3 Comments
User's avatar
тна Return to thread
Sheri's avatar

The only work of hers that I read was Anthem.

Expand full comment
Craig Butcher's avatar

I recall reading Anthem in fifth grade and thinking how much it was like being shouted at by a lunatic who had no idea he was repeating himself over and over. A teacher or librarian recommended it to me as a really important and wise book. Even though it's only about 50 pages long the substance of it was pretty fully beaten to death in a few pages. I went through the whole thing trying to find the part where it was important and wise but apparently any matter of that sort had been edited out, perhaps due to a concern that it would baffle the target readership. This experience helped dispel my 10 year old default assumption that being a grownup necessarily meant being smarter than I was.

I think at the same age I first read Animal Farm. That partly restored my faith n the perspicacity of at least some adults.

Expand full comment
Linda Oliver's avatar

I think it was тАЬThe Virtue of SelfishnessтАЭ that I read, and I thought it was just tedious intellectual justification for self-absorption. It was dull. I think I heard about her from watching William F. Buckley & Gore Vidal, who were great to watch together, but she was boring.

Expand full comment