Fountainhead

Rating:
Summary: Individuality vs Collectivism
Review: Many people dislike Ayn Rand's writings solely for her Objectivist philosophies, but these are the people who can't disassociate Objectivism from narcissism. Taken as a novel, The Fountainhead is stunning. It uses a powerful story with clear but masterful writing to make the book engrossing and pull you along. Howard Roard, Rand's uncompromising hero, is a strong model for her Objectivist philosophies. He lives his life as an ideal, for himself and for no one else. He doesn't want to live off anyone else; he makes his own life. He is far from narcissistic; rather, he doesn't even take credit for his greatest acheivements. Instead, he takes personal pride and satisfaction in the things he has created without relying on others' praise for said things. How is this a bad thing? One should not want to live vicariously through anyone except for themselves. The Fountainhead is an amazing book, both as a novel and as a philosophical work, so long as one doesn't forget the basic tenet: that one lives his *own* life. That means that while Objectivism may be a guide, it is only the man (or woman) himself who decides how to live his life.

Rating:
Summary: inspiring? yes. nonsense? no. unpractical? maybe
Review: There have been many questions beaming around in my mind about the architectural profession, me being a student of the course. This book did not give me answers, but it did give me inspiration and hope, even if it makes one indulge in impractical dreaming. Howard Roark is not a concept i wasn't already familiar with because a fair number of other out there like me, were and are now still battling with the concept of expressing individuality and the yearning to be different in all aspects of so called acceptable society. The fountainhead isn't just about architecture, for the plot lends itself to the characters with whom we (in our social "categories") should be able to identify with to some extent. The downside, or perhaps Rand was attempting to make her characters more intense, is the fact that Roark seems abit too extreme, but not to the point of disbelief. After scrolling down the exhausting of reviews on this page there is one review which i can vividly remember, and that is if you were never seeking individuality in the first place, it was best to leave this book alone. Nevertheless it is an interesting read and gives new insight to those who are starting out in the architectural field (they will probably find this more useful since the book uses alot of archi jargon) There won't be much point trying to analyze the characters in the book here for you, its a review after all and YOU should be making your own interpretations about it. so go read

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Summary: A Tremendous 500 Page Book . . . That Lasted 700 Pages
Review: From the first pages of the Fountainhead, I was captivated by the struggle between Keating and Roark, not onlyas they battled as professionals, but even more importantly as they waged a less public war for their souls. Ultimately, the important question that Rand posed to me was whether a person can ever justify a compromise of their intellectual or artistic integrity to achieve a purely utilitarian goal. Rand, through Roark, answers this question in the negative, but her characters' ultimate fates leaves the question unresolved. I was immediately impressed by how well Rand developed her characters and made me care about how their lives would progress, especially in the first half of the book when Keating and Roark are defining themselves and their artistic visions.

The book bogged down a bit in its later stages, particularly when developing the relationship between Roark, Dominique Francon, and Keating. Because of its extraordinary length and the fact that it lost some steam towards the end, I cannot recommend it to everyone, but I can recommend it wholeheartedly to those people who may feel disenchanted with a society that often values the material and superficial over the enduring.

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Summary: Roarks rejections
Review: I feel that in this book Roark had many rejections, but he stood strong on his beliefs.

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Summary: PART of a philosophical education
Review: It's a great book in the sense that it really gets you thinking. It will also make you unsatisfied with most traditional fiction best sellers. Her philosophy does provide an easy way to explain how a person could be satisfied with a egocentric life. However, when you finish reading this book ask yourself the same question that the book makes you ask about your current way of life: "Why?" Everyone may have a different answer, but by asking yourself you may become a more enlightened.

I've been told that Plato's Republic makes a good follow up to this book. Also Tao Buddhism.

-a humble second-hander turning things around.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting argument.
Review: I could, if I so desired, refute every statement against Ms. Rand as a novelist, philosopher, or human being. I could, if I thought it would profit anyone at all, rabidly defend the merits of her characters and their morals. Rather, I should simply like to point out that any novel capable of creating so much controversy and debate, even in a limited forum such as this, must be worth SOMETHING as a literary and philosophical work. Rather than foist my own high opinion of Rand's work on any prospective readers, I urge anyone with even a vague interest in this book to purchase it, read it, and then join the debate.

Rating:
Summary: THE FOUNTAINHEAD - Lovers and Legend
Review: This book is almost un-critiqueable due to its uniqueness and the awe with which it is held by the late Miss Rand's more devoted followers. But I'll try! The plot spans the years 1922 to about 1938 and traces the career arc of two rival architects, Howard Roark and Peter Keating. Roark's approach to design and function in architecture is roughly based on Frank Lloyd Wright's; Keating is a meretricious copyist incapable of an original idea whose main function seems to be to look good in a tuxedo while entertaining clients. Roark's fatal flaw is that he accepts no client changes to his architectural plans - none whatsoever, not even the most conservative Greek column on the ground floor of a bank building. Of Roark and Keating, whom do you think has the more successful career? By the late-1920s Keating has become the toast of Manhattan while Roark is reduced to poverty. Yet it is Roark to whom Keating slinks when he has trouble designing an ultramodern skyscraper for a prestigious competition. Roark is allegedly the egomaniacal one, yet he helps Keating without asking for recognition or payment of any kind.

Things get even more perverse on the love front. Not to give too much of the plot away, but a sensous, emotionally distant woman who is just Roark's type takes up with exactly the kind of men who hurt Roark the most. It's utterly appalling and yet, in Rand's equation, somehow convincingly human, which makes it all the more appalling. The path to heroism in an Ayn Rand novel is never easy.

There's a lot more going on, including a sleazy gazillionaire publisher with the seeds of greatness, an urbane man of letters who should have been murdered in the crib, and a public housing project that didn't survive to see the light of day. But probably the most salient feature of THE FOUNTAINHEAD is that it is a philosophical novel about the nature of human progress, how it is achieved, by whom and at what cost. (Lucky for us, the speechifying is relayed mostly through dialog and doesn't clutter the plot.)

So is THE FOUNTAINHEAD a good book? I'm not sure that Miss Rand would agree with the tenets of "vox populi, vox dei," but suffice it to say that the book hasn't been out of print since it was first published in 1943 and the New American Library still derives a significant amount of its income from Rand's writings. Read this book, and if you like it go on to the more challenging ATLAS SHRUGGED. You don't have to adopt any kind of political agenda to enjoy THE FOUNTAINHEAD.

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Summary: Loony tunes by a schizoid
Review: I stayed awake for 24 hours to finish The Fountainhead and will agree - it's one of the most powerful novels written in the 20th century. (And I speak as an Oxford MA Hons in English Lit, if that's worth anything, which I doubt.)

However, Rand was a deeply mixed up gal. She worships rapists. (*All* the heroes in her novels are rapists - look carefully!)

She'd have swooned at Saddam Hussain's feet. (He is, after all, by her definitions a man of integrity, naked strength and moral courage - true to himself. Just as a hyena is true to itself.)

Rand's favourite characters are, as has been said elsewhere, psychopaths.

Her female protagonists in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are, frankly, insane. Just as, I suspect, Rand was.

Look more closely at her 'philosophy', expressed in her non-fiction works, and it disintegrates into a babble of circular logic.

Rating:
Summary: Awe-inspiring but unrealistic
Review: Amazing how most reviews either award five or one star. Its been five years since I read The Fountainhead as a senior in high school. Like many other impressionable youths, I was lured hook-line-and-sinker into her simplistic world of Roarks and Keatings. Of course, her philosophy, in its uncompromising form, is unworkable (indeed undesirable) in the real world. But that by no means suggests that we should discard it entirely. Rand has a lot to say about the strength and nobility of the human spirit and the independence of the human mind. The world would be a better (and more interesting) place were more people to follow some of her initiatives. Of course, her novel was meant as thinly-veiled philosophical propaganda. For that very reason, it is presented as black-and-white, like a checklist of rules for a happy life. To follow her philosophy blindly would be silly and immature. Philosophy exists only in the human mind. When one tries to apply it to real life, the smart person will always do so with a grain of salt.

When it comes down to it, Rand wrote an important book, developed original characters, and a told strong, compelling story. Whether or not one agrees with her philosophy, these are good enough reasons to award it at least four stars.

Rating:
Summary: thank you
Review: An incredible book for many reasons. As a purely literary piece, Rand integrates all the aspects of a novel(plot, theme, characters, and style) brilliantly. Not one aspect is compromised for the other. The characters are perfectly created and consistent within themselves and in their interaction and action. The plot is comprised of the actions and value-judgements of the complex characters and their value-conflicts. The theme is infinitely compelling, shedding light on the potential evils of altruism in its battle to suppress individual creativity, assertion, and quality of life. A must read for anyone in the modern/post-modern age who values their basic right to create accordin to their own terms.