Eh, I not only enjoy it, it’s in my pantheon of novels. A 1950s science fiction drama where the science doesn’t work (and, really didn’t work in the 50s either, lol), but the fascinating thing to me is that it… in my experience… is the only apocalyptic end-of-civilization story I read where civilization is failing because of philosophical contradictions.
I even enjoy its faults - Ayn Rand is possibly the worst writer of sex scenes in serious literature, for a minor criticism, and, of course, her philosophy is laughable and she completely misses the point about what makes men evil… but, then, as mentioned below, she’s working through issues. She thinks she’s being logical, but she’s working through issues.
And there’s Ms Rand herself, a Russian emigre who was so pissed at how her family was treated that she decided to learn English, establish a new philosophical train of thought, effectively working through her personal issues via philosophy-dense science fiction novels, all while starting a cult of personality. What a life!
The last five years have been especially enjoyable to me, getting blocked by Trump-supporting Randian after Trump-supporting Randian by asking questions like “So, is Jared Kushner Wesley Mouch… or is that Steve Mnuchin?” or “When Trump uses tax money to enrich his properties, is he being a Randian ‘moocher’ or a Randian ‘looter’? I’m confused on this issue and want some clarification, thx!”. Given that Atlas Shrugged provided much of the Libertarian justification for their beliefs, and that having a “businessman” like Donald Trump as President was the closest thing to having John Galt take over, a lot of Rand fans were also Trump fans, even though he was precisely what she argued against. And I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning. It’s the smell of Conservatism.
And, to close it off, I will quote something I said in one of the Rush Limbaugh threads: