I had both her last two novels on my shelf for a while and decided to start with The Fountainhead.I know Rand has an amateur writing style, but that generally doesn't bother me much so long as the story is interesting or hooks me. I'm about 220 pages in and it's not been very interesting so far. it seems like it's always on the edge of something interesting finally happening, but nothing ever does.I don't care about Rand's politics or what (you)r opinion on it is. I'm only talking about the novel qua novel.should I continue or drop it? if I should drop it on account of it not being interesting, should I not bother with Atlas Shrugged in the future either? I feel like the span of a decade, Rand should have improved by way of writing and plotting, that's why I ask.
A good measure of the intellect of the average Ayn Rand fan is that when someone asked Neil Peart whether he actually agreed with the books he'd made multiple Rush albums and songs commemorating, he went "Wait, THAT'S what it's about? No way, man, I don't fuck with that shit."
It doesn’t. The book ends with a hamfisted metaphor that made me throw it at the nearest wall. See if you can trade your copy in for some Wodehouse.
The Fountainhead is much, much, much better than Atlas Shrugged. Atlas Shrugged exists only as a challenge. As a fun or interesting book, it is unreadable. It's like one of those 9,001-page incel manifestos that people find in someone's house after they shoot up a university campus. Atlas Shrugged is shit. The Fountainhead is a perfectly serviceable and decent book, so you should keep reading it just to prove you're not a faggot. But you might as well not bother with Atlas Shrugged if you can't even handle The Fountainhead.I've heard that Ayn Rand's less-famous books, like Anthem, are actually much better, and she just got worse as she got older (I'm convinced she had a stroke or something and nobody noticed and kept publishing her books), but I've only read the two big ones.
>>25043933the best time to drop it was 220 pages ago, but you're in luck since the next best time is now
>>25043933>“Listen to what is being preached today. Look at everyone around us. You've wondered why they suffer, why they seek happiness and never find it. If any man stopped and asked himself whether he's ever held a truly personal desire, he'd find the answer. He'd see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He's not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the second-hander's delusion - prestige. A stamp of approval, not his own. He can find no joy in the struggle and no joy when he has succeeded. He can't say about a single thing: 'This is what I wanted because I wanted it, not because it made my neighbors gape at me'. Then he wonders why he's unhappy.”
>>25043933i want to read it to see how shit it is>>25043946based Peart>>25044479she was a druggy.
>>25043933I saw the film adaptation of The Fountainhead and the last 15 minutes or so are comedy gold. I was rolling on the goddamn floor.
>>25043933I think most of the book is fun to read in a masturbatory sort of way, but then it turns to rancid shit in the fourth part
>>25044479I've only read the Fountainhead and Anthem, but Anthem is a thousand times worst. The Fountainhead has some pieces showcasing talent but is ruined by the absolute lack of subtlety as she beats the dead horse of her ideology into the ground until even the bones are just grounded to a fine powder. Anthem basically keeps the latter part of that and completely discards the former part to hard commit to the stylistic choice of an uneducated over-intelligent narrator who cant use singular pronouns because individuality has been oppressed. Even it's subtle reference to Prometheus towards the end is ruined by an immediate summary of the story of Prometheus. The only positive thing I can say about Anthem is that she at least made it considerably shorter than her other popular works, which makes the over reliance on gimmick more bearable. Could easily read the whole book on a lazy afternoon.
