So, It Is THAT Good.

(David's face melts into a mess of overwhelming gushing emotion when he picks up "The Fountainhead" in my apartment.)

Everyone who has read both of Ayn Rand’s books has a very clear favorite, which created quite the conundrum when I was picking which one to start with. On one side I had Carson preaching “Atlas Shrugged” as the definitive classic and on the other I had David praising “The Fountainhead” with such exuberant gasping I almost feared getting into conversations with him about it. Both books are constructed narratives to discuss Rand’s unique philosophy known as objectivism. Much to Carson’s dismay, I ended up going with “The Fountainhead,” which was already sitting on my shelf and therefore wouldn’t propel my habit of buying books when I have perfectly good ones itching to be read.

From the opening moment when Howard Roark, the protagonist of the story, stands at the top of the cliff with nature surrounding him before he dives into the lake below, I was hooked. After reading Murakami’s poetic prose Rand’s writing had a directness to it that was rather startling. There is nothing ornate about the way she presents a scene, she merely gives you the facts in black and white and lets the reader digest them. Rand’s unique gift is almost best described in her lack of padding. Every sentence cuts right to the core of the situation and while many people may find her style too bare, I was completely drawn in by it.

Objectivism preaches selfishness but not as defined by society today. Selfishness in Rand’s world means living by your own standards and not allowing yourself to conform to the world around you to please anyone unless it’s true to your own mind. Big corporations exist in the book to persuade and mold the malleable brains of the public into a giant automaton. By making everyone equal, no one is allowed to be unique or challenge the way people think. She argues that the majority of the population become "second-handers," who recycle opinions and regurgitate facts that are fed to them.

The way Rand presents this is through the world of architecture. She brilliantly uses the art of building the world as an allegory for human existence. On one side you have Howard Roark who refuses to deter from his vision regardless of being “unsuccessful” by typical standards. He builds structures that are dictated by the needs of the person living in them and function as extensions of the person’s mental and physical being. On the other side you have Peter Keating who is mediocrity personified but sells himself in every possible way to be successful only to find himself an empty shell years later. His buildings are grand but unoriginal and propel the same architectural techniques from previous centuries. Rand ties these two men together in an intricate web of deception and confusion to illustrate her belief system. It also becomes a discussion of the fear of modernization as Howard Roark creates structures unlike any seen before him.

There are long passages of the book where suddenly the typed letters seem to morph into Rand’s own handwriting. Passages where the arguments become so personal and passionate that any masquerading she has done as other characters is suddenly dissolved to give way to her voice of a controversial philosophy. Yet these strange moments of writing are exactly what make “The Fountainhead” so unique. You could read it and take it on surface value for the engrossing story and fully fleshed out characters or you can get completely lost in the differing philosophies these characters represent. I enjoyed doing both and found myself unable to put the book down. Whenever I did manage to take a break I would find myself turning away from the TV and staring at the book sitting on my chair like my eyes were magnetized to it.

The previous paragraphs probably make no sense because I now have what I refer to as "Hallbergosis" where I get extremely worked up when thinking about this great novel. There is so much information to digest and the feeling of elation and accomplishment I had when finishing this book made me question whether I should turn immediately back to page one and start again. Ultimately I chose to show the other books on my shelf some love and picked up Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections” which I am enjoying immensely at the moment. More book mania to come.

Comments

[tonya]

See I was right, David is the cerebral boyfriend you want to stay up all night talking to... or whatever I said about him in that goofy blog post... Omg, an editor from Vanity Fair (James Wolcott) read that post and quoted me in his blog on Veronika Part! I was DYING -- all that stuff I said about Marcelo being a big fuzzy teddy bear, etc. etc. etc.....

I hope you're starting to feel a little bit better??? I agree with everyone that puppy is extremely cute :)

[sloan]

glad you are getting into ayn rand's books.

in my opinion, i'd start with Fountainhead, then move on to Atlas Shrugged. the second goes much deeper into her beliefs, and i feel like you are better set up for absorbing more of it if you've already read Fountainhead. i love them both but felt that Altas Shrugged was way more intense, for lack of a better word.

another interesting work by her is Anthem. it's short but thought-provoking. none of the characters say the word i or me, it's always we or us.