W.E. has a job!!!!!!!!
He just got the call literally a second ago. He starts Monday. They've offered him $32k plus benefits. I don't have to go back to the BRGS/CS.
Thank God.
More later.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Frustration
Because W.E. still hasn't heard back from that one job prospect (we're hoping he'll hear tomorrow), I get to go try to find a temp job until school starts. Joy. Even if they do call him tomorrow, he won't start for two weeks, which means he'll get paid in about a month, by which time we might be flat broke. We're beginning to seriously consider selling guitars, DVDs, and other such stuff. We won't get much, but it might be what we need to get us through the month.
So tomorrow I get to go to the temp agencies around here and beg them to find me a clerical or secretarial position for a month and a half. It's annoying, because the deal was if I didn't find a teaching job (or two) I'd have to do this. But now I have to do both. If I'd known that, I would have just done it at the beginning of the summer and gotten it over with.
I guess there's always a chance that I won't get the online adjunct position, but I'm past the interview process and next week I start the let's-see-if-you-can-do-this-online-thing process, and I know I can do that, so I think the chances are pretty low. If I don't, though, I get to negotiate with whatever temp job I have to let me work 3 days a week cause I'll be teaching the other 2.
And here I thought grad school would make sure I'd never have to do any of this again. Thanks a lot, PhD program people.
More later.
So tomorrow I get to go to the temp agencies around here and beg them to find me a clerical or secretarial position for a month and a half. It's annoying, because the deal was if I didn't find a teaching job (or two) I'd have to do this. But now I have to do both. If I'd known that, I would have just done it at the beginning of the summer and gotten it over with.
I guess there's always a chance that I won't get the online adjunct position, but I'm past the interview process and next week I start the let's-see-if-you-can-do-this-online-thing process, and I know I can do that, so I think the chances are pretty low. If I don't, though, I get to negotiate with whatever temp job I have to let me work 3 days a week cause I'll be teaching the other 2.
And here I thought grad school would make sure I'd never have to do any of this again. Thanks a lot, PhD program people.
More later.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Book Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
This was the longest book I've read since Atlas Shrugged. It took me about two weeks to get through it (which, for me, is a long time). And I liked it a lot.
Susannah Clarke had to have done an insane amount of research on the 18th-19th centuries. But not just research; her writing style so captured the styles of the 19th century writers (like Austen), that she had to have been immersed in the literature and culture of the time. Her worldbuilding was breathtaking. She was so thorough, in fact, that it required footnotes (in a novel! I know!) in order to convey all of the depth of history, legend, and magic she had created to back up the story. The footnotes took care of the info-dumping that was at least moderately necessary to understand some of the references the characters made, and entirely necessary to appreciating the care she took with creating her alternate-history Britain and Napoleonic Wars.
My absolute favorite section is when Jonathan Strange runs across Lord Byron in Geneva:
Having studied 19th century British literature (under duress), I adored this description of and reaction to the Shelley/Byron group.
On the other hand, I didn't find the plot quite riveting enough to really pull me through the story until the end. I think, with my current (unemployed) situation, if I had been really fascinated by the plotline, it would have taken me 5 days to make it through instead of 2 weeks. Although I think part of the issue was that I had to get it in hardback and I find hardback incredibly hard to handle, so I avoided reading as much as I ought to have because I didn't want to deal with the huge, heavy, 750-page tome.
I give it a 9.9/10.
More later.
Susannah Clarke had to have done an insane amount of research on the 18th-19th centuries. But not just research; her writing style so captured the styles of the 19th century writers (like Austen), that she had to have been immersed in the literature and culture of the time. Her worldbuilding was breathtaking. She was so thorough, in fact, that it required footnotes (in a novel! I know!) in order to convey all of the depth of history, legend, and magic she had created to back up the story. The footnotes took care of the info-dumping that was at least moderately necessary to understand some of the references the characters made, and entirely necessary to appreciating the care she took with creating her alternate-history Britain and Napoleonic Wars.
My absolute favorite section is when Jonathan Strange runs across Lord Byron in Geneva:
It so happened that on this particular day there were two [letters] from Geneva in Swisserland. The first was from Lord Byron complaining of Jonathan Strange, and the second was from Strange complaining of Byron. The two men had met at Mr Murray's house a handful of times, but until now they had never got acquainted. Strange had visited Byron in Geneva a couple of weeks before. The meeting had not been a success.
Strange (who was just now in a mood to place the highest value upon matrimony and all that he had lost in Arabella) was unsettled by Byron's domestic arrangements. "I found his lordship at his pretty villa upon the shores of the lake. He was not alone. There was another poet called Shelley, Mrs Shelley and another young woman - a girl really - who called herself Mrs Clairmont and whose relationship to the two men I did not understand. If you know, do not tell me. Also present was an odd young man who talked nonsense the entire time - a Mr Polidori."
Lord Byron, on the other hand, took exception to Strange's mode of dress. "He wore half-mourning. His wife died at Christmas, did she not? But perhaps he thinks black makes him look more mysterious and wizardly."
Having taken an immediate dislike to each other, they had progressed smoothly to quarrelling about politics. Strange wrote: "I do not quite know how it happened, but we immediately fell to talking of the battle of Waterloo - an unhappy subject since I am the Duke of Wellington's magician and they all hate Wellington and idolize Buonaparte. Mrs Clairmont, with all the impertinence of eighteen, asked me if I was not ashamed to be the instrument in the fall of so sublime a man. No, said I."
Byron wrote: "He is a great partisan for the Duke of W. I hope for your sake, my dear Murray, that his book is more interesting than he is."
Strange finished: "People have such odd notions of magicians. They wanted me to tell them about vampyres."
(553-554)
Having studied 19th century British literature (under duress), I adored this description of and reaction to the Shelley/Byron group.
On the other hand, I didn't find the plot quite riveting enough to really pull me through the story until the end. I think, with my current (unemployed) situation, if I had been really fascinated by the plotline, it would have taken me 5 days to make it through instead of 2 weeks. Although I think part of the issue was that I had to get it in hardback and I find hardback incredibly hard to handle, so I avoided reading as much as I ought to have because I didn't want to deal with the huge, heavy, 750-page tome.
I give it a 9.9/10.
More later.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
It's On!
Whew, this has been an exciting week (and it's only Tuesday!). The only thing that could make it better is W.E. getting hired on Thursday.
Here's the newest exciting thing:
The June 2008 issue of Trail of Indiscretion is (finally) out!
As soon as I have information on how you all can order it (so you can get it signed by moi and assure a 1,000% return on your investment), I'll post it here and probably in a sidebar so it's eminently findable.
Oh, and I've decided to take the part-time job I've already been offered, and I'm working on getting at least one more. I might have to try for one MORE, but having at least two will be great.
More later.
Here's the newest exciting thing:
The June 2008 issue of Trail of Indiscretion is (finally) out!
As soon as I have information on how you all can order it (so you can get it signed by moi and assure a 1,000% return on your investment), I'll post it here and probably in a sidebar so it's eminently findable.
Oh, and I've decided to take the part-time job I've already been offered, and I'm working on getting at least one more. I might have to try for one MORE, but having at least two will be great.
More later.
New Interview
W.E. has yet another interview with the company he interviewed for two weeks ago. This is his third interview, and they're finally talking money, so it looks really good. The recruiter who's been working with him says he's the top candidate right now.
Whatever magic incantations y'all have been doing for us, they're working. Keep it up!
More later.
Whatever magic incantations y'all have been doing for us, they're working. Keep it up!
More later.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Re-re-writing
I have received yet another rewrite request for my submission to the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. One of the readers still isn't quite happy with it. I almost feel like s/he is trying to push another agenda through my paper, an agenda that I didn't intend, but I'm brand new at this and can't really argue. That's what makes it really legitimate, though; it's a peer-reviewed journal. If I can make this one other peer happy, I can get my foot in the door to scholarly publication and eventually BE a peer, and not do what this reader is doing.
So that means a trip to the university library to dig stuff up on the topics that the reader wants me to address more closely. I'll probably do that tomorrow after the blood drive (being O Neg is sometimes kind of a drag; I feel morally obligated to donate blood as often as possible).
More later.
So that means a trip to the university library to dig stuff up on the topics that the reader wants me to address more closely. I'll probably do that tomorrow after the blood drive (being O Neg is sometimes kind of a drag; I feel morally obligated to donate blood as often as possible).
More later.
And More!
W.E. is having a surprise phone interview RIGHT NOW! It sounds like it's almost over. . . .
(The hilarious thing is, he didn't even know he'd applied for that position. I sent in his resume literally a few hours ago. This bodes very well.)
This is an employee relations job with a local university (not the one we went to). The phone interview was apparently the second hurdle (the first being them sorting through resumes), and he'll know if he gets to the third hurdle, the in-person interview, by the end of the week.
We might both be very employed by next week! Woohoo!
Fingers crossed, light a candle for us, anything your belief system calls for, cause we're both getting really tired of sitting around doing nothing. And we're starting to worry about starving.
More later!
EDIT to correct: actually, this was a position that we applied for a few weeks ago. He's got 4 applications in for 4 different HR positions at this one university. We'll take any of them, though!
(The hilarious thing is, he didn't even know he'd applied for that position. I sent in his resume literally a few hours ago. This bodes very well.)
This is an employee relations job with a local university (not the one we went to). The phone interview was apparently the second hurdle (the first being them sorting through resumes), and he'll know if he gets to the third hurdle, the in-person interview, by the end of the week.
We might both be very employed by next week! Woohoo!
Fingers crossed, light a candle for us, anything your belief system calls for, cause we're both getting really tired of sitting around doing nothing. And we're starting to worry about starving.
More later!
EDIT to correct: actually, this was a position that we applied for a few weeks ago. He's got 4 applications in for 4 different HR positions at this one university. We'll take any of them, though!
Job Offer!
The interview I had last Wednesday panned out; they've offered me a position as adjunct faculty. The downside is that they've decided to hire two people, which means I'd only be teaching 2 classes instead of 4 (unless they add more to their schedule, which is possible but not assured), which means half the money I thought I'd be getting--about $3,000/semester. Luckily, I have some time to think about it. I think I might e-mail the head of the English department at my alma mater and ask her if she thinks it's likely she might need an adjunct or an assistant for the Writing Across the Curriculum person, because it will be more money and closer. Hopefully she'll be able to offer me something before I'm forced to go ahead and accept this job just because it's a job.
Still hunting for something for W.E.
More later.
Still hunting for something for W.E.
More later.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Annoyance
Well, I was supposed to hear "one way or the other" about the job I interviewed for by today, but I didn't. I'm not sure what that means.
W.E. still hasn't heard from the last job he interviewed for, either, but apparently they gave him an IQ test and administered it completely wrong so it's possible they decided he wasn't smart enough (which is really ironic and stupid and annoying if you ask me, because his IQ has been tested at around 160).
Trying to find a job is feeling a lot like trying to get published--you fling your resume out into the great black void and hope to hear something back, but 9 times out of 10, they don't even acknowledge your existence. At least with publishing, you're likely to AT LEAST get a little slip of paper with "thanks but no thanks" on it.
Sigh.
More later.
W.E. still hasn't heard from the last job he interviewed for, either, but apparently they gave him an IQ test and administered it completely wrong so it's possible they decided he wasn't smart enough (which is really ironic and stupid and annoying if you ask me, because his IQ has been tested at around 160).
Trying to find a job is feeling a lot like trying to get published--you fling your resume out into the great black void and hope to hear something back, but 9 times out of 10, they don't even acknowledge your existence. At least with publishing, you're likely to AT LEAST get a little slip of paper with "thanks but no thanks" on it.
Sigh.
More later.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Interview Results
I think it went really well. Everyone was very friendly. I had an interesting conversation about writing centers with the interviewer. Also, they don't expect new teachers to write their own syllabi--they have examples of ones other people are using that we can use and tinker with. They went over salary (decent, not wonderful, but hey, it's money), apologizing that they couldn't offer more, but the state sets the salary, not the school. The interviewer said that she was seeing a few other people this week, but I will know for certain on Friday.
Fingers crossed.
More later.
Fingers crossed.
More later.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Interview!
I have one. Tomorrow at 1 PM. In person, so I have to get dressed up. I'm okay with that, though; I spent most of the morning sorting through my closet and finding all of my nice clothes in case something like this came up, so I'm kind of in the mood to be dressy. It's somewhat exciting; somewhat because it's one of the colleges a bit further away, and I'd really rather work closer to home, but beggars can't be choosers, and I'm pretty much a beggar at this point.
Here's hoping none of the GTFs I graduated with applied for this job, too, so I have a better shot. :)
More later.
Here's hoping none of the GTFs I graduated with applied for this job, too, so I have a better shot. :)
More later.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Catch & Release
This morning I received a rejection letter from Strange Horizons for "The Truthsayer." So I immediately sent it out again, this time to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.
One of these times, someone will want it.
More later.
One of these times, someone will want it.
More later.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Busy Day
Today was a more productive day than most have been recently. I made it through another German lesson, went to the store, made dinner, and finished a draft of a short story. This one is actually hard sci-fi, which has me feeling a bit out of my depth, but when W.E. pitched it yesterday, I decided I had to write it. So I did. It took a lot of research on various things from the name of the asteroid belt at the edge of our solar system (Kuiper), a near-ish planetary system (I chose Epislon Eridani because apparently every other sci-fi writer does as well), the length of time it would take to travel to Eridani (600+ years), and lots of other dribs and drabs of scientific information. I have a feeling it's going to get ripped apart by the Critters people, but at least I tried.
I am still hungry.
More later.
I am still hungry.
More later.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Movie Review: The Happening
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
Let me preface this by saying that I expected to like this movie. I think M. Night generally gets a bad rap. I liked Signs, The Sixth Sense, The Village, and even Lady in the Water. I thought the people who didn't like those movies were just jaded and not willing to open up to different methods of storytelling and different stories.
That said, I despised this movie. Let me tell you why.
1. The dialogue. It was AWFUL. Writing natural dialogue is one of those things that you'd expect a screenwriter to be able to do. In a short story or novel, an author can get around not being able to write dialogue. In a screenplay, HE CAN'T. The dialogue IS the movie. In The Happening, it was stilted, awkward, and just badly written.
2. The acting. Or, more accurately, the directing. I KNOW these actors can do better. I mean, it was Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, and John Leguizamo. I know these people can act; I've seen them do it. Wahlberg's character was whining--Seriously! Whining!--through most of the movie. Deschanel, at least, made use of her huge eyes and managed to pull off some pretty decent emotional scenes, but the rest of the time, it was like her character didn't care about what was going on around her. I blame it entirely on the director--which makes 2 strikes for M. Night.
3. The portrayal of rural people. People who live in small towns--or all alone--are not all psychopaths with guns and gas masks just waiting for someone to cross their path so they can kill them. Seriously. It was annoying that the rural people were like, "Come git some so Ah cin shoot yer ass!" and the urban people were like sheep, hiding in their homes or dropping like flies. Neither of those is a really positive image, but the urban people, huddled together in a bathtub watching the TV, came off much better than the insane-o rural people without electricity or a drop of human decency.
4. The general message. Nature decides that humans are a threat to her survival. I'm with him there. I generally agree with Agent Smith's assessment of human beings--we're a virus, consuming all the natural resources and moving on, reproducing at a rate too fast to sustain. But when M. Night started in with the sledgehammer on negative emotion, large groups of people (and since when is 5-15 a large group? I mean, seriously?), and nuclear power plants setting off the plants to emit their toxins, he completely lost me. Human beings were made--psychologically, sociologically, and biologically--to live in groups of about 150-300. And nuclear power is some of the cleanest power we have. Not as clean as hydroelectric, but CERTAINLY not as bad as petroleum. I'd have stayed with the message if he'd shown a coal or petroleum burning plant pumping out black smoke rather than a nuclear facility with steam coming from its stacks (cause that's all that is--steam).
Overall? Don't waste your money. Go see Wall-E (which actually looks like it might be cute) or Kung Fu Panda . . . cause they're probably better than this movie. 4/10.
More later.
Let me preface this by saying that I expected to like this movie. I think M. Night generally gets a bad rap. I liked Signs, The Sixth Sense, The Village, and even Lady in the Water. I thought the people who didn't like those movies were just jaded and not willing to open up to different methods of storytelling and different stories.
That said, I despised this movie. Let me tell you why.
1. The dialogue. It was AWFUL. Writing natural dialogue is one of those things that you'd expect a screenwriter to be able to do. In a short story or novel, an author can get around not being able to write dialogue. In a screenplay, HE CAN'T. The dialogue IS the movie. In The Happening, it was stilted, awkward, and just badly written.
2. The acting. Or, more accurately, the directing. I KNOW these actors can do better. I mean, it was Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, and John Leguizamo. I know these people can act; I've seen them do it. Wahlberg's character was whining--Seriously! Whining!--through most of the movie. Deschanel, at least, made use of her huge eyes and managed to pull off some pretty decent emotional scenes, but the rest of the time, it was like her character didn't care about what was going on around her. I blame it entirely on the director--which makes 2 strikes for M. Night.
3. The portrayal of rural people. People who live in small towns--or all alone--are not all psychopaths with guns and gas masks just waiting for someone to cross their path so they can kill them. Seriously. It was annoying that the rural people were like, "Come git some so Ah cin shoot yer ass!" and the urban people were like sheep, hiding in their homes or dropping like flies. Neither of those is a really positive image, but the urban people, huddled together in a bathtub watching the TV, came off much better than the insane-o rural people without electricity or a drop of human decency.
4. The general message. Nature decides that humans are a threat to her survival. I'm with him there. I generally agree with Agent Smith's assessment of human beings--we're a virus, consuming all the natural resources and moving on, reproducing at a rate too fast to sustain. But when M. Night started in with the sledgehammer on negative emotion, large groups of people (and since when is 5-15 a large group? I mean, seriously?), and nuclear power plants setting off the plants to emit their toxins, he completely lost me. Human beings were made--psychologically, sociologically, and biologically--to live in groups of about 150-300. And nuclear power is some of the cleanest power we have. Not as clean as hydroelectric, but CERTAINLY not as bad as petroleum. I'd have stayed with the message if he'd shown a coal or petroleum burning plant pumping out black smoke rather than a nuclear facility with steam coming from its stacks (cause that's all that is--steam).
Overall? Don't waste your money. Go see Wall-E (which actually looks like it might be cute) or Kung Fu Panda . . . cause they're probably better than this movie. 4/10.
More later.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Random Updates
W.E.'s interview seems to have gone well; they want him to physically go up to the company tomorrow to meet everyone. Sounds like a "let's see if we like you in person" visit to me. Fingers crossed.
Also, Trail of Indiscretion got back to me; there's been a problem with the printer and the issue got pushed back. It should be out any time now. Here's hoping.
The feedback I've gotten on Healing the Elder has been more positive recently, and I have about 4 people reading either portions or the entire novel for me. That gives me tons to work on as critiques come filtering in.
I have an idea for the next Truthsayer story, but I'm trying to figure out how it ends before I start writing it.
And I've lost another couple of pounds. Yay!
Our luck seems to be changing.
More later.
Also, Trail of Indiscretion got back to me; there's been a problem with the printer and the issue got pushed back. It should be out any time now. Here's hoping.
The feedback I've gotten on Healing the Elder has been more positive recently, and I have about 4 people reading either portions or the entire novel for me. That gives me tons to work on as critiques come filtering in.
I have an idea for the next Truthsayer story, but I'm trying to figure out how it ends before I start writing it.
And I've lost another couple of pounds. Yay!
Our luck seems to be changing.
More later.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
More Job News
Today I got an e-mail from one of the online universities I applied to. I've been selected to continue the interview process, which will consist of some online training and hoop-jumping so they can decide if I'm right for their program. If they decide I am, I get an orientation week in August, and then begin teaching. Yay. I was a teensy bit worried about it because I'd caught myself babbling and tripping over my thoughts while talking to the representative on the phone, but apparently they decided that my inability to form a coherent verbal thought while nervous had nothing to do with teaching online.
Also, I was checking up on Strange Horizons, who I submitted "The Truthsayer" to back in April, and found that their response time will not exceed 70 days, and if it does I'm supposed to query again to find out what happened. So far we're at around 38 days and I still haven't heard anything, which I'm hoping means that it's been through at least one round of reading and didn't get chunked.
However, Trail of Indiscretion has still not released the issue with my story in it, and I haven't heard anything from them since they asked for my bio, despite an e-mail checking up on them. If this doesn't go through, I am going to be so pissed. And then submit the story elsewhere, because it won't really count as a reprint. To be fair, they did say that May was an estimate, and it will technically be the Spring 2008 issue, not the May 2008 issue, so I guess they still have a bit of time, but it would be just like my luck to have gotten all excited about being published--FINALLY--only to have it cave in at the last second.
Sigh.
More later.
Also, I was checking up on Strange Horizons, who I submitted "The Truthsayer" to back in April, and found that their response time will not exceed 70 days, and if it does I'm supposed to query again to find out what happened. So far we're at around 38 days and I still haven't heard anything, which I'm hoping means that it's been through at least one round of reading and didn't get chunked.
However, Trail of Indiscretion has still not released the issue with my story in it, and I haven't heard anything from them since they asked for my bio, despite an e-mail checking up on them. If this doesn't go through, I am going to be so pissed. And then submit the story elsewhere, because it won't really count as a reprint. To be fair, they did say that May was an estimate, and it will technically be the Spring 2008 issue, not the May 2008 issue, so I guess they still have a bit of time, but it would be just like my luck to have gotten all excited about being published--FINALLY--only to have it cave in at the last second.
Sigh.
More later.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Also!
W.E. has a job interview on Thursday! Thank you, very exciting. He knows the VP of HR who will be interviewing him, he knows the company, and I think he can talk them into giving him a job as long as the VP isn't a poo-poo head like the last VP who interviewed him.
So everybody keep fingers, toes, and eyes crossed and send up whatever luck wishes or prayers you ascribe to. This could be it!
More later.
So everybody keep fingers, toes, and eyes crossed and send up whatever luck wishes or prayers you ascribe to. This could be it!
More later.
Healing the Elder
I've finally broken down and sent my first novel, Healing the Elder, through Critters for reviewing. I figured one or more of the critters, many of whom are members of SFWA and therefore professional writers, could explain to me why it's not grabbing agents' attention. So far it's gotten the usual mixed reviews; I've been told the premise is boring and stock and nothing new, and that it's intriguing and they want to read more. I've been told my chapter ending is boring and not cliffhanger enough, but others have asked for the entire manuscript to read on the basis of the first chapter. I've been told that using words like "arrhythmic" and "bint" is a no-no because "the reader will have to put the story down to go look them up" (seriously?). But I've had a few people who seem really excited about reading the novel in its entirety. Overall, the advice has been good and usable, but every so often I get one real pearl that makes me want to shriek to cover up the sheer vacuum of sound that is the critter's ignorance. (Wow, I like that metaphor. I might have to use it somewhere else.)
I like Critters. They've helped me a lot in improving my writing, making me aware of minor, easily fixable, but pervasive flaws in my style, which, now that I'm aware of them, I can avoid altogether. Most of the stories I've had crittered have been better pieces of work after the advice I've gotten. But some of the advice, I swear, is people deciding that there is One True Way, or showing off, or being completely ignorant of the English language (or assuming that the average reader will be ignorant of the English language--I'm not sure which sometimes). And sometimes they can be just downright rude. Every time I have a story looked at, W.E. asks me if I don't think I should quit the group if they're just going to make me angry like this, but it's really just a small percentage of people who say things that make me angry. And there's a difference between hurting my feelings but being right and just being an ass. Most of them are right.
More later.
I like Critters. They've helped me a lot in improving my writing, making me aware of minor, easily fixable, but pervasive flaws in my style, which, now that I'm aware of them, I can avoid altogether. Most of the stories I've had crittered have been better pieces of work after the advice I've gotten. But some of the advice, I swear, is people deciding that there is One True Way, or showing off, or being completely ignorant of the English language (or assuming that the average reader will be ignorant of the English language--I'm not sure which sometimes). And sometimes they can be just downright rude. Every time I have a story looked at, W.E. asks me if I don't think I should quit the group if they're just going to make me angry like this, but it's really just a small percentage of people who say things that make me angry. And there's a difference between hurting my feelings but being right and just being an ass. Most of them are right.
More later.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Thoughts on Atlas Shrugged
I finally finished reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and as promised, here is my review. I have two different aspects of the book to discuss separately, so bear with me.
1. The Philosophy
Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, which she apparently cobbled together from such philosophers as Aristotle and Nietzsche, rests on the premise that one's own happiness and well-being are the only thing one can affect. That sounds really great, but what it boils down to is that it is a "sin"--or worse, illogical!--to help others. That others must help themselves, and if they can't, then they don't deserve to live. Or something. When I first started reading the book, I sort of agreed with her. I thought that she meant that you're not supposed to give 'til it hurts, but charity was okay. That her definition of altruism meant that you beggared yourself helping others. I was okay with that. I mean, how are you supposed to continue to help others if you go broke? Apparently, I was wrong. John Galt's actions at the end of the book showed a complete disregard for the people caught in the crossfire between the government and his "on-strike" intellectuals, people who now had no means to help themselves because of the government's laws and the collapsing economy. Only when the country was completely decimated did he and his intellectuals leave his compound to rebuild. At that point, I think he'd have a harder time because the people would be so embittered and enraged that they would hate the intellectuals for not showing up earlier. He's not really saving them at this point, he's just giving them another batch of people to be slaves to.
While I do consider myself a Libertarian, I don't agree with this philosophy on a great many levels. Some of it I do agree with. Most of it I don't. It's a glorification of selfishness and self-centeredness that completely disregards human feeling, pity, and compassion.
2. The Plot
Heavy. Very, very heavy. 1,079 pages (in my edition) of heavy-handed destroying of the world. Honestly, I don't think this book was very well-written, and I don't say that lightly. The villains were all one-dimensional, whiny, defensive, annoying people, while the heroes were all two-dimensional, self-righteous, annoyed people. The only one who showed any kind of believable feeling was Dagny Taggart, the main female character. I don't know if Ayn Rand truly believed that men had next to no emotional drive, or if she just had trouble writing men (I know I do sometimes). But it was hard to believe Dagny's devotion to the railroad would last THAT long; Rand could have gotten away with handing her over to Galt about 700 pages earlier, in my opinion, and no one would have blamed either of them.
The destruction of the world reminded me of a scene from Buffy (but really, what doesn't?):
Cordelia: This is great. There's an unkillable demon in town, Angel's joined his team, the Slayer's a basket case. . . . I'd say we've hit bottom.
Xander: I have a plan.
Cordelia: Oh, no; here's a lower place.
Throughout the book, I'd think we'd hit bottom, but Rand would go, "Here's a lower place!" and further tear apart the fabric of the world. Part of the issue I had with it, though, was how she kept trying to convince us that the people caught in the crossfire all deserved it. There was a train incident, and she spent 4 pages detailing how horrible each and every person on the train was to convince us that they deserved to die. As the book progressed, the working men got stupider and stupider, obviously deserving the fate that was about to be visited upon them. Personally, I believe that if she had shown these people as ordinary Americans, just trying to make a living and do their jobs and feed their families, beaten down by the tyrannical policies of the Communist-leaning government, she could have both highlighted the evil that the government was doing and made us more sympathetic to the cause of the intellectuals. But I guess sympathy goes against her philosophy.
Then there was Cherryl Taggart, a character who never should have been in the book to begin with. It seemed that Rand didn't know what to do with her, so she has an existential crisis followed by a mental breakdown and "accidentally" throws herself off a bridge. She was mentioned once after that incident, and never again. That was an entire subplot that really could have been gotten rid of with no loss to the rest of the book.
Speechifying was another issue. John Galt's soliloquy is supposed to be one of the most famous in literature, and that's great, but 25 pages of him spouting philosophy is rough to get through after every other character in the book has at least a paragraph and sometimes PAGES of similar spouting. All the speeches really took away from the impact of Galt's final speech and instead made it like a sledgehammer, as if Rand was going "DO YOU GET IT?" *whack* "THIS IS MY PHILOSOPHY!" *whack* "YOU GET IT, RIGHT?" *whack* If Galt's speech had been more of a summing up and succinctly putting things she had been illustrating (rather than sledgehammering) through the rest of the book, the impact could have been much greater.
But, hey, I read it. I plowed through a "classic." Go me. I don't think I've actually read a book like this ever, even if it was assigned; I tend to skim a lot. I know I didn't read An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser) all the way through. I tend to feel guilty about skimping on my assignments, so, there. I finished a book with a minimum of skimming (though I'll admit, I did skim some when she started to get really heavy-handed or repetitious).
Now I must go continue the futile job search.
More later.
1. The Philosophy
Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, which she apparently cobbled together from such philosophers as Aristotle and Nietzsche, rests on the premise that one's own happiness and well-being are the only thing one can affect. That sounds really great, but what it boils down to is that it is a "sin"--or worse, illogical!--to help others. That others must help themselves, and if they can't, then they don't deserve to live. Or something. When I first started reading the book, I sort of agreed with her. I thought that she meant that you're not supposed to give 'til it hurts, but charity was okay. That her definition of altruism meant that you beggared yourself helping others. I was okay with that. I mean, how are you supposed to continue to help others if you go broke? Apparently, I was wrong. John Galt's actions at the end of the book showed a complete disregard for the people caught in the crossfire between the government and his "on-strike" intellectuals, people who now had no means to help themselves because of the government's laws and the collapsing economy. Only when the country was completely decimated did he and his intellectuals leave his compound to rebuild. At that point, I think he'd have a harder time because the people would be so embittered and enraged that they would hate the intellectuals for not showing up earlier. He's not really saving them at this point, he's just giving them another batch of people to be slaves to.
While I do consider myself a Libertarian, I don't agree with this philosophy on a great many levels. Some of it I do agree with. Most of it I don't. It's a glorification of selfishness and self-centeredness that completely disregards human feeling, pity, and compassion.
2. The Plot
Heavy. Very, very heavy. 1,079 pages (in my edition) of heavy-handed destroying of the world. Honestly, I don't think this book was very well-written, and I don't say that lightly. The villains were all one-dimensional, whiny, defensive, annoying people, while the heroes were all two-dimensional, self-righteous, annoyed people. The only one who showed any kind of believable feeling was Dagny Taggart, the main female character. I don't know if Ayn Rand truly believed that men had next to no emotional drive, or if she just had trouble writing men (I know I do sometimes). But it was hard to believe Dagny's devotion to the railroad would last THAT long; Rand could have gotten away with handing her over to Galt about 700 pages earlier, in my opinion, and no one would have blamed either of them.
The destruction of the world reminded me of a scene from Buffy (but really, what doesn't?):
Cordelia: This is great. There's an unkillable demon in town, Angel's joined his team, the Slayer's a basket case. . . . I'd say we've hit bottom.
Xander: I have a plan.
Cordelia: Oh, no; here's a lower place.
Throughout the book, I'd think we'd hit bottom, but Rand would go, "Here's a lower place!" and further tear apart the fabric of the world. Part of the issue I had with it, though, was how she kept trying to convince us that the people caught in the crossfire all deserved it. There was a train incident, and she spent 4 pages detailing how horrible each and every person on the train was to convince us that they deserved to die. As the book progressed, the working men got stupider and stupider, obviously deserving the fate that was about to be visited upon them. Personally, I believe that if she had shown these people as ordinary Americans, just trying to make a living and do their jobs and feed their families, beaten down by the tyrannical policies of the Communist-leaning government, she could have both highlighted the evil that the government was doing and made us more sympathetic to the cause of the intellectuals. But I guess sympathy goes against her philosophy.
Then there was Cherryl Taggart, a character who never should have been in the book to begin with. It seemed that Rand didn't know what to do with her, so she has an existential crisis followed by a mental breakdown and "accidentally" throws herself off a bridge. She was mentioned once after that incident, and never again. That was an entire subplot that really could have been gotten rid of with no loss to the rest of the book.
Speechifying was another issue. John Galt's soliloquy is supposed to be one of the most famous in literature, and that's great, but 25 pages of him spouting philosophy is rough to get through after every other character in the book has at least a paragraph and sometimes PAGES of similar spouting. All the speeches really took away from the impact of Galt's final speech and instead made it like a sledgehammer, as if Rand was going "DO YOU GET IT?" *whack* "THIS IS MY PHILOSOPHY!" *whack* "YOU GET IT, RIGHT?" *whack* If Galt's speech had been more of a summing up and succinctly putting things she had been illustrating (rather than sledgehammering) through the rest of the book, the impact could have been much greater.
But, hey, I read it. I plowed through a "classic." Go me. I don't think I've actually read a book like this ever, even if it was assigned; I tend to skim a lot. I know I didn't read An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser) all the way through. I tend to feel guilty about skimping on my assignments, so, there. I finished a book with a minimum of skimming (though I'll admit, I did skim some when she started to get really heavy-handed or repetitious).
Now I must go continue the futile job search.
More later.
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