THE FOUNTAINHEAD –AYN RAND
Fantasy as a world is amazing, reality is boring.
The book does the work of immaculately bridging the gap
between both these worlds. The book takes you away from the much perceived
reality to the thrill of fantasy, but not quite actually leaving you there. You
end up lingering between the two, just as the story mocks you while portraying
the harsh truth that, ‘this is reality, but not the way you know it!’
Howard Roark, the
lead protagonist is an architect; Dominique Francon is his love interest. Ambitious,
determined, cold, you name it and the man has got everything that takes to
become successful. But the one virtue which ends up becoming the reason for his
downfall- his integrity.
The story starts
off with events giving us a glimpse on the working style of Howard Roark, which
is quite contrary to the conventional style of architecture. The story
progresses with the introduction of other characters. What I liked about the
story was that each character has been given his/her own space to justify
themselves. Like any other story, this one has its own heroes as well as villains. But as you go about knowing more and more of each character, you
end up realizing that injustice has been done upon every character at some
point, which is why they are right in doing what they do.
There are
many unusual things happening at one time in the story like- Dominique
belittling Roark’s work, and creating a negative opinion about him in her
articles despite her undying love for him; Roark’s helping Peter Keating in spite of the rivalry between the two, and so on. One can’t help but wonder
why and ask questions to oneself. The interesting part is that the answers to
all these questions aren’t given at the end, they are revealed at the start itself, in the explanation of the
character sketches of each character.
Ayn Rand is a
fabulous writer. She has managed to capture the politics and working of the
media world in the book, which are relatable to people from every age and time.
Also, the portrayal of characters by her in relation with the time frame of the
story is perfect. Actually to be very honest, there is no time frame for the
story. It is written carefully in such a manner that readers from any age and
time will relate with it. Considering that fact, it is quite difficult to believe
that the book was published in 1943!
You need to
read the book because-
A- It
helps you to know more about what goes on in people’s minds.
B- It
talks about the media world in context with philosophy.
C- As
a book, it is unputdownable.
As the
story unfolds itself, the shocks, disappointments and twists make you wonder if
there is any conclusive, happy ending to the story. But you get so involved in
the intricacies of the tale, that you forget about the happy ending and demand
more of the story! Well, I won’t be a spoilsport to give off the climax or the ending in the review, for that
you will need to read the book!
I would give this
philosophically thrilling tale 5 star.
The characters I relate with- Howard Roark and Peter Keating
combined.
P.S- The book was also created as a movie.
