The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.95 You Save: $6.04 (60%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Fountainhead
Book Review: One of the most complicated literary achievements of the 20th century
Summary: 5 Stars
When you assess Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, a lot has to be taken into consideration. First of all, this book was written in 1943. And though many authors from that era still are fresh and contemporary, the Fountainhead has definitely aged ungracefully. The characters of Roark, Toohey, Keeting, and others are both complicated and yet at the same time horribly two dimensional. The morals of feminism and the morals of the idealist are stilted in a pre-post-modernism fashion that is alien to our present culture.
Aside from the surface level of this novel (what usually is 100% of a work of fiction), underneath all of the dry and difficult interactions of the characters is a philosophy that Rand expounds. It is that of the idealist and how that person must stand up against just about every one else in society who will be attempting to tear him or her down. That is sort of a simple read on Rands fascinating work, but essentially it is what the book is about. Rand is setting forth a philosophical agenda like Nietzsche, Freud, and all the other old fellows, only Rand is using a fictional vehicle to structure her ideas around.
So in essence, Rands work is an amazing towering achievement that is worth reading due to the fact that every page hums with her ideas. On the other hand, her characters are so terrible and dead you really don't want to aspire to be these people. Roark, the subject of her treatise, is like a lobotomized Forrest Gump with a knack at architectuare. I wouldn't want to be him or know him. Yet this is Rand's ideal. Her characters also wander in an area of cultural entitlement that alienates just about every reader.
While reading this book, I kept thinking of what kind of person Rand was. If she is like the characters and the ideas of her book, or is essentially the person who wrote the forward of her 25th anniversary reprint, she is one of the coldest, most unhappy people every to walk the face of the earth. Her ideas are those of superiority and snobbish to an extreme beyond those of anyone I have ever come across. Her husband, Frank O'Hara (a painter), was not a very good artist and seems to my eye to have represented Keeting, Roark's foil and the embodiment of everything wrong in her world view. Her ideals strip all that is soulful in an existence and yet she is expounding thoughts of the perfect creationist who might embody humanities very best. I could go on and on... but I think you get the idea, this book in contradictory to an extreme.
Lastly, and this is just a personal aside... Ayn Rand has completely poured her soul out onto these pages. But what a soul it is. Rand has portrayed herself as the coldest, ugliest person I have ever come across. Its fascinating to see her warped world view that is devastatingly bleak and morbid.
This is one of the more important books of the 20th century, it is also very enjoyable to read, though dated as I said. I would suggest this book to anyone as a book to put on a personal reading list and hope you decide to give it a try.
Book Review: A powerful and thought provoking book
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up _The Fountainhead_ again after having last read it 20 years ago in high school. As a high school Junior, I appreciated many of the points discussed, but ultimately thought the book was dry and underdeveloped. The characters were too stilted, and the dialogue and situations were implausible, it seemed to me.
While cleaning out a box of old books in my garage, I stumbled on my old copy of this book. I picked it up and surprised myself by finishing it in a week and a half. (Given its length and my two kids, that is fairly quick reading.) What I had remembered as a dry treatise was to me now one of the most powerful and compelling books I have ever read.
My changing perception certainly reflects my increased maturity and life experience, in that I now realize that the book's fundamental issues of ethics and humanity's place in the world are central to a well-grounded life. Rand's arguments are as powerful as they are profound, with a fictional world serving as a backdrop for a morality play between dominant, and in many ways unyielding, characters. This book reminds me of the structure of Greek tragedies, in which characters are placed against each other by fate, and there is little to do but watch until their struggles end.
It is clear that Rand believes in free will, but her characters establish their choices early in life and continue in accordance with their chosen principles throughout the story. This gives the characters a consistency that is unusual in modern literature, in which characters tend to be "nuanced." There is no nuance here. The characters do not reflect people. They reflect ideas. And it is the interplay between these ideas, and ultimately the merit of each one, that is the focus of the author.
In this context, the structure of the book works brilliantly. This is not an adventure book in which cowboys save the ranch, or a romance in which the hero seduces the illusive heiress. Instead, it is an allegory for the decisions we all face, and the competing demands on our morality and desires. Do we pursue what we believe to be worthwhile, our dreams? Or do we spend our lives doing what others tell us we should do? Should our own happiness be our paramount goal? Or is self sacrifice the pinnacle of morality? How should we treat those who have provided us with the resources we use daily? And how should we treat ourselves? Upon what basis do we recognize moral acts and immoral deeds? These are all questions to which Rand provides a compelling answer; the individual's happiness should be the goal of the individual's life, and productivity (along with its recognition) is the key to happiness.
Over the 20 years since I had last read _The Fountainhead_, I have come to appreciate both the author's questions and her answers more than I would have expected. I would encourage others to read this book (again). Regardless of whether or not one accepts Rand's answers, one's life can only be improved by considering these fundamental issues.
Book Review: A Stunning Literary Achievement
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I read "The Fountainhead", I was deeply impressed with the plot, characters, and events it portrays. Howard Roark is one of the few fictional characters I've encountered that I would definitely want to meet. His capacity for sheer joy is almost unequaled in literature. Yes, the characters are abstract, but that's infinitely preferable to yet another novel about yet another damsel in distress, or poor man crushed by the evil capitalists. In my opinion, Dominique Francon was the least "believable" of all the characters, but one of the most interesting...her motivations may not have been realistic, but she is fascinating from a philosophical perspective. After reading "The Fountainhead", you'll be amazed how many Peter Keatings you see in everyday life.After reading reviewer after reviewer complain about the book's lack of realism, I want to say that I was amazed at the number of events in this book that rang true for me. The description of Gail Wynand's schooling still stands out in my mind, along with the contest held by Wynand's Banner to see whether they could raise more money for an unwed mother or a struggling scientist. I've said this before, in my review of "Atlas Shrugged" - Rand's minor characters are incredible. Mrs. Keating is exactly what she needs to be, and she is such an accurate picture of so many well-meaning but intervening parents! The description of Mrs. Wayne Wilmot, a potential client of Roark's, is just staggering - it so perfectly characterizes so many people.
I'm currently in the middle of my second reading of the book, and I'm surprised how many little details I'm noticing now that I skipped right over before. This is definitely a book you have to read twice. Rand had such an acute sense of contrast and irony, and it's such a shame to miss all the little details she put in for the reader to find. It's like an irony gold mine. Just compare the descriptions of Roark and Keating walking down the same street and you'll see what I mean.
There's just one thing missing from this book - illustrations. I would give anything to see a building that Howard Roark could have designed, and the movie adaptation's models were so bad I cringed when I saw them. I'd love to see someone design the Stoddard Temple, or the Enright House, or the Wynand Building...basically any of the buildings Roark did. Even the gas station. It would be great if the Ayn Rand Institute or some other Objectivist institution sponsored an architectural contest for a design for one of these buildings.
The first time I ever heard of this book was in an essay about Objectivism which called "The Fountainhead" poorly written and awkward. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Say whatever else you like about Ayn Rand, she was a phenomenal writer (that English wasn't even her first language still amazes me). I highly recommend "The Fountainhead" to everyone - even if you don't agree with the philosophy, the story and the writing are sheer delight.
Book Review: A brilliantly-written book supporting individualism and principals
Summary: 5 Stars
Like Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead is one of the finest peices of literature ever written. This book emphasizes the importance of individualism over collectivism, and of sticking to principals. Howard Roark, the hero (arguably modeled on Frank Loyd Wright), is a hard working architect who learns not to compromise with his ideas on architecture. He doesn't believe in designing with architectural styles of the past - Classical, Gothic, Rennasaince - and instead uses a new modern style that hasn't been done before, using new concepts and new technology to create unique buildings.
Although he is a brilliant architect, he refuses to build anything in a historical style, resulting in his expulsion from his college, and later making it difficult for him to get any contracts. Even when faced with closing his business, he still refuses to do work he doesn't believe in.
Peter Keating, on the other hand, is a talented architect who at first becomes wealthy and famous designing buildings in historical styles. He quickly rises to becoming a partener in a great architectural firm, and designs many buildings that are praised by the public. However, he has no talent for designing anything new, and often has to ask for help from Howard Roark. Much of the story revolves around the conflict between the two - Roark would rather create a magnificent builing, but Keating would rather get credit for creating a magnificent building that he didn't design.
The story takes twist with the involvement of Elsworth Toohey, an architecture critic who preaches altruism, and despises any form of sucess, like the buildings of Roark. Dominque Francon, a manipulative woman, gets involved with both Roark and Keating. And Gail Wynand, a very wealthy an powerful man with no principals, becomes great friends with Roark, although eventually he will learn why his lack of principals will ultimately be his demise.
Hoard Roark constantly struggles against the general population, who view him negatively for being selfish and stubborn. He goes through expulsions, bankruptcies, betrayals, but because of his determination he eventually ends up on top - above Keating, Wynand, and Toohey.
The great thing about The Fountainhead is that it still applies to modern life, as individualism and principals are just as important. For instance, John Kerry, like Peter Keating, based his policies on what the public thought was good, and not what he felt was good. And like Peter Keating, John Kerry ended up as someone who will never be on top, and who will soon be forgotten (I'll remove this review if he somehow does get elected in 2008). On a more positive note, many people throughout history, like Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King, had strict principals on what was right, and they did not compromise with their principals, which is why we achieved gender and racial equality. The Fountainhead will continue to be a commonly read book, and the principals of it will continue to be true.
Book Review: A 900 page mind-'tuck'
Summary: 5 Stars
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.