We the Living

By: Ayn Rand

Narrated by: Mary Woods

Length: 18 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

We the Living portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives. At its center is a girl whose passionate love is her fortress against the cruelty and oppression of a totalitarian state. Rand said of this book: "It is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write."

©1936 Ayn Rand (P)1991 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ayn Rand's best book

This is a perfect combination of Ayn Rand and classic Russian literature. I love this novel.
I got a new perspective on post revolution Russian life in her unique perspective.

meh..

struggled to finish. in fact I didnt. I loved her 2 other novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, my personal favorite. this one is just slow for the build up. a bit detached. not as theological as the novels listed above.

A harsh reminder

A little clumsy at times, but the harsh realities shine through the narrative. Stark & enlightened

Needs redone

Overall, the story is good and one gets a really good sense of the insane living conditions of early USSR. The narration of this work by Mary Woods leaves much to be desired. At times she “speed reads” through a chapter then she’ll even out for a while. Sometimes she has good voice inflection, and other times she’s flat and dull to the point of distraction.

Different from Rand's other books

We The Living feels different from Rand's other books even though it shares many common themes with Anthem. Listeners who are not familiar with Soviet communist propaganda and ideology may find this book hard to follow because it references many Soviet government institutions and slogans. At the same time, this book does a good job of depicting the Soviet ideology and the overwhelming effect of Soviet rule on people's everyday life. Even though it is not autobiographical, it also offers a useful backdrop to Rand's subsequent writing.

Although some of the other reviews complain of the audio quality, I thought that it was fine. The audio does sometimes accelerate, but I felt that the narrator did that on purpose and it worked well with Rand's writing style in this particular book.

Such a emotional charged story

Say what you will about Ayn Rand.
You may disagree with her philosophies.
But she is one Hell of a storyteller.
Combine that with her unique experience of growing up and through post revolutionary Russia. We the Living delivers a well rounded tale of disappointment, triumph and courage in times where one is desperate beyond what we can imagine in our 21st century world.

Excellent

If you could sum up We the Living in three words, what would they be?

Life changing story

What other book might you compare We the Living to and why?

Hard to compare - uplifting like The Fountainhead, yet tragic like Anna Karenina

Which character – as performed by Mary Woods – was your favorite?

Kira - Ms Woods captured her essence perfectly

If you could take any character from We the Living out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Leo - to try to convince him to keep fighting

Any additional comments?

This is one of my favorite books; Mary Woods did an amazing job capturing the characters.

Explains so much!!

I did not like the narrator at all at first, but i got used to it, she did well, It must be hard for a female to impersonate 25 different burly Russian men without sounding silly. By the end though, i felt like (especially during the narration parts) in was Rand herself reading it to me.

I had read the other three Ayn Rand book prior to this, and it helped make sense out of the other three a little more. You can totally see the roots for Fountainhead, Anthem, and Atlas in this book. I agree with the other commenter who stated that of the three main characters, only the Filthy Commie had my respect by the end. The other two really pissed me off in the third part of the book. Lastly, i suddenly now have a great interest in the plight of the everyday Russain during/after the revolution. It was fascinating learning the details about how they were forced to live, and Rand does a great job of illustrating a backwardness/hypocrisy of communism without explicitly saying it like in other works of hers.

Surreal Vision

We The Living is an amazing and well written story. It feels like a cross between a dramatic narrative and a history textbook. While the character interactions and events in their lives are incredibly personal and dramatic, the way that Ayn Rand describes those characters and events along with a plethora of background information makes the story seem like a drawn out newspaper article trying to give all the information possible. I really liked the story because it gave a peasant's view of early communist Russia. It was descriptive to a fault and the social commentary is classicly blunt. A must read/listen for fans of historical social commentaries.

Great Book

Ayn Rand's first novel, and definitely not a disappointment. A great person versus state story that kept me interested.