#77 in Dystopian
Anthem
- 80
- Pages
- about 1.5 h
- Reading time
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Our view
“Anthem” is a dystopia you can finish in an afternoon, and it works better as a statement of Ayn Rand’s convictions than as a story. Readers often find the message delivered without subtlety and the plot little more than its vehicle; some single out the prose as the real attraction, while others feel the ending jars after a reasonable opening. Eighty pages make it a brief route to the author’s ideas.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Russian-born American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when humankind has entered another Dark Age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. A young man known as Equality 7-2521 rebels by doing secret scientific research. When his activity is discovered, he flees into the wilderness and is followed by Liberty 5-3000, a woman he loves. Together they plan to establish a new society based on rediscovered individualism.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 6.8 across 433 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 75% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Dystopian average of 7.7. That is how 7.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.0 | 52 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 6.8 | 381 | 88% |
Frequently asked
How long is Anthem?
It has 80 pages — shorter than 99% of the ranked books in Dystopian.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Dystopian — with scores between 7.6 and 8.5, closest to this book.
