DONE

I AM DONE! Sadly I have never felt so accomplished in my life. This book has become my favorite book I have ever read. The last chapter was so cool, because all the main characters came together and worked as an amazing team. Reading that last page was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do because I wanted to rush it just so I could finish, but I wanted to read every single word. I am actually really sad that it is over because Atlas Shrugged really became a part of my life. My answer to everything was always “Sorry I can’t I have to read Atlas”. I became so attached to all of the characters and I could relate to them in my own ways. I could even see a little bit of myself in my least favorite character, James. I could relate to all of his struggles. But the person that I am really going to miss the most is Dagny. I felt like Dagny had become my girl. I felt like I knew everything about her and I was always rooting for her to win. She is also awesome because all of the men in this novel were in love with her, except for her brother. All of them either felt admiration or true love for her. Playing her in either a movie or a play would be such an honor because she is just such a dynamic character. Everything about her is so different from most characters in novels. She has so many different sides to her.

            The actual romantic love story in this novel is what kept me going. I wanted to see what would happen between Dagny and Hank. When that finally happened I was so happy. I could not care less about Lillian’s feelings because she was just really annoying. That may make me seem like a bad person, but she was just awful to Hank and he just wanted to some loving! I loved it when Dagny did not let Lillian get to her and she admitted to the affair on the broadcast, but then I got sad when she was talking about him in the past tense. I could tell that because she had met Galt she was over Hank. I felt like I was breaking up with someone when they ended their relationship. That is how sad I was, which is really lame of me. I did not like when Dagny was Francisco. That relationship was old news to me and I thought it should have been kept as just a teenage fling. The scene between Dagny and Galt was one of the steamiest in the whole novel. The scenes between her and Hank were steamy, but this one was even crazier. Ayn Rand is good at writing these scenes because she does them classily and they do not make me uncomfortable when I read them. Another person who was in love with her but nothing happened between them was Eddie Willers. I felt bad for him because he was the only man that she did not pay any attention to.

            From the beginning to the end of the novel, so many characters were introduced. There were so many, but Rand wrote it so well that I did not forget any of them. I still remember the character that was on his way to the political rally in San Francisco when the comet went through the tunnel and exploded. I also felt like I knew a lot about the characters and I knew the personalities of each of them. Cherryl was one character that grew a lot throughout the novel. When we first met her she was just a young poor woman that was trying to make her way in the world. James treated her horribly and so she began to stand up for herself, but it proved too much to handle. Strangely, I feel like I am going to miss them.

            The valley was such a majestic place to me. I feel like it was the perfect place to live. Everyone was happy and everyone was doing what he or she wanted to do. No one was forced to do an awful job and no one was forced to share his or her findings with anyone.

            Rand talked a lot about selfishness and in a way that I had never thought before. I feel as though what she said was right. I feel like now I will put my thoughts before everyone else. If I want to accomplish something I will try as hard as I can to accomplish it.           

            This book truly was life changing and just as Galt says, “It’s the beginning” (1061).