I view Rand's work as being instrumental in the development of my worldview... and I can't recommend that most people read most of it.
She was a terribly novelist, but wasn't really trying to be a great one. She was using the novel format as a scaffold to hang her ideology upon for easier access to the masses. She did that passably in "The Fountainhead", which is at least a decent story. She failed utterly in "Atlas Shrugged".
If you're interested enough in Objectivism to read AS, I suggest you read "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" and "The Virtue of Selfishness". If you're still interested, AS provides additional insight and might be worth the slog.
You could make the same argument that this is why it should be read. Especially with the right being on the rise across the west, there's still much to be gained in understanding how the "average man" was led down this path "last time". "doomed to repeat it", etc.
She was a terribly novelist, but wasn't really trying to be a great one. She was using the novel format as a scaffold to hang her ideology upon for easier access to the masses. She did that passably in "The Fountainhead", which is at least a decent story. She failed utterly in "Atlas Shrugged".
If you're interested enough in Objectivism to read AS, I suggest you read "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" and "The Virtue of Selfishness". If you're still interested, AS provides additional insight and might be worth the slog.