Kindle.
So says Leonard Peikoff, a philosopher and executor of Ayn Rand's literary estate, in the 2008 introduction to this edition. In We the Living, Ayn Rand's first published novel, she presents this philosophy clearly and entertainingly. In so doing, however, she demonstrates what is, in my view, the weakness of this philosophical approach, and the one that, I suspect, will prevent me from ever identifying myself with the Objectivist movement. Kira, the novel's heroine, is certainly a reserved and critical rationalist in a world gone mad, but she is a lonely and selfish one too. I struggle to think of a single example of her having helped anyone to whom she was not bound by ties of kin or love. While I'm all for rejecting faith in favour of reason, I cannot but believe that great human beings find space in their spirits for a little self-sacrifice in the service of the common good as well as their self-interest.
Rand draws on her experience of Soviet Russia in the years just after the Revolution, but it seems to be a frequent claim for this book - one she made herself - that this background is a mere detail and that its message stands independently to that. That might be the case, but for me the historical elements about life in St Petersburg, Petrograd and Leningrad was a major element of my enjoyment. Fascinating, for example, to learn of the importance of the primus stove in the daily life of urban Russians in the early twentieth century, as they more or less camped in the luxurious buildings vacated by their bourgeois former owners. I wonder how well the message of the primacy of individual freedom over collectivity would look contrasted with societies that were, while communal in nature, much less authoritarian, and far less murderous, than the Soviet Union. That would include societies like Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, indeed much of western Europe at the time when Ms Rand wrote this book and enjoyed her fame.
Still, it's good to have made a start, and now on to The Fountainhead - which, annoyingly, is not available on Kindle.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book
Great emotional roller coaster. It made be cry several times. Fantastic book, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know the truth about life.
Published 4 months ago by peter j
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dire, I'm afraid
Someone I hold dear was reading Ayn Rand and speaking well of her, so i took the opportunity of obtaining a book she'd written, not expecting to have my negative opinion of this... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Vincent
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping and Troubling
I had such mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side, it's a wonderfully readable account of the horrors of the Communist regime in the last years of the rule of Lenin... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Kate Hopkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent written
The book is excellent written and has a good story. It tells us about what happens if we just accept conformity and and how government power easily corrupts. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Torben Jensen
1.0 out of 5 stars
slightly better than Barbara Cartland
I turned to this book after reading Tobias Wolff rip the piss out of Rand in 'Old School'. I found it surprisingly entertaining stuff which bowls along nicely, but how anyone can... Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2010 by ossian
4.0 out of 5 stars
Objectivism aside, it made me reflect on life after a regime change
After reading all of Ayn Rand's fiction in two months, We the Living (objectivist philosophy in its infancy) made me think of something that had always been there and never stopped... Read more
Published on 29 May 2009 by J. Casinos Molina
4.0 out of 5 stars
Born out of experience
Not surprisingly, this is Ayn Rand's most realistic story since its background of the sordid results of the Communistic takeover of Russian came from her personal experience. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2007 by J. A. Eyon
2.0 out of 5 stars
The most readable of Rand's books
For those of you who excroriate Rand for one-sided hatred of Communism, let me just point out that she was born under it, and she ought to know. Read more
Published on 2 Sep 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
Emotionally and philisophically exhausting.
I read this book for the first time when I was 12. I loved it then and didn't fully comprehend it. I love it now more. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
incredible
Once I read On The beach by Nevil Shute and thought that was the most depressing novel I'd ever read then I came by this book and it beat them all by a mile. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 1999
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