• The Book of Ayn

  • A Novel
  • By: Lexi Freiman
  • Narrated by: Mia Barron
  • Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
  • 3.4 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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The Book of Ayn  By  cover art

The Book of Ayn

By: Lexi Freiman
Narrated by: Mia Barron
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Publisher's summary

An original and hilarious satire of both our political culture and those who rage against it, The Book of Ayn follows a writer from New York to Los Angeles to Lesbos as she searches for artistic and spiritual fulfillment in radical selfishness, altruism, and ego-death

After writing a satirical novel that The New York Times calls classist, Anna is shunned by the literary establishment and, in her hurt, radicalized by the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Determined to follow Rand’s theory of rational selfishness, Anna alienates herself from the scene and eventually her friends and family. Finally, in true Randian style, she abandons everyone for the boundless horizons of Los Angeles, hoping to make a TV show about her beloved muse.

Things look better in Hollywood—until the money starts running out, and with it Anna’s faith in the virtue of selfishness. When a death in the family sends her running back to New York and then spiraling at her mother’s house, Anna is offered a different kind of opportunity. A chance to kill the ego causing her pain at a mysterious commune on the island of Lesbos. The second half of Anna’s odyssey finds her exploring a very different kind of freedom–communal love, communal toilets–and a new perspective on Ayn Rand that could bring Anna back home to herself.

"A gimlet-eyed satirist of the cultural morasses and political impasses of our times" (Alexandra Kleeman), Lexi Freiman speaks in The Book of Ayn not only to a particular millennial loneliness, but also to a timeless existential predicament: the strangeness, absurdity, and hilarity of seeking meaning in the modern world.

©2023 Lexi Freiman. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Exactly the book I want to be reading right now."—Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year

"Lexi Freiman’s The Book of Ayn is a viciously funny and precisely observed satire of creative ambition under capitalism. It made me laugh, wince, and want to quit society. I loved it."—Isabel Kaplan, author of NSFW

"The rarest type of book—smart, hilarious, and audacious. A rebuke to both cynicism and self-righteousness that takes aim at pretty much everybody."—Erin Somers, author of Stay Up with Hugo Best

What listeners say about The Book of Ayn

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Keep shit to yourself.

The word “shit” is overused. I had to stop listening when she actually described taking one.

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  • 01-11-24

Boring, Childish, Pointless

I was not a fan of the narrator, but that aside, the main character is dull and pathetic. The jokes are childish. The book tries to be ironic but the delivery falls flat. Way too many descriptions of poop, people pooping, and other bodily functions gone wrong. Too bored to finish.

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