The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff
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Book Reviews of The Fountainhead
Book Review: What would Howard Roark say?
Summary: 5 Stars
I wonder how Roark would review "The Fountainhead". Hmm...
Let me start by saying you've made a mistake already, Peter, by asking what I think of this book. You can read. You can think. You're still human and you're still capable of reason. You know enough to make a judgement.
The setting is the world of architecture. The theme is the importance of integrity. If the title, setting, or theme intrigue you read the novel.
What I think of the Fountainhead matters to only one person: myself. I will not provide you with a pre-digested approval or disapproval of this book. I will, however, offer you advice on how to understand it. Advice that applies to any other book you might read in the future as well.
When an author publishes a novel, they publish only a slim fraction of the thought that went into that product. Art is a process of selectivity; for every word in a novel, there are a thousand words written and struck out again.
When an Ayn Rand offers you "The Fountainhead", she is laying before you, for a price of a few dollars, years of her life and enormous mental effort. Understanding the novel to the root requires that you put in the mental effort to follow- a tiny fraction when compared the mental effort that went into the creation. Your mental effort is multiplied by the originator-but the degree of your understanding is your OWN achievement, and your final assessment is your own "yes" or "no" in answer to the author's song.
An Einstein may give you E=MC2. That will be of no benefit if you accept it passively. But if you seek to understand, the road from ignorance to knowledge is a glorious road- even if the knowledge is ultimately rejected in favor of something else that you find more convincing.
Ayn Rand has placed in your path either a rock or a gem. Pick it up and value it according to that which you determine it to be. Don't judge it based on what others say. Hold it in your hand and really look.
A novel I read is something I judge against my own lifetime of knowledge. The connections I make between it and my own observations are unique and unrepeatable.
A novel is just like a love affair, a college course, a career, or a cause- you get out of it what you put in.
So don't look to me to review it. That defeats the very purpose of Art. If you love it, you will have gained a value in this life. We may find we have a value in common. If you hate the novel, it will not affect my opinion in the slightest.
Nor will it affect Ayn Rand or the value of her acheivement.
Oh--
And please take my blueprints out of your pants before you go...
Book Review: View of a fourteen year old
Summary: 5 Stars
I am only fourteen, but I'm pretty confident in saying that The Fountainhead shall remain one of my favorites throughout my lifetime. I'm tired of reading reviews that state, "It's about a guy who loved buildings more than people," or "He dynamited a building because he disliked the ornamental facade." (I even heard a review denouncing the book because Ayn Rand was ugly...pathetic excuse for not having the capacity to think of the actual meaning behind the book.) It's more than that. It's about individualism as opposed to collectivism. It's about a man who lived by his own standards, instead of those set by others. It clearly depicts Rand's contempt for altruism and its dedication to "serving the public good," through whatever means, and how if one does something altruistic, he is the most virtuous. Altruism professes human sacrifice for the common good, that the undeserving deserve rights to the product of another, simply because the "need" it. (Like Robin Hood, the ultimate altruist, who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. He stole what did not belong to him and gave it to people who had no right to it simply because they "needed" it. But his theft was declared a virtue because of its altruistic motive. Yes, I HAVE read Atlas Shrugged.) What kind of doctrine is that? The Fountainhead is about a man who struggled against the great adversary of public opinion, who was deemed an egotist because he would not give in to the demands of others, fought against society to give form to his truth...yet triumphed when the truth of his speech was heard by the masses. It's about an individualist who won.
To me, the book had deep meaning.
Even if one does not agree with Rand's philosophy, how can one deny that she was a powerful writer? She had talent, and certainly no one could write a forty-page monolouge like she could. Her stories are convincing, her books timeless.
I, as you might be able to see, believe that Objectivism holds truth. I might not fully understand this philosophy as others who have dedicated years to studying it, but I can grasp that her books have truth to it. She pretty much put words to my thoughts, though her explanations are more complex than I could have imagined. I, for one, cannot find evidence to refute her points.
There is a reason The Fountainhead has lasted for over 60 decades. With its brilliant, ingenious writing, thrilling story line, complex philosophical meaning, controversy, and sense of truth, I understand why editor Archibald Ogden put his job on the line to see this book published, though at the time, the manuscript was not even finished. It's because he knew that The Fountainhead was one of the great ones.
Book Review: One of my favorite novels
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: A challenging book that will make you think.
Summary: 5 Stars
As time passes I see myself disagree with the philosophy of Ayn Rand more and more, yet her work has challenged me to think and question my own philosphy of life. I am not a hard core objectivist and I am actually a little amazed at how far hard-core objectivist go especial in their challenge of modern physics and quantum mechanics. But this book is a great book is worth examination and questioning. The Fountainheads characters are really amazing and interesting.
Howard Roark the protagonist is a talented college drop out who struggles to become an architect. He refuses to design anything other than to his own design and will not be influenced by the whims of cleints or fads in design. His buildings are prefect in the book and Roark will pay out of his own pocket to fix his mistake in design. And he would rather see a building of his design destroyed than corrupted. Roark is driven by solving problems of design not by fame or fortune.
He is contrasted by Peter Keating who unlike Roark always caves in to be popular opinon by catering to the whims of clients and critics. While Roark is almost uneffected by people, Keating is totally dependent on others for his ideas, dreams and sense of self.
Dominique Frankon is Roarks lover who wants to see him destroyed and tries to destroy him herself. For she is tortured by the fact that everone gives in and compromises themselves. She tries to destroy Roark because see believes that he can not hold out forever against the world and she would rather see him destroyed than live a subservient life.
Gail Wylan is Roarks best friend. Wylan is a newspaper owner who is a tyrant over his empire. He tries at first to control Roark and fails which is what starts there friendship. Wyland is forced to choose between public opinion and Roark in a court case. Wylan must choose bewteen power or intergity.
Toohey is the devil in the form of a critic. He praises those who will give into society and attacks those who will show independence and integrety in their work. He wants to destroy indiviualism and replace it with a dull mediocracy. He wants to control mens minds by making them dependent on his evaluation of the world. He is facinated by Roark while Roark has little fasinatition with him. Toohey knows that he must at all cost destroy Roark.
As I have said Rand will make you think. But challenge her ideas in your own mind. THE PASSION OF AYN RAND by Barbera Branden is an excellent biography for those who love or hate Ayn Rands views.
Book Review: Much more than one of the best books ever written
Summary: 5 Stars
This is about a very young friend who means the whole world to me, but whom I shall not name.There was a time - not very long ago - when he had lost all hope. He felt an immense guilt for what he was. He reached a point of depression where he was convinced that not only was he incapable of realizing his dreams and attaining happiness in life, but a greater monstrosity-that he did not deserve to be happy. Every night he went to bed with a blade in his hand thinking that he wouldn't see the next day's sunrise. Once he walked down to the chemist for sleeping pills. He punished himself in many other ways. I needn't mention the cause- he wasn't always like that- this state of mind had its own reasons -arising from his view of life, of mankind, of man, of himself.
Then he picked up and read "The Fountainhead".
Since then his motto has been-"I can, I will, I shall triumph."
He has never looked back; he told me that he was sure that that phase will never return-because the image of Howard Roark is always in his mind.
Later I learnt that this had happened to more people than just him.
Then I realized that this novel has a power which hardly any other has - a power to make a man fall in love with this world, with life, with himself.
(Another novel which achieves, in terms of the broadest abstractions, the same effect is Henryk Sienkiewicz's "Quo Vadis?")
"The Fountainhead" gives man the courage to dream and to fight to realize his dream, the courage to live your life on your own terms, the courage to say "Yes" when everything around you is screaming "No".
It tells you that this world is a place where every man, provided he has a vision and is passionate about it, will achieve his values- however hard the struggle- the pain of the struggle does not matter, only the joy of its fruit; where good shall triumph over evil.
It glorifies-above all- independence and integrity.
It salutes the man of intelligence, of competence, of genius.
It is a hymn to the treasure house that is this world, the beautiful experience that is life and the hero that is man.
Ayn Rand has said, in this novel: "Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a NOBLE vision of MAN'S NATURE and of LIFE'S POTENTIAL."
(The caps are by me).
This is precisely what "The Fountainhead" accomplishes-in the character and story of Howard Roark.
This is greatest gift that a thinker and a visionary can give to the youth who shall shape the world tomorrow-and to a human being at the threshold of life.