The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Took a looooong time to finish reading the book. It seems never ending these 700 pages. I would not have taken so long if I were reading like before...but, nowadays the only time I get to read is during travel to office and needless to say this is a great way to keep myself occupied than look out and realise that my shuttle is amidst a traffic jam!

Well, this book has 4 parts which are also the characters in the book...

1. Peter Keating
2. Ellsworth Toohey
3. Gail Wynand
4. Howard Roark

Peter Keating shows generally how a soul-selling soul can be.

Ellsworth Toohey appears to be good in the beginning but you soon realise that he is a parasite who spreads the 'collectivism' bug and doesn't appreciate individualistic victories that would hamper his attempt to be the most powerful man on earth. He helps people sell their souls.

Gail Wynand has come from rags to riches and is proud of it and he splurges money and there is nothing he cannot have. He is not a soul-selling type but the power he commands has his head heavy all the times except when he is with someone he admires - Howard Roark.

Howard Roark is the protagonist and what he does is excellent since he gives his all to it. He doesn't sell his soul and neither does he provoke others too. He is very reserved and good in anything he does. He doesn't run away from problems and faces them like a real hero.

There's one more character...Dominic Francon. She loves Howard Roark, marries Peter Keating then later marries Gail Wynand...divorces him too and finally ends up with Roark forever. Ellsworth Toohey is her ex-colleague. I don't understand the love that is portrayed of Dominic Francon. Perhaps I need to read it many times to make sense of it.

I saw a pattern in these segregation of parts. Peter is not what one should be. Toohey is again someone who is not acceptable. Gail is someone who you can be..and Howard is the ideal person and is who you should be. Dominic...well I don't understand her at all.

But I think it's a huge book for the message that it conveys. Perhaps, I should read this book many more times to understand why there are so many people who consider this book with very high regard.

But I agree partially about this statement by Ayn Rand herself...and this perhaps is the full message (more or less) of "The Fountainhead"

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." —Ayn Rand