Fountainhead

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Summary: Truly a classic in the field of "doorstop literature"
Review: Note to recent readers: The bad taste in your mouth *will* go away. Five years ago I read as much of this book as I could endure. Today I'm happy to say I remember nothing but the barest outline of the plot and certain mental images associated with some of the events. I've done some stupid things in my life but I take glowing pride in the fact that never did I once consider becoming an Objectivist. In years to come I'm sure the world will come to realize that Ayn Rand's greatest legacy was that her books, her philosophy, even her conduct of life all lend themselves so readily to satire. And what is it with her and Kant? It's like reading Stalin's denunciations of "Trotskyites." And kinda funny if you know anything at all about the real relationship between Kant, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism.

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Summary: Rand's best book, but still...
Review: Okay, first off, I think that Ayn Rand is probably the most overrated writer in history. While this may be her best novel, (Atlas is one of the most boring piece of trash ever, Anthem is just unmoving, and We the Living is the worst thing I've ever read) that isn't saying much. Howard Roarke is, like every other Rand character, a poorly characterized superman who is never wrong and has no flaws at all. This is Rand's biggest flaw in all of her work, her hero's have no flaws and her antagonists have no good qualities. She tries very hard to make a romance out of this work but fails miserably. None of her characters have the depth required to make a believable romance, it's like two cardboard cutouts meeting and falling in love for some reason. Perhaps the only good thing about this giantic failure that is somehow considered to be a classic by certain people, is that it stresses the importance of individuality (a quality many Objectivists lack as they cling to Rand's image like little leeches) but other than that there is nothing to this novel. It struggles very hard to be great, you can almost hear it's little flippers slapping the cement floor of greatness, but it never quite makes it to the pool. It's boring, overlong with stretches of scenes that have no importance, and there are basically three characters: her supermen, the lovestruck woman, and everyone else. It's not as important as people want you to believe, go against the grain and don't read it. Get some Kafka instead.

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Summary: Rand's Emersonian philosophy IS compassionate
Review: This is Rand's best book. Sure, it's preachy at times, but so was George Eliot or Dickens. Randians believe that the most effective way to help others is THROUGH enlightened self-interest. "Selfishness" as Rand discusses it, does not mean a lack of interest in one's fellow men & women. Rand understood that the attempt to CONTROL relations between people, through well-meaning restrictions on speech and behavior, always backfires. It ends up hobbling the one force that can create the new ideas that create a new reality: individual human energy. The tide has gone against Rand and her type of attitude, but that attitude is the only thing that can get us out of these dreary, sterile times. Everyone should read this book.

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Summary: To Manners
Review: As a 'Do-er' you should not care what Howard Roark or anyone else for that matter would do.

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Summary: Is this a review board or a bulletin board?
Review: What on earth is the "review" headed "message for all ayn rand lovers:lets meet guys" doing on this board? Are Ayn Rand fans such social misfits that they can't make friends with live people? Are they just so illiterate that they can't read Amazon's review guidelines? Or are they just so sociopathic that they think they don't have to *follow* those rules?

This let's-get-together message not only doesn't belong on this board, the fact that it's posted here says something about Rand-lovers that the poster probably didn't intend.

I wonder if Howard Roark would have done such a thing.

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Summary: Polemic sacrifices character development for doctrine.
Review: In my 20's, I devoured every Ayn Rand book I could lay my hands on. "Right On!" I cheered. "Make room for the do-ers." A quarter of a century later, after rereading "The Fountainhead," I am a bit more critical. The characters are rather one-dimensional, intended to emphasize a philosophy, at the sacrifice of character development and storytelling. E.g., Toohey is a cartoon socialist; Keating is an opportunistic, weasel-like shell of a mediocre person; Mrs. Keating is a stereotypical, overbearing, guilt-tripping Jewish mother; Dominique is beautiful, wealthy and schizoid; Howard is brilliant, uncomprising, heroic, and ultimately prevails, but let's not forget his first encounter with Dominique was rape. So is he really as heroic as Ms. Rand paints him, or is he really a bull-headed, opinionated jerk? So who are the great characters of the book? I propose Mike, the construction foreman for loyalty and competence; and the sculptor, for creativity and passion. Read the book, by all means, for an interesting social theory and for great prose, but keep your eyes wide open for the ultimately one-sided, B&W doctrinaire propaganda espoused by Ms. Rand.

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Summary: message for all ayn rand lovers:lets meet guys
Review: guys, i am extremely happy to read your reviews. it seems there still are people who think and wanna enjoy life creatively.i think we guys should be in touch with each other. tell you what- mail me at [e-mail] i have a ayn rand club and i am a member of the ayn rand institute maintained by leonard peikoff-it gives you latest info. about objectivity i will mail you concerning that so i cannot wait to talk to you guys.........

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Summary: The book that had the most impact on my life.
Review: It is the simply the most thrilling book that I've ever read. It literally changed my entire attitude towards life. I feel as if I have stepped over to the other side of the world, a world where I can see, feel, and where the moments of sadness and elation are what make life the most valuble. I look at certain people around me and realize that they are wasting their precious bodily fluids and that they are fragil and spiritless. They can be zapped easily, crushed with their precious bodily fluids spilling out everywhere. I, on the other hand, have a back bone, and that I am closer and closer in reaching the sacret temple that stands tall inside of me.

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Summary: Sometimes trite but always entertaining
Review: "TheFountainhead" was my first encounter with AynRand. I have read many works since. Yes, her characters here are blackand white, and wouldn't you know it - out of 7 million souls in New York City, a handful central to the theme are constantly rubbing elbows. And yes - it sometimes reads like a cheap tabloid, but despite the obvious ending and overbearing idealism, this is an entertaining piece of work and weel worht the long read.

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Summary: Sometimes the truth is so close it gets pulled over our eyes
Review: Thank you Ayn Rand for this piece of fiction which is closer to the truth than a lot of us want to believe. If only we were all strong enough to reveal the roles we and others play in real life....