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Summary: Critical reading to understand freedom
Review: Ayn weaves a story with philosphy that will impact the way
you view your freedom forever. She has remarkable insite on human nature and addresses how power corrupts and how a compromise on personal resposiblity leads to loss of freedom for everyone. A very long read, but I still pick up the book and reread dogeared pages..
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Summary: So you think you're smart. I'll prove otherwise.
Review: The essence of The Fountainhead is that a). There is a creative individualist with integrity. b). There are people who resent the creative individualist and go through great lengths to bring them down. This happens not only in this book but everyday in the real world. Ask yourself a simple question. Why are such unreasonable and painful things happening to me at my office? (Or at school?) How come I do my best and someone else (the most undeserving sycophant) almost always gets the credit? Is this person very persuasive, vindictive, and intimidating on one side and full of superficial charm on the other? Do you dread every interaction with this person? If your answer to these questions is in the affirmative, then you are interacting with parasytic personalities as described in "The Fountainhead" like Peter Keating, Ellsworth Toohey and Gail Wynand. This book will make you a lot wiser - and give you strength for your lifetime. Howard Roark will be a source of tremendous inspiration for you. To understand more about yourself and the unfairness you are experiencing, you may find many answers in the books "Please understand me" and "Bully in sight". These books will help you take charge of your life. Good luck.
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Summary: Don't be seduced by simplistic ideas and writing
Review: I first read this book in high school. That is the perfect time to read it and fully appreciate it, when you are young and impressionable and looking for something strong to cling to. The force of Ayn Rand's thinly veiled philosophy and one dimensional characters are attractive for their idealism. I thought at the time it was one of the best books I'd ever read.In college I went to a couple of lectures sponsored by some Ayn Rand influenced group and found their politics appalling. When it came to their lack of concern for people and their entirely un-nuanced capitalism and libertarian agenda I realized the implications of her ideas. Upon re-reading the book I was embarrased by how much I had formerly liked it. The characters were simply personifications of capitalism and socialism. The "love" was hero worship and the sex, rape. I found myself marveling at how black and white Ayn Rand's worldview is and how little it deals with the nuances of the real world. And how little I'd like to live in her world. Read it when you're young, enjoy it, then look at it again later and see how far you've come. If you are interested in what she has to say, dig deeper. Read Nietzche, read Sartre, read Heidegger. Her "philosophy" is a watered down version of some of the best existentialist minds and much worse for the simplification.
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Summary: Not as good as Atlas Shrugged
Review: The Fountainhead does a commendable job of telling a reasonably good story and showcasing Rand's Objectivist philosophy. Unfortunately, it fails in doing what Atlas Shrugged did--and that is really interest me. All the characters in the Fountainhead are nearly carbon-copies of all of Rand's characters--either emotionless egotists or maddening socialists. It's to Rand's testament that she manages to still make an interesting novel despite the lack of broader character development. The characters she does have are done well, but they're just all the same. Still, The Fountainhead is a beautiful nexus between pounding out a novel-as-philosophy and making it an interesting thing to read. Atlas Shrugged also did this very well, but it had the added advantage of a wider array of character types and a streamlined plot line. Both novels drag in places when Rand shifts into soapbox mode, but this can easily be forgiven since even the dullest moments in a Rand novel are greatly multiplied in creativity than most other novels that attempt the same thing.
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Summary: Spiritual Independence vs. Social Metaphysics
Review: This novel is a literary masterpiece. Ayn Rand, who was born Alice Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1904, wrote arresting dialogical novels every bit as detailed and interwoven as the novels by Dostoevsky. Her characters are constructed in a similar manner to the way in which Victor Hugo constructed the characters of his novels; that is, she created a smorgasbord of characters representative of different ideals. Each character consciously or subconsciously acts in accordance with a philosophy and sense of life. As in real life, some of her characters vacillate between contradictory principles. Her main characters, however, are ideal types. In the course of the narrative the characters are brought together in situations in which their integrity is tested. Only few could fail to understand the purpose and theme of this novel, which is to show how pseudo-individuals gauge their self-worth according to how others view them. Some rely on the evaluation of the opaque ubiquitous majority; some feel they need to subordinate others to themselves. Only the main character, Howard Roark, does not assess his self-worth and the meaning of his person according to how others evaluate him. He is the self-reliant individual. In short, this is a novel of ideas in which the concrete implications of these ideas are demonstrated in the actions of the characters. For those who believe that ideas have no consequences, this novel surely will be a chore to read. On the other hand, those whose souls are set ablaze by all that relates to the human spirit may find inspiration in this book.
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Summary: Much more than one of the best books ever written
Review: This is about a very young friend who means the whole world to me, but whom I shall not name. There was a time - not very long ago - when he had lost all hope. He felt an immense guilt for what he was. He reached a point of depression where he was convinced that not only was he incapable of realizing his dreams and attaining happiness in life, but a greater monstrosity-that he did not deserve to be happy. Every night he went to bed with a blade in his hand thinking that he wouldn't see the next day's sunrise. Once he walked down to the chemist for sleeping pills. He punished himself in many other ways. I needn't mention the cause- he wasn't always like that- this state of mind had its own reasons -arising from his view of life, of mankind, of man, of himself. Then he picked up and read "The Fountainhead".
Since then his motto has been-"I can, I will, I shall triumph."
He has never looked back; he told me that he was sure that that phase will never return-because the image of Howard Roark is always in his mind.
Later I learnt that this had happened to more people than just him.
Then I realized that this novel has a power which hardly any other has - a power to make a man fall in love with this world, with life, with himself.
(Another novel which achieves, in terms of the broadest abstractions, the same effect is Henryk Sienkiewicz's "Quo Vadis?") "The Fountainhead" gives man the courage to dream and to fight to realize his dream, the courage to live your life on your own terms, the courage to say "Yes" when everything around you is screaming "No".
It tells you that this world is a place where every man, provided he has a vision and is passionate about it, will achieve his values- however hard the struggle- the pain of the struggle does not matter, only the joy of its fruit; where good shall triumph over evil.
It glorifies-above all- independence and integrity.
It salutes the man of intelligence, of competence, of genius.
It is a hymn to the treasure house that is this world, the beautiful experience that is life and the hero that is man. Ayn Rand has said, in this novel: "Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a NOBLE vision of MAN'S NATURE and of LIFE'S POTENTIAL."
(The caps are by me).
This is precisely what "The Fountainhead" accomplishes-in the character and story of Howard Roark.
This is greatest gift that a thinker and a visionary can give to the youth who shall shape the world tomorrow-and to a human being at the threshold of life.
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Summary: Best Book
Review: The Fountainhead is a guideline for life. If everyone were more like Howard Roark, the world would be a better place. He is shameless, passionate, and uncompromising. Read it and then read it again.
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Summary: This is Greatness
Review: I didn't know who Ayn Rand was, nor what she had written before I started reading "The Fountainhead". It was on a Friday night and I literally didn't stop reading until Sunday when I finished it, with two 3 hour breaks for sleeping.
This book is amazing from all points of view - first of all, it's a great story and it's wonderfully told; second of all the characters are fantastically built, multidimensional and actually spontaneous and unpredictable; and last but not least, the philosophical background, that of individualism is not only an exceptional idea, but also perfectly argumented and illustrated.
The Fountainhead reminded me of Cohen's "Belle du Seigneur" because of the both the way the 20's and 30's aristocracy is portrayed and the gloryfying of pure love, except Ayn Rand's masterpiece is far more interesting from both points of view. Also, in my point of view, this book is very much about Dominique, perhaps even more that about Roarke. One way or the other though, the way Ayn Rand succeeds in defining a character through the ones that surround him is extremely intersting.
In conclusion, this is definitely not a book to miss, whether you believe in individualism or not. It will definitely make you see the world through different eyes.
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Summary: Review # 386 of The Fountainhead
Review: This book is fiction, with Rand's ideals thrown in for good measure, but that doesn't mean that this is a bad read. Actually this is a very interesting book, the characters A.R. uses are basically, stereo types, built up into real people. The main characters are predictable when alone, yet they are very quirky and unpredictable, when then interact. It kept me interested till the controversial ending kind of ruined it for me. It would have been good if this were a perfect world, but we all know it is not. After 6 months I still can't her out of my head.
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Summary: Absolutely Amazing!!!
Review: The Fountainhead is an astonishing work of major philosophical importance as Ayn Rand presents Objectivism to the world. In my opinion it isn't as good as Atlas Shrugged, but that's not to say this book is bad. On the contrary, it is quite good and many authors would be lucky to do as well as Rand did with this one. The novel is about, as Rand later stated, "individualism and collectivism in man's soul." Roark represents Rand's heroic man (the ideal we should all strive for). He is the ultimate creator. In his profession, architecture, he is second to none. The antagonists are many, but the main villian in the novel is represtented by Toohey, the penultimate second-hander. Throughout the novel these two characters are competing against one another, although sometimes Roark isn't aware of the fact that Toohey is the cause of most of his problems. As a matter of fact, Roark doesn't care. He continues to stick to his principles and struggles on. The interesting thing is that Roark is the mover, Toohey the destroyer and Keating (a fellow architect if you want to see him as that) is the ultimate leech. Keating depends on Roark to get him through college, through his early days at the firm, through almost everything and yet hates him for it. Toohey is the master manipulator of public opinion (I often think of people like Bill Clinton when I think of Toohey) while Keating reminds me of the environmental-Nazi's and their total dependence upon (and hatred of) technology. The only problem I had with the book was the language. Oftentimes the characters speak in a stilted, wooden way. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose or due to the fact that Ms. Rand's first language was Russian. I must say that it wasn't really a distraction and almost not worth mentioning. Finally, as with Atlas Shrugged, is that you can take the themes and characters and see them in our modern everyday life. There are plenty of people like Keating, Toohey and even Roark. This is a timeless novel and certainly one of my favorites. If you've never read any of Ms. Rand's works this is a good place to start. Just remeber the character's aren't meant to be believable and real, but arch-types of various themes/ideas.
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