Book Review || The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

After finding a considerable number of reviews and praises for this book, I gave it a shot.

Honestly, neither I completely agree nor I deny with the Ayn philosophy. Although, the book has been a classic for a long time and I am pretty sure, it’ll always be intimidating for the times to come yet I partly don’t get along with the characters. The four main characters in the book are not the best, if considered individually. They all have their weak points complementing their strong points. The central character, Howard Roark,( I kept picturing Aamir Khan playing this role in my mind) : An individualist, who doesn’t believe in sharing thoughts, ideas and thinks creativity is best when it’s done individually. He is a disciplined fellow, an atheist with no religion and he does not feel pain or sorrow but considers them “merely a part of the battle”. He struggles a lot to make it big in architecture on his own but he flatters none. He loves architecture and strictly follows his own protocols, like for instance when asked how important is a client to him, he says,” I don’t intend to build in order to serve or help anyone. I don’t intend to build in order to have clients. I intend to have clients in order to build”. I found the character Dominique, Howard’s love interest, pretty preposterous; I would never want my love to suffer and I won’t let myself suffer just because my love is suffering, even if I have planned something bigger for “us”. Love means no Suffering. You are happy if your better half is happy, even if he’s so without you. Also, I do agree that creativity differs from person to person but an individualist approach is not always the best approach. Say if I have an idea, you have an idea and we both exchange, we’ll end up with two ideas. None of us are perfect; suggestions by others can help us get better, moreover whether we take the suggestions or not depend on us. Anyways, that’s my opinion, it may differ from others.

What I did like about the book is that, people who are straight forward are no doubt hated in this world. I’ve some friends who are very to the point and are always hated for being so. But the book encourages one not to lick feet just for some advantage that doesn’t even last for long. Also, the book quite vividly shows that a society is filled with all kinds of souls, good and bad and the middlemen who take the advantage. Not only this, it shows that Change is inevitable. A person is elected as something only to be replaced by someone else tomorrow. No one enjoys the prestige forever. It’s a part of life. Ayn Rand depicts how childhood plays an important role for creating the present man. The book is extremely profound and it’ll melt your heart and mind if you read it with some genuine interest. Ayn Rand creates a beautiful city with a number of characters, a number of edifices, each having a unique identity. I loved all the Toohey speeches and the last one by Roark. It’s a very long read but you’ll enjoy the ride.

Definitely, it’s a CLASSIC!