Finally.... The moment I finished reading The
Fountainhead, I couldn't help bursting into laughter, which
shocked my deskmate because she hadn't seen me laughing for a long
time, especially when I was reading the book.
Seven hundred pages with letters as small as baby
ants, the book defintely deserved to be called 'eye-killer'. I
started the book last Sunday, and even though I spent almost all of
my spare time reading it, it still took me about four days to
finish reading.
The book is recommended by the Hotchkiss English
department. I googled the book at first, finding out that it was
one of the 20th century masterpieces with a plot intriguing enough.
It was pretty intimidating the first time I opened the book, with
its thickness and the petit letters (forgive me, I'm a
little obsessed with French these days). However, it took less than
a minute for me to be totally hooked by it. And the
next thing I remembered,
I just couldn't get enough of it.
THe book talks about the story of Howard Roark, a
young and rebellious architect who was kicked
out of the college because he refused to learn about the
buildings in the past, which were at that time regarded as the most
important types of architecture. Howard moved to New York City, a
place which had given birth to numerous rising stars in different
fields. He went through a lot of setbacks, including an unfair
lawsuit and the refusals of most of the building companies in New
Yor, and of course, a heart-breaking love affair with a woman who
was just as rebellius as he was.
The story went on, and more characters showed in
the picture. Most of them were rich and prominent intellectuals or
businessmen, and they had all devoted themselves to the most
intelligent man of there time: Ellsworth Toohey. Toohey preached
about the selflessness of human being, and the idea of
collectivism. He was regarded as the most inspiring mentor by the
people who he had helped, or in a more exact way, brain-washed.
Toohey's biggest enemy was Gail Wynland, the founder of Wynland
Papers. Wynland was born in the gutter, but he strived to become
the most powerful man on earth, and he succeeded. He had controlled
the press, the media, and thus the minds of general public.
The story was mainly talking about these three men,
all surprisingly resemblent with one another in some ways, but had
chosen three entirely different roads which eventually led them to
their own distinctive endings.
By now I have only given you a brief introduction
to the general story line of th book, but I haven't quite made
myself clear why I like this book. I am going to do that in the
next journal, since now I have to pack my things and get ready to
go back to my hometown for the Dragon Boat Festival.
Toodles~