After almost 2 and a half months, I finally finished the book. Phew, it was such a huge book, hard to swallow. The idea is too new to me that I still need time to soak it in. A seven hundreds pages book, I feel the first 500 pages are really slow-paced. Luckily, the final 200 pages pick up the pace. I used almost 2 months just to finish the first 500 and merely a week for the last 200.
The reason for this is that Howard Roark, the protagonist of this book, seemed like a stubborn bastard at first glance. He went against current, against almost everybody in the book, and didn't explain himself to us why. Actually he barely spoke up his mind, only actions. No normal human emotions, at first he showed no guilt, no pride, no happiness, and chose the hard way to start his architect career. We readers are supposed to root for the protagonist. But he was almost like a robot, he seemed alien to us.
The antagonist was also unclear at the beginning. It is supposed to be Ellsworth Toohey, a columnist and an architectural critic. But at first sight, Ellsworth seemed to be right all the time. His evilness is fully shown only in the last hundred pages, especially when he confessed to Peter Keating, a university colleague of Howard and also an architect, about his motive and his aim.
If the slow build-up in the first 500 pages is necessary, then it is worth the wait because the third act, the final blow is epic. The whole story is like Rocky fighting a strong opponent. The opponent keeps throwing punches at Rocky, one after another, and Rocky fights back at the end. This is what I feel during the third act. The Howard Roark part is the gold of this book. This is also the part where Howard finally speaks up his ideal. I am not gonna spoil the story here, but there is an epic speech from Howard himself from page 677 to 685, basically the explanation of the philosophy of objectivism.
Then I realized why it is a book of ideas. There is as if no characters in this book. The characters are merely the representatives of the ideals. This is a book about clash of ideals, objectivism against collectivism and altruism, the creators versus the parasitic society, and objectivism triumphs (spoiler : Howard wins at the end). The whole book certainly reminds me of the prologue of Tolerance by Hendrik Willem van Loon, except this time the pioneer wasn't prosecuted. It really makes me think about the society nowadays especially the internet. The internet is the perfect example to show the power of the mob. It is a stage where the mob bullies the minority, whoever is different.
One thing I don't quite understand is the romance in between Dominique and Howard. It is unconventional. It is weird and starts off weirder. Their romance started by a rape! WTH?! I read the scene and my jaw dropped, couldn't believe what I had just read. What Dominique does in the book is also unreasonable to me. The only explanation I can make of is that their relationship is like sadist and masochist, torturing each other for fun. I tell myself, may be one day I will understand. But now, I don't get it.
At the end, I would like to see Katie more though. Peter Keating, the go-with-flow guy, got nothing left for him at the end. I just want to see Peter and Katie getting together again. I understand this is what Peter deserves, but at least make him and Katie get back together again. Peter has not much talent. He is simply not fitted in this clash of titans. Nothing much said about Peter at the end. I really hope he can at least live a simple life with Katie.
Now that I have finished the book, I am really doubtful of the idea of altruism and being unselfish. Is it fundamentally evil or is it not?
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