The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

A highly sophisticated read.

If you didn't know that already, you know it now. 

If you've only ever read Atlas Shrugged, go against the trend and read this book first!

It's been about 6 months since I turned the last page of this book, and I have to say that I will never forget the name Howard Roark. Ever.

Rand's characterization of each of her characters is so vivid and detailed that they all seem to breath LIFE through their minutely described nostrils. Yet at the same time they all exude a sense of unreality, and I determined early on that these personalities couldn't possibly exist in real life. Howard Roark is more confident than any man can ever be, Dominique Francon possesses more passion than any woman could ever contain in her heart, and Ellsworth Toohey is too perfect in the eyes of the world.....no one can live like these people. They'd grow white hairs and explode past the limits of the Earth long before they reached adulthood.

The only one that could perhaps genuinely exist is Peter Keating, and unfortunately, he's the worst character in the book....by the author's intention as well as my interpretation. Actually, I found myself wondering if Keating is really as bad as Rand blatantly makes him out to be. It's not his fault that he doesn't have the guts to live his life to the fullest. There are many, many people in the world (myself included) who simply don't have that confidence to break away from the norm and pursue a never-ending dream full of uncertainty, ecstasy, and despair.

Rand was probably addressing all those people (again, myself included) when she wrote this book.

"Wake up!" or "Look at what the world is really like!" or even "Throw this society to the dogs!"

These kinds of exclamations seemed to pop up at me out of the printed letters of The Fountainhead.

No, I'm not offended.

But I know a lot of people who might be when they read this book.

And I also know a lot of people who will shout, "Yes! Huzzah! Finally, someone who understands the reality of life! Sign me up for the end-of-the-world campaign!"

Yes, this is the type of book that brings about a storm of controversies....and may or may not effect the world in a large way. I can only hope that no one takes this book to its extreme meaning and decides to do something about it. If ever a person were to try living out these principles, well, everything except the individual would collapse.

Then the individual would die. 

Not by a long shot is our world or anyone in it ready to take on this challenge.