Saturday, September 14, 2013

Alan Armony Reaction #5

Part two of this book starts out strong. Many things went on and it kept me interested and it made me not want to put the book down. Rand does a great job throughout the entire book of having a span of 6-7 pages of conversation in which the reader feels like they have no idea what is going on but at the same time they have an idea. This is how I felt at the beginning of part two with Dr. Stadler. Soon, we learn that there are many problems happening all at once: Dagny is cutting train schedules, Andrew Stockton disappeared, no one can get any oil from Ellis Wyatt’s fields (he has also disappeared), Lawrence Hammond is gone as well, and everyone except for Taggart Transcontinental has moved from oil (since there are major shortages) to coal. The fact that more than just Ellis Wyatt disappears makes the reader assert that someone is taking these people out. It made me happy that Dagny realized it as well, because usually authors make their characters oblivious to these things, which in turn makes the reader frustrated.

I actually felt nervous at Jim’s wedding when Lillian antagonized Dagny for wearing the Rearden Metal bracelet, but I was completely surprised when Rearden took Dagny’s side. Now, I’m counting the paragraphs until Hank’s divorce. Finally, Fransisco always entices me because of his mysterious ways, and in the end of the chapter he becomes more mysterious than ever when he announces that almost all mines will be destroyed in the coming morning. I’m excited to see what happens.

No comments:

Post a Comment