Thursday, September 27, 2007

Fountainhead

by Ayn Rand

This book was recommended to me almost 7 years back but somehow never got down to reading it until now. But let me tell you, I'm happy I read it now after having... lets say "grown up" ! Its very difficult to describe it, its about this architect Howard Roark, who believes that Man is born to be a creator, and altruism is actually way to rid him of all his abilities and keep him from achieving greatness. The book is written in a very gripping manner and it has a very distinctivly different way of writing. The characters are developed and explored very well, and atleast for me there were quite a few "Wow" moments. The characters leave an impact on you and it questions quite a few of your beliefs. Definately worth a read, irrespective of who's philosophy you agree with, Roark or Toohey ( the other end of the spctrum from Roark) so somwhere in between.

2 comments:

Prabal Aggarwal said...

Daring job done. I have been thinking since last 4 months to write the review of this book. but its actually a daring job to review this book. As irrespective of the background of the reader, it leaves a deep impact on the psyche and alters the life to an extent.
Hats off
Prabal

Lone Grasshopper said...

"it leaves a deep impact on the psyche and alters the life to an extent."--Prabal

Yeah, it'll alter your life all right. My best friend was an ardent Christian who loved going to Church services and reading about God and listening to chant. She was the one I went to when I needed go get myself back on track. We would spend hours talking and drinking coffee.

Now she's an atheist.

The book was so gripping that she couldn't get away from the author's personal opinion and philosophy. It's just a story, but for some reason Mary took it as Truth. She accepted Rand's ideas of selfishness and went after whatever she wanted and destroyed her family. She's so wrapped up in herself that she's become hard and cold; I cannot stand to be around her anymore.

I miss my friend...and hate these objectivism books. Objectivism is a good description of them: they want you to look at everyone as an object to be used, not a person to be loved.