I read Anthem, which I think is her shortest work. It doesn't have the complexity of some of the others, but it was interesting enough for a quick read. A defense of individualism against collectivism, which I appreciate, but in a way lacking because her sort of individualism doesn't really lend itself to a consideration of the complicated and intimate meaning of human relationships. I think if I were going to read a book as large as Atlas Shrugged I would go instead for Dosteyevski. The book of hers I am interested in reading is We The Living, as it is based more in her own life experience and those suffering under a historical totalitarianism.
Anthem fits very nicely in with the dystopian novels of the 1930's along with A Brave New World and predates 1984. It is so simple a 5th grader could read it and take away a lesson about how dreadful a collectivist society like that in the book would be.
I have not read We the Living but some people who are put off by the length of her two big novels happen to like that book particularly because it is semi-autobiographical and a more concise tale of real world totalitarianism.
A lot of people have issues with Rand's characters and if you are not interested in long monologues about individualism, being uncompromising, being against second-handers, etc. then you will not be able to enjoy The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged that much. Some people appreciate the mystery aspect of the story - "Who Is John Galt", the trail for the motor in the factory, the disappearing business leaders. Others may like the world it envisions and see some parallels to the absurdity of our modern world.
I think the lead female character, Dagny Taggart is an interesting one and a much improved lead than the sacrificial Dominique Francon from The Fountainhead. The architectural discussions of The Fountainhead certainly are thought out to the point of looking at Frank Lloyd Wright vs the other popular architects of the day such as Le Corbusier whose style maybe is closer to that which Roark was going for but who made projects like the one that Peter Keating would typically make. The world of Atlas Shrugged takes a leap in to wild conjecture where you can say it too is a dystopian world like in Anthem - 19th century adventurer railroaders meet mid 20th century corporations where the world has more or less fallen to People's States. Having read a few essays from the Voices of Reason collection, watched some videos of her and her immediate heir Leonard Peikoff, and read Anthem and The Fountainhead I feel I have a good understanding on the strengths and weaknesses of Rand going into Atlas Shrugged both from a literary and philosophical point of view. This was important for me. I don't think Atlas Shrugged is a good starting point for Rand. It is a big time investment at over 1,100 pages. I seriously doubt Donald Trump has read it - maybe audio book perhaps but even there I am not sure if he has the patience. The books take about 100-200 pages to get into the groove I've found.
I like her punchy style and word choice though she falls back on tropes - how many times are they looking up at skyscrapers or over some cliff? Her philosophy is incomplete and uncompromising in practice they talk about reason. On paper it expands on some good ideas from Aristotle and the Founding Fathers, is in line with classical liberalism and the Enlightenment, as well as giving a voice to the non-aggression principle at least in regards to personal conduct and domestic affairs.
The fiction books do not delve into foreign policy. The essays do and her less stated allegiance to US-Israeli militarism and pre-emptive & total war is my biggest issue. She would have advocated a quick war against Iran for the hostage crisis. Perhaps this is why she did not support Reagan in 1980 though she had supported Nixon (prior to his price controls and ending of the international gold standard exception of course).
Unfortunately Peikoff and the current Ayn Rand Institute head Yaron Brook are even more into the pro-Israel militarism stance than Rand and they talk so much about attacking Iran so I continue to view the current Objectivists with a grain of salt. It is this that bothers me about them much more than for instance a silly point about Robin Hood in Atlas Shrugged, the misuse of the word 'selfish', or her blatant dismissal of religion.
In that her philosophy and writing came at an ebb in free market ideas and was the kickstarter of the modern libertarian movement - Rothbard and Walter Block both have interesting anecdotes about meeting Rand, Nathaniel Branden, and Alan Greenspan and how they were rejected by Rand - it is a key for greater understanding of capitalism. In particular because you can go into nearly any bookstore in America and find at least these two novels it is very important as she has much more reach than Mises, Hayek, Rothbard or the classical liberal economists & philosophers of the 18th and 19th centuries will ever have.
