The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

General info: Novel, published in 1943

Storytelling: 10 – I have been touting this book as one of my favorites for years, having first read it as a radical and anti-authoritarian 17-year-old. After re-reading as a more moderate 25-year-old, I must say it still is one of the best. Rand is incredibly unpredictable, and even though I have read this before, I still felt my mind jolting every time she throws you a curveball. It’s like watching a really great scary movie over and over; you know he’s going to go after her with the meat cleaver, but you still cringe. The story weaves through the years effectively and moves quickly without losing relevant detail. It’s also a particularly dazzling tale, including millionaire tycoons, explosions, a lot of jewelry, and naked statues. Any story that is an 8 or above in my book leaves me feel saddened at the end because it’s over, and this one did exactly that. And hey, I learned a bit about architecture too.

Writing: 10 – First, I want to preface this by assuring you all that I think Objectivism is a load of nonsense. But if more people wrote like Ayn Rand, I’d assuredly just lay in bed all day glued to their books, unable to leave and probably remaining perpetually un-showered. Her vocabulary is off the charts, her syntax gives me goose-bumps, and her attention to detail makes me cry. I love that you can sense how deliberately and carefully she selects each of her words. You can tell Ayn Rand respects words immensely and chooses them with the utmost care – similar to her heroes and heroines. She is hard-hitting, eloquent and captivating. I have a crush on Ayn Rand’s writing, even though I also think she was completely insane.

Characters: 7.5 – I love and breathe for Ayn Rand’s characters. They are passionate, well-crafted pieces of art, each and every one, but I’m going to mark her down here for the fact that most of them aren’t really human. You can’t really feel yourself identifying with any of them, and even though I would perhaps give a limb to identify with Dominique Francon, I really can’t at all. Rand’s characters are all either starkly Type 1 (Howard Roark) or Type 2 (Ellsworth Toohey) with no variance in between. I love the scope of her characterization and the depths of their conviction (or lack thereof), but what place would they really have in the real world? I think this is Rand’s point, that we are missing this essential piece of society, or that men and women who would normally be willing to speak out for justice get smothered by the ignorant masses. Her point is made with the subtleness of a sledgehammer, and I sometimes get a little aggravated, wondering if perhaps she went too far. Wouldn’t she have been more effective if she toned it down a little bit?
However, I am entertained and grabbed nonetheless. Following these characters is like watching a superhero movie. No, that couldn’t really happen, but you find yourself gripping the edge of your seat in heated anticipation, loving the ride.

Best part: Howard Roark and Dominique Francon meet again in the city at a black-tie party, post-rape, and pretend not to know each other. I love imagining their eyes meeting once again, and Dominique finally associating Roark’s name and genius with the face of an anonymous quarry worker. Also Roark blowing up the Cortlandt building makes for some good fiction.

Recommend to: Anyone with a brain and who can read a book skeptically but with appreciation.

Reminded me of: I’m not even going to attempt to think of anyone who could rival Ayn Rand.

How I would murder the main character: I would chain Howard Roark to the Parthenon until he starves.

Sexy parts: Dominique Francon sure is sexy, but her love life is a hot mess. She loses her virginity to Howard Roark in what Rand refers to as “rape by engraved invitation”. Then she marries Peter Keating, only to later sleep with Gail Wynand to secure Keating a commission, even though she still loves Roark. Then she marries Wynand, makes her affair with Roark public, and then marries Roark. Although sexy, I do not envy Dominique and her backwards route to romance.

To sum it up: An epically passionate and mind-blowing tome that must be taken with a grain of political salt.

Overall: 9