The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff
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Book Reviews of The Fountainhead
Book Review: Rand casts a pearl.
Summary: 5 Stars
Howard Roark is an architect who dismisses the design practices of the past as a crutch for lesser architects and their impressionable clients. For Roark, form follows function, and there will be no compromise. No matter how hard pressed he is for money. Peter Keating, however, has no such qualms, and is perfectly comfortable with the old-school way of doing things. But he does know his limitations. These he circumvents by having Howard Roark redesign some of the more complicated commissions that come his way. Years pass. Peter Keating rides the crest of a wave with the help of the boss' daughter, Dominique Francon. Howard Roark, on the other hand, struggles from one commission to another. One of them is a property scam which worked out for the better. Another lands him in court because of manipulation of a client by the newspaper columnist, Ellsworth Toohey.
Dominique Francon, who had married Peter Keating, leaves and marries the media / property tycoon, Gail Wynand. Peter Keating's world begins to crumble, and he finds himself begging the influential Ellsworth Toohey for a chance at the government's housing development project, Cortlandt Homes. Ellsworth Toohey invites him to try, well knowing that the chances of him succeeding in the bid are slight, since he suspects that Peter Keating hasn't designed everything he has claimed to.
So Peter Keating turns to Howard Roark, begging him to secretly design the project. His plea is accepted on the proviso that under no circumstances, whatsoever, is the design to be diverted from. Peter Keating agrees, signs a secret contract with Howard Roark, and has Ellsworth Toohey submit the design, which is accepted. The project is begun.
Returning from a yachting trip, with Dominique and Gail Wynand, some months after the commencement of the project, it transpires that Peter Keating has been forced to acquiesce, mutilating the original design. None too surprised, Howard Roark decides to dynamite what has been constructed of the Cortlandt Homes project and take his chances in court....
Read as a work of fiction, and not as a Trojan horse for the Rand Manifesto, my opinion is:
There is a lot of eye-poppingly bad and redundant literary prose, as unnecessary to the story as gargoyles and Athenian arches would be on a Howard Roark building.
The use of mixed viewpoint robs the reader of a more direct understanding as to why some of the characters have some of the extreme attitudes that they have. Having Dominique Francon issue streams of almost incomprehensible dialogue to have someone else say they don't have a clue what she's talking about is hardly the best way to involve the reader.
There are occasions when the logic is a bit skewed. For example, Dominique encounters Howard at her father's granite quarry and wonders what such a noble specimen of manhood is doing breaking ( unyielding ) rocks. She contrives a way to meet him at her home. The means she chooses is to damage a marble slab fronting the fireplace in her bedroom. Howard appears as instructed and lectures her on all the types of marble available and how it is vital that she obtain the correct grade. Dominique doesn't give any thought to how a rock-breaker would be so articulately knowledgeable on the subject of marble. And so she doesn't make any attempt to have her earlier wonderment answered. Details such as this are quite a common failing, its rectification subordinated to the eye-poppingly bad prose.
Even so, The Fountainhead is obviously written by someone who is tremendously skilful at integrating a plethora of sub-elements; can create a sense of high drama; and can cut through the utter mush that prevails in the world today.
Book Review: Howard Roark!
Summary: 5 Stars
I cannot stress how much this novel, reading it 10 years ago has changed my life. I cannot by any means explain how Howard Roark is my ultimate idol for achieving my dreams, keeping my integrity, and have a better understanding about us humans.
By far, no one needs to praise this masterpiece more. It's a classic with words, pages, and sentences that will definatly rattlesnake forever in one's mind. What is a man's purpose? What's the difference between selfishness and will? What is objectivism or universalism? Why would you stay original in your endeavors and believe in them no matter what?
My favorite part is when Roark brings down the designs that they have changed. Call me idialistic but what if Howard Roark would emmerge from each one of us? What if we never supplicate to a social programming of what should and what shouldn't be? Believe this is a charchter that if you always remember, it coudl change a couple of decisions in your life for the better.
I know it's a ficticious charcter, but it jumps out of the pages.
Imaginary, intellectual, and so fabulously written it makes me think it is a spell book of magic hymn to a better mankind. This is a long book, that usually most writers don't know how to make it interesting and keep it in tempo. But Ayn Rand writes so beautifully with a consistency you can't deny that at the end you still want to read more.
Also every chracter is drawn perfectly. Every Charachter even Peter Keating, Elsworth Toothy, is just so believable and with reasonning logic and motive of their own.
Also I really like the strange love relationship between Roark and Dominique. To many this relationship, or affair, whatever you want to call it, is out of the ordinary and not believable and sometimes unethical to some people. But this a side love story with reality biting at it.
That's Ayn Rand's magic!
The philosophy she imposes might seem radical and counter-intuitive in the beginning. If you don't read carefully you might get confused of why the charcters act this way. It needs time to shift your thinking to one of the greatest philosophies of history.
Ayn Rand is a great and detailed obsever of the human beahviour, analyser at best, on-purpose, and accepts it that we are paradoxically a conflict-based bein. We swim betwen between our real needs and wants and those social ideas bestowed on us.
I don't want to sound poetic or as if i try to be writer ... read this book and buy some other copies for your grand children ...
Awsome!
Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shruged is as good and at moments even better.
The Human Effect is also a novel intensivley interested in human paradoxical behaviour explained chracters who are architechts as well. Only beware it is a phsycological hunting horror in genre with a mystery plotline.
Catch-22 is my ultimate human condition book that on contrary of Rand, this one makes me laugh at the ideas imposed on our lives as individuals. One great book! A classic of course. A catch will alwys remain with you for life.
Reviewed by PJ
Book Review: Ayn Rand's philosophy introduced through a great fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
I think that this book is one of the best fiction books I've ever read. Although I don't understand some parts of it, I try to piece the information I collected together during parts that I understood. Because I didn't understand Ayn Rand's philosophy beforehand, I didn't understand why the characters chose to do the actions they did, until I read further and started to make more sense out of it. This book mainly mentions Ayn Rand's philosophy on individualism and objectivism, and how collectivism doesn't enhance the society but instead is bringing it down. She further explained this in 'Atlas Shrugged.'In the Fountainhead, the society turns against the protagonist, architect Howard Roark, because he has a mind of his own, loves his work, is unbending to his clients, and has real talent on modernistic architecture. Others probaly hate him because they have on 'original' idea of their own to 'beat' him. According to 'Atlas Shrugged', people who can't think on their own, at such creativity as innovating new ideas, feel guilty that they can't do it. They tend to value people who say, "It's all right, you don't have to think. We're all like this, you're not stupid." If the whole society is like this, there will be absolutely very little improvement in anything because people are 'encouraging' each other not to innnovate new ideas for the sake of 'feeling good' together.
So far, I think that Ayn Rand's philosophy makes sense, which proves to me why she is called 'one of the most influential thinkers.' Although in the Fountainhead, Ayn Rand's philosophy on Individualism is quite extreme. I don't think that absolutely no negotiating, compromising, and group work can exist in the world and this society where it's most encouraged to do so. Roark was turning every client that didn't accept his work by not signing the contract, eventually leaving him with no job for a while. I think that being individualistic most of the time is good, but you need to negotiate in situations where negotiation is needed. Ms. Rand said that she believes that her philosophy is not widely known right now, but it will become more popular in the future.
The character development and plot in this book are wonderful. My favorite characters are Roark, Dominique, Wynand, Mallory, and Mike. Peter Keating seems to be too unsure of himself and tends to stick to collectivism with Toohey. In this book's romance, due to her love of Roark, earlier in the story, Domonique tries to persuade Roark to quit the architecture career and go live where no one knew them. That is because she can't stand the society turning against Roark and can't bear anyone 'hurting' him by making harsh comments about his work. Maybe this is the reason why all the great-minded people disappeared in 'Atlas Shrugged', but I haven't reached that part yet so I don't want to conclude firmly yet. Despite Dominique's persuasions, Roark remains persistent and water wins the 'battle' against the society that is trying to push him down. This book ends with a happy ending, although it doesn't seem that complete. I wish there was a sequal to this book.
Overall, I recommend this book to people who are interested in Ms. Rand's philosophy and want the concept to be introduced to them through good fiction.
Book Review: Excellent Process+Excellent Product= Excellent Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Fitzgerald once penned, "An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afteward." And though Fitzgerald's words are a bit antiquated, I can think of no greater a "litmus test" by which to judge fiction in general. _The Fountainhead_, all pundits and critics of Objectivism aside, is a narrative that stands on the pinnacle of literary excellence for it's scope, timelessness, authority, seamlessness, eloquence, and shear bravado. The damn thing is well written. Crtics of Rand's work point to the characters as charicatures, or hyperbolized men and women without emotion, empathy and humanity. If one takes this consideration at face value...so what? This is the world of fiction we are talking about. I can remember reading Klotzwinkle's _The Fan Man_ and thinking of the unreality of Horse Badorties; thinking Horse was so far out of the box that I would never come across a character so pathetically lethargic in all my life. But because of this "grotesque" aspect of the character, I was much more interested in reading about his destiny and eventual demise. I believe the same notion can be applied to Rand's characters in not only _The Fountainhead_, but all of her work. It is because of the fabulous and often distant nature of the characters that liberates the reader into a kind of unreality and allows the reader to think about the reality of situations at a distance. Regardless of literary intent by the author, regardless of her staid philosophy, _The Fountianhead_ (if nothing else, or everything else in this case), transports the reader into an entirely original and thought-provoking way of looking at the world. It is an exercise in futility for anyone to endeavor in evaluating the rightness or wrongness of this "trip" or the perspective you are given by the author, as the true test of great literature is the ticket there. If the story takes you to a place you have never been, and teaches you something (whether you like it or not), it passes the test as being worthwhile. This is the case with _The Fountainhead_.
It strikes me as humerous that the negative comments of Rand's work surround the personal characteristics of Rand and her characters; but rarely is a comment made on the style of storytelling. In the case of _The Fountainhead_, the storytelling is no less brilliant than that of any great writer extant or extinct to date. Creative Fidelity is maintained from start to finish. I would be willing to bet that everyone who has read the _The Fountainhead_ (be it admirers or pundits), have the desire to sit with Rand or one (if not all) of the characters for an afternoon discussion.
This book can inspire you to think and feel many things. In this, it is a controversy. Rand was no dummy. She designed it exactly for this purpose. And the purpose, be it good or bad, was to turn over a rock inside everyone who picked the book up, and examine the underside of the rock inside all of us. This is the kelson of excellent fiction.
From the Passion of the Pundits to the Loyalty of the admirers, it is clear that no one who reads _The Fountainhead_ simply walks away from it indifferently. This novel is a romance of extremes, and well wraught at that.
Book Review: Novels, Realism, and the Individual
Summary: 5 Stars
In reading the reviews of this book, I found that many sounded incredibly alike. The people who rated this book highly all spouted the same praises - "this book changed my life," "it will force you to look at yourself differently." etc. Those who did not like the book also said many of the same things - "unrealistic" "boring" "too long." One thing which Rand states in her non-fiction writing is that each individual has the right to form their own opinion. I find it interesting that so many have the SAME opinions on this work. To address a few comments made in earlier reviews... Novels do not need to be about REAL characters, nor about REAL events, in a REAL world or have to do with anything considered REAL by current standards. A novel is a work of fiction. Nothing in it needs to be based in reality or in believability. Rand used her novels to bring the fundamentals of her philosophy to the public. This is an impossible task to do by using REAL characters. The only way to illustrate clearly is with charicatures... kind of like Nietchze's ideal man... these archetypes will never exist, they are there for inspiration and aspiration. As for realism in general as it relates to fiction... and this book... will anyone dare to say that George Orwell's "Animal Farm" was REALISTIC? I mean, hey, it took place in a farmyard, with pigs being the governing officials. To me, this is more than unreal... it is absolutely crazy to expect that anyone will actually think that pigs could become such incredible politicians. Yet, we read it and learn various things from it. We can do the same with Rand's books. Admittedly, the writing is difficult. The things she says are in discord with many things we are taught from childhood. The biggest of these is the concept of the individual. The part of the book which I feel exeplifies that concept the best is the scene before Dominique leaves Rourke's apartment after she married Keating. The scene where they say that they love each other. Rourke says "To say I love you, one must first be able to say the 'I'." For me, that means that before you can call any feeling or opinion you have valid or real, you must first acknowledge yourself. The way you think, the way you work. You need to discover your own self before you can actually feel anything with it. This applies to reviews of books as well. Rand said that she did not like reading Victor Hugo's work. She disagreed with what he had to say, but she can not say that he was a bad writer... she has acknowledged his tale! nt at what he did aside from the fact that she did not care for his works.
If you are thinking of reading this book, please, decide for yourself if you want to expose yourself to something new which you may or may not like... which is essentially the case - the decision you must make - with everything in your life.
And, as so many have stated, if you have any questions or comments which you would like to discuss, feel free to contact me.