Fountainhead

Rating:
Summary: A Challenge to Modern Thinking
Review: The Fountainhead is at once a profound, daring novel, and a thrilling, plot-driven page-turner.

Ayn Rand was an original writer. It's because of this that if you don't find yourself disagreeing with the content of Ayn Rand's writing, you'll almost certainly disagree with her methods. If you love most modern fiction, you may dismiss Rand as a hack, or as didactic. In fact, she's neither, but comparing her to modern fiction makes her seem that way, because she wrote stories which she meant to be understood by the reader. She never muddied her waters to make them appear deep. Most people today, though, seeking depth, look for mud. Ayn Rand doesn't give it to them so they call her shallow.

Ayn Rand dares to present, in dramatic form, her theory of human nature, and of the essential issues which ultimately determine our success and happiness in life. This is just not done in modern fiction. Modern fiction is generally more modest in scope than most things Ayn Rand ever wrote.

Ayn Rand presents characters which embody important essential principles of human character (the intransigent individualist, the self-tortured worshipper, the intellectual power-luster, the material power-luster, the obsequious social climber). In other words, extraordinary characters. This, also, is just not done in modern fiction. Modern fiction avoids presenting characters which are too unfamiliar to the average reader. Instead, it presents characters which don't highlight any essential principles -- average people. It tells a story you can be comfortable with, rather than really contemplate.

Ayn Rand's self-confidence as a writer is bracing. It may scare you. It's certainly scared plenty of people enough to tell all their friends to avoid Ayn Rand like the plague. Are you curious about what they're trying to hide you from?

Accept the challenge of The Fountainhead. Then form your own opinion of it.

Rating:
Summary: Most Beautiful Thing Ever Penned
Review: Before Rand's controversial political views became widely known, The New York Times praised this novel for its power and beauty. They did not say enough. This book is beyond good or true or beautiful ... it is holy.

Rating:
Summary: Top of the list
Review: Unbelievable, superb! The author depicts characters which not only intrigue but depict the extremes in society. I do not believe that Ayn Rand was an extremist; it is through her extremist characters in the novel that Rand describes objectivism, the goal towards ego and capitalism, as not 'evil'.

It is man's desire to achieve a goal using all instruments at his/her disposal which promotes improvements or degradation to society as a whole.

Toohey as a character was resolute in his goal for power and it was this determinedness which allowed him to obtain his strength and manipulate people. Ayn relates the methods used to stifle the soul of man and kill the spirit.

Howard Roark strives for a 'quality' in architecture which many attempt to destroy (even unknowingly). Roark's glory is achieved in the doing and the finality of the work. The achievement when completing his works alters the architectural and imaginative ideas of others.

I highly recommend this novel to all the philosophically minded readers. Whether or not you agree with the author, the ideas will have you thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Hated it!
Review: I think this is one of those books you either love or hate. I hated it. The characters were, simply put, miserable and pathetic. I am glad I know no such person in real life

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Summary: Simply Great !!!
Review: Hi ...

I read this book almost 5 times and came to buy this time through Amazon as lost my previous copy ..just got the chance to write a review .
you can imagine i am a die heart fan of this book ..
just remember quoting one sentence from the same .
"To say somebody I LOVE YOU first you need to learn how to say I"

amazing .. a superb book ..

Rating:
Summary: I can add little to Mr. Yousefzadeh's review, but....
Review: He does mention that he could never be an Objectivist based on his religious views. That is all well and good and I respect that. However; I am curious, when I read a sentence like "I believe in the existence of God, and it is a belief that I have rationalized, and not just taken on faith". This statement uses the term "beleive", "belief", and "faith". Now how exactly can you rationalize something with oneself for which one has no proof of whatsoever other than "faith" and "belief"? I say this not to paint myself as an agnostic or athiest, but merely to question how someone can state that they hold a "belief" that they have "rationalized"? Wouldn't a rationalization stand on it's own merits and not require any "faith"?

Other than that side issue we agree. Ms. Rand is a poor writer whom has written an interesting philisophical novel. Much too long in spots but interesting. I must say that while I enjoyed reading this book better than the film version(if I need to say that at all) I simply don't see how this book has 'changed' peoples lives or won Ms. Rand converts to her philosophy. It would appear to me that these people are less interested in being individualists themselves and more interested in forming...what did Ms. Rand jokingly refer to it as, her..."Collective". Interesting.

Rating:
Summary: A 900 page mind-'tuck'
Review: Okay, the person who originally said this didn't say 'mind-tuck', but for the sake of decency (and I don't want to be scolded by the Amazon censors), 'mind-tuck' will have to do. But I think y'all know what I mean.

This book, which I've had in my "Will Someday Read" pile since my junior year of college, has finally been read - 14 years later. And well worth the wait, I may add. It's probably for the best that time has gone by and life experience has accured for I may not have been able to appreciate all the intricacies and intrigues of this novel back when I was 19.

The book is definitely a page turner. Ayn Rand has a superb sense of pacing in drama. If it were written by anyone else, it would have been a pure fluff soap piece. The characters are fleshed out to the point where they seem quite real. Every sentence that comes from a character's mouth is consistent with the groundwork Rand has laid for that character.

Roark, the fiercely independent architect. Who doesn't want to be more like him? How can you beat Roark's reply when asked "What do you think of my work?" Roark's response? "I don't." BURN! Roark is the person you want to be at your high school reunion. The person you want to be when you run into that ex. Unflappable, determined and single minded, never wavering from course.

On the flipside is Peter Keating. A whiny, self-important, wishy-washy fraud of a man. A well-dressed, blubbering mess. A man who wants nothing more in life than to be admired by others.

Dominique, the intelligent femme-fatal, able to get any man she sets her sights on but only wanting the one that gives her the most chase. She mirrors Roarck in her intensity and singlemindedness. A strong woman with incredible faith that things will work out in the end.

The monologues given by some of the key characters were - at least, to me - breathtaking. Roark's vituperative speech about 'second-handers' had me talking back to the book, much in the manner of 'screen talking'. At other times, I had to get up and pace around my apartment. So much happens in this book that it would be impossible to 'summarize' the plot here. I can only describe my reaction to the book.

This novel left me feeling as if I had ended a long term relationship. I didn't want it to end and didn't quite know what to do with the time I had previously reserved for reading the book. I began looking for the Roarks and Keatings in my own life. When faced with a tricky social situation, I asked myself, "What would Roark do?" I found myself re-reading passages and mentioning the book to all who would listen. One good friend of mine decided to take my advice and borrowed my bedraggled and marked up copy to read on his trip to Korea. When he came back from the trip and called, the first thing he said was not about his experiences in Korea, but instead, "Man, that was a 900 page mind-'tuck'!" I couldn't agree more.

Rating:
Summary: A page-turning moral philosophy
Review: Rand has written a troubling, thought-provoking work. The novel is troubling in the sense that it skillfully and beautifully portrays the virtues of a philosophy of the self. Though I can't say that I subscribe to the notion that the great society is one dominated by individuals who are entirely (and exclusively) self-interested, I do believe that there is much truth to be found here.

For instance, the novel invites the reader to consider the relationship between his state of mind, the society in which he lives, and his own self-knowledge. I wholeheartedly agree with Rand that one must be an individual, that one must be more than the thoughts, the expectations, and the opinions of others. Rand's illustration of the importance of self-knowledge is magnificent, and seems to be more relevant now than ever before.

To those intereseted in additional readings on moral philosophy, I highly recommend Personal Destinies by David Norton.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite novels
Review: There isn't much I can add to the comments already posted about "The Fountainhead", but I would like to chime in anyway.

This book started me on a quest for knowledge. I was completely enthralled with Ayn Rand's outlook on life and I dived headfirst into her other writings as a result, fiction and non-fiction alike.

Those interested in Objectivism should view "The Fountainhead" as a starting point, rather than an end product. The novel is complete in and of itself of course, yet I must disagree with some reviewers who state that the characters are unrealistic. In a generic sense, those reviewers are correct; Rand's characters do not speak and act much like they would in "real life" in the pages of "The Fountainhead". What some readers may not understand is that this was done intentionally! Rand took broad abstractions and made them flesh; this was her intent and she succeeds. Roark as the "perfect" man was intended to show man at his best, while Toohey and Keating reflect man at their worst; never was the intent to show man at his most "realistic". "The Fountainhead" is Romanticism at it's finest.

The story centers on Howard Roark, the Ideal Man. He is the flesh-and-blood manifestation of Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Roark is an architect and the story follows his life and that of the people around him as he lives the life of the "perfect man". The novel raises questions about collectivism, altruism, selfishness, the nature of love and friendship, and individual rights among other things, but Rand takes things one step further; she is bold enough to provide ANSWERS. Perhaps it is her boldness that turns people off, but I find it very refreshing and unique.

Ayn Rand's writing style is the most powerful I have ever read. She can be introspective, brutal, thoughtful, reasoned, concise, and vicious all at the same time. Miss Rand is the most brilliant writer I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

After studying Rand's work for several years, I find myself in agreement with about 90% of her theories. I still don't understand her concepts of sexual love as presented in this book, however. I would disagree with those who call it "rape" but at the same time I fail to understand why Rand's views on sex demand such a "violent" overtone. After reading this book again recently, I'll have to go to my bookshelf and find other Rand essays on love/sex and see if I can make sense of it.

This book comes highly recommended, especially for those who enjoy a challenge in their reading. The philosophical questions herein force you to think about life and the world we live in.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Characterization
Review: This was the first book I read by Ayn Rand, and it immediately became a favorite with me (until I read Atlas Shrugged, it was my absolute favorite, but now it's a close second). In many respects, Atlas Shrugged is the superior novel of Rand's two mature works of fiction, but there is one very important respect in which The Fountainhead far surpasses Atlas Shrugged, and that is characterization. However, considering the themes of the two novels, it is not surprising that The Fountainhead would have superior characterization, since it was intended to present the ideal man, wheras Atlas Shrugged was intended to show the system of social relationships.

The Fountainhead focuses upon a much smaller group of characters, and you get to learn so much more about the protagonist of this novel than you do with any of the characters in Atlas Shrugged. Although The Fountainhead is my second favorite novel, its protagonist is my all-time favorite character from fiction. I grew so much more attached to Howard Roark than John Galt (from Atlas Shrugged, for those of you who aren't familiar with the other novel), and it's because of the better development of the nuances of his unique personality.

I love the perspective on architecture in this novel! You've just got to love someone willing to call the Parthenon an abomination--I can't resist quoting a passage from the novel on this:

The famous flutings on the famous columns--what are they
there for? To hide the joints in wood--when columns were
made of wood, only these aren't, they're marble. The
triglyphs, what are they? WOOD. Wooden beams, the way they
had to be laid when people began to build wooden shacks.
Your Greeks took marble and they made copies of their wooden
structures out of it, because others had done it that way.
Then your masters of the Renaissance came along and made
copies in plaster of copies in marble of copies in wood. Now
here we are making copies in steel and concrete of copies in
plaster of copies in marble of copies in wood. Why?

I was also pleased to the immensely strong advocacy of reason and individualism. For a person who is starting out with the works of Ayn Rand, I would recommend starting with The Fountainhead instead of Atlas Shrugged, because Atlas Shrugged is more difficult than The Fountainhead (well, her theory of sex and love is more difficult to interpret in The Fountainhead, but her theory of sex and love is not a beginner's concept in Objectivism). I hope that The Fountainhead will act as your stepping stone into Objectivism and the wonderful works of Ayn Rand, just like it did for me.