Rating: 
Summary: Can you say "bloated?"
Review: When I first read this book in my younger years, I thought that it was magnificient.Looking back, I realize that it has taught me that it is indeed possible to say a great deal and simultaneously assert nothing. If you want a first class example of that, here it is.
Rating: 
Summary: one of my favorite novels
Review: When Ayn Rand wrote, her primary purpose was to depict her vision of the perfect human. She wanted to show a man who exhibited the ideals of her philosophy, Objectivism. In her beliefs, Ayn Rand stresses the importance of individualism, reason, integrity, and selfishness. To exemplify these traits, she created Howard Roark, her projection of the ideal man, in her novel The Fountainhead.
Roark represents man as he should and ought to be. His depiction is something toward which I will strive every day. Fully independent, needing no reason other than his own, Howard is perfection incarnate. He lives his life exactly as he sees fit; he will not sacrifice himself for the cause of another, nor will he live by any moral code or standard other than his own. He does not compromise with evil, because it is only evil that can benefit from the sacrifice of the good. He is a man with ability, and uses it to produce great work in architecture. He does so with integrity; he refuses to build when customers demand that he change his design for the sake of pleasing traditionalists. I found myself excited as I read about this intransigent man who refuses to compromise, and I silently cheered as he won a trial with the world against him by using his own reason as his only defense. The novel itself illustrates man as a heroic being, and ends with Roark standing alone atop the world's tallest building, a building that he built. His triumph was mine, and I strive to live that life every day, a life where humanity exists as it was meant to exist.
Read this book. If nothing else, it will at least present you with another view on how life ought to be. Rand's words and views are more popular today than they were more than fifty years ago when The Fountainhead was published. Politically, I am a libertarian. Nearly every other libertarian that I know finds a lot in common with Objectivism. I will end with my favorite quotation from the novel. The primary villain, Toohey, asks Howard one night for an honest opinion of him; he wants to know what Roark thinks of him. Howard simply says, "I don't think of you," and walks away.
Rating: 
Summary: Immature and misogynistic: angry philosophy of a teenage boy
Review: Let's begin with the fatal flaw of the book: the protagonist, Roark, RAPES a woman, who then becomes his willing lover. This is akin to a Holocaust survivor marrying a member of the Nazi S.S. All fans of this book (mostly young White men) need to address the deep sexism and misogyny here. The plot is hackneyed and boring: a man pursues his dreams and ideals despite a world of cartoonish idiots around him. It's how teenage boys often feel. There is a hatefulness of weakness, gentleness, and calm: no wonder many right-wingers celebrate Rand. The goal is admirable: to think for oneself and be creative, but the novel is truly a piece of junk. Why not read true artists who urge you to think for yourself? Jack Kerouac, Emma Goldman, Ken Kesey, and John Steinbeck are some wonderful alternatives. After all, you don't have to hate the world, and hate women, to live a creative, independent life. You can love your society, community, and your lover, and be true to yourself... All at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: A book to change your view on life
Review: This was the first Ayn Rand book I read and it changed many of my point of views on life and my creativity. The suspence and storytelling capabilites of Rand are amazing. If you love to create, read this book. And if you love living an independent life read the rest of Ayn Rand's books.
Rating:
Summary: one of the best books i have ever read.
Review: its not a matter of style, or how rand writes her stories through and through again, its just the emotion. when you read this book you feel like you are a part of it. rand is definately a timeless artist, a writer with untouchable skill.
Rating:
Summary: this book was great!
Review: this book was captivating, i just picked up my friend's copy and got sucked into it from just reading the first page. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, losing sleep to read this book. It became a small obsession until i finished it. Then afterward it changes how you think. You really appreciate the finer points of honesty, ideals, happiness, the human psyche, and the spirit of humanity. I enjoyed reading this and it made an impact on my life.
Rating:
Summary: Battles Between Dreams, Genius, and Professional Life
Review: A flooding sensation of being inside the mind of a genius is felt from the beginning of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead". However, the genius is not Ms. Rand alone, who is famously known from her homeland of Russia to the United States of America for her writing ability that places you right next to the characters in several astonishing stories.
Howard Roark is a man whose entire being has been devoted to architecture from his early childhood. The devotion, indescribable intellect, or both, have enthralled his mind in a way that has let temptations, jealousy, and competition dwindle like dust from his headstrong future. His mastermind provides him with more than an acute sense of perfection, and almost wild and scary blueprints. The impeccable accuracy of Rand to detail of both plot and character develops Roark and Peter Keating, his old friend into men you feel you know. Not only is the story one with a passion for individual integrity shown by Roark, but also of love from Dominique Francon, a uniquely beautiful woman, who didn't always have the courage or heart to be there for the man she truly loved... The story delves equally into human temperament and into the separate worlds of men, all striving for an equal goal of seeing their mapped future unfold before them.
The unwavering perfection to detail and insight of intricate and multipart characters, mainly grown men, have left me with a feeling of enlightenment and a creepy feeling of human knowledge. "The Fountainhead" tells the story of a lonely genius' reach for his love, the obstacles that come up in any businessman or businesswomen's career, and discusses what makes and breaks any man or woman; the ability to follow one's own dream.
Rating:
Summary: The most misogynist book it is humanly possible to write.
Review: I could have justified giving this book two stars, or even three. It is, after all, well and cleverly written. It is seductive, easy to get caught up into the plot and hard to resist caring about the characters, even when your head tells you that you REALLY don't even marginally like any of them. Also, there are parts of Rand's "philosophy" that are undeniably true, and need to be heard in the modern world. But she's made it clear that she prefers honest hatred to indifference, so I'll do her that much courtesy. The biggest problem with this book is the "romantic interest", a term which I use advisedly. The main character is supposed to be Rand's concept of the ideal man; one must therefore assume that the female lead must be the ideal woman for such a man (after all, if he's ideal, he wouldn't fall for just anybody, right?) and their relationship must also be ideal. That relationship begins with him raping her. No, this is not an exaggeration, it isn't date rape, it's actual, honest-to goodness, no mistake or confusion rape. But that's okay, because it's only what she secretly wanted from him, and certainly what she had coming; she was, after all, a snotty rich woman who'd treated him with a lack of respect just because he was (so far as she knew) a common laborer. Does anybody else out there see a problem with this concept? How about the fact that she spent the rest of the book trying to convince herself that she deserved him, because his treatment of her earned her worship? There are other problems with the philosophy expressed in this book, as if there's actually any need for MORE reasons. But this one is sufficient in itself to make the book utterly worthless, in spite of the validity of SOME of its message. Those parts of the message can be found in other books that do not have the baggage that this one carries. I recommend "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey.
Rating:
Summary: If Philosophy is Your Bag...Or Even if it's Not
Review: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is an exciting book that has a very powerful message. It can be read on many different levels. It can be read simply as a fictional story about an architect who overcomes obstacles and challenges. It can also be read for the deeper meaning of the philosophy behind it. There are also many different levels of thinking in-between. No matter what level you read it on, it is still a powerful book.
The main character, Howard Roark, is based off Rand's perception of the "ideal man". Roark lives out Rand's philosophy of objectivism, as the main characters in other Rand pieces similarly do. Rand's integration of philosophy and exciting fiction makes for a good read whether you agree with objectivism or not.
I gave this book 5 stars because it holds your attention, makes you think, and helps you develop your own views on life. While the book doesn't necessarily contain "action" the whole time, the characters and their personalities keep you turning pages. The book is written in a way that it doesn't force any ideas on you, but it lets you form your own opinions. It all depends on what level you read the book. If you read it as just another fiction novel, you'll come away with the same beliefs as you did before, and that's great. But if you really dig into it and try to understand the ideas behind it, you'll probably get more out of it.
Rating:
Summary: Rand casts a pearl.
Review: Howard Roark is an architect who dismisses the design practices of the past as a crutch for lesser architects and their impressionable clients. For Roark, form follows function, and there will be no compromise. No matter how hard pressed he is for money. Peter Keating, however, has no such qualms, and is perfectly comfortable with the old-school way of doing things. But he does know his limitations. These he circumvents by having Howard Roark redesign some of the more complicated commissions that come his way. Years pass. Peter Keating rides the crest of a wave with the help of the boss' daughter, Dominique Francon. Howard Roark, on the other hand, struggles from one commission to another. One of them is a property scam which worked out for the better. Another lands him in court because of manipulation of a client by the newspaper columnist, Ellsworth Toohey. Dominique Francon, who had married Peter Keating, leaves and marries the media / property tycoon, Gail Wynand. Peter Keating's world begins to crumble, and he finds himself begging the influential Ellsworth Toohey for a chance at the government's housing development project, Cortlandt Homes. Ellsworth Toohey invites him to try, well knowing that the chances of him succeeding in the bid are slight, since he suspects that Peter Keating hasn't designed everything he has claimed to. So Peter Keating turns to Howard Roark, begging him to secretly design the project. His plea is accepted on the proviso that under no circumstances, whatsoever, is the design to be diverted from. Peter Keating agrees, signs a secret contract with Howard Roark, and has Ellsworth Toohey submit the design, which is accepted. The project is begun. Returning from a yachting trip, with Dominique and Gail Wynand, some months after the commencement of the project, it transpires that Peter Keating has been forced to acquiesce, mutilating the original design. None too surprised, Howard Roark decides to dynamite what has been constructed of the Cortlandt Homes project and take his chances in court.... Read as a work of fiction, and not as a Trojan horse for the Rand Manifesto, my opinion is: There is a lot of eye-poppingly bad and redundant literary prose, as unnecessary to the story as gargoyles and Athenian arches would be on a Howard Roark building. The use of mixed viewpoint robs the reader of a more direct understanding as to why some of the characters have some of the extreme attitudes that they have. Having Dominique Francon issue streams of almost incomprehensible dialogue to have someone else say they don't have a clue what she's talking about is hardly the best way to involve the reader. There are occasions when the logic is a bit skewed. For example, Dominique encounters Howard at her father's granite quarry and wonders what such a noble specimen of manhood is doing breaking ( unyielding ) rocks. She contrives a way to meet him at her home. The means she chooses is to damage a marble slab fronting the fireplace in her bedroom. Howard appears as instructed and lectures her on all the types of marble available and how it is vital that she obtain the correct grade. Dominique doesn't give any thought to how a rock-breaker would be so articulately knowledgeable on the subject of marble. And so she doesn't make any attempt to have her earlier wonderment answered. Details such as this are quite a common failing, its rectification subordinated to the eye-poppingly bad prose. Even so, The Fountainhead is obviously written by someone who is tremendously skilful at integrating a plethora of sub-elements; can create a sense of high drama; and can cut through the utter mush that prevails in the world today.
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