We The Living

Cover picture by goodreads

Strong anti-communist manifest.

Author

Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter.

Summary

The story takes place from 1922 to 1925, in post-revolutionary Russia. Kira Argounova, the protagonist of the story, is the younger daughter of a bourgeois capitalist. An independent spirit with a will to match, she rejects any attempt by her family or the nascent Socialist State to cast her into a mold.

Kira meets Andrei Taganov, an idealistic Communist, and an officer in the G.P.U., the secret police of the Soviet. The two share a mutual respect and admiration for each other in spite of their differing political beliefs. Andrei and Kira develop a friendship.

But from this point on, the novel cascades into a series of catastrophes for Kira. (source: Wikipedia)

Status

The book was found by my friend Sara, in a hotel with a book swapping service. After bringing it to Belgium, she lent it to me. I read it on the plane (through Zurich) to India and enjoyed it during a backpacking trip to the north of the country.

Unfortunately, by the extensive traveling the book tore into two pieces. A shop in Mumbai was able to glue the parts back together nicely after which I could sent it back to Sara by courier. The only sad part of it is that the original owner (before the book swap) had written a small note on the back cover which has now been taped over by the book repair people.

As this book gave me a lot to think about, I am planning to put a review online. Someday, somewhere...

Links

• goodreads
• Wikipedia