The Fountainhead By: Ayn Rand

I must admit I was a little over ambitious in the endeavor of reading this monster of a book.
I really became interested in Ayn Rand because of Terry Goodkind. I am a huge fan of his ideals and beliefs portrayed in the Sword of Truth series, and I found out about six months back that he based it off the ideals (or objectivism) as stated in Ayn Rand's novels!!
As an obsessive fan of Mr. Goodkind, it was very exciting to discover similar reading material. Of course I was mildly disappointed. Not for the fact that it was a bad story or that the characters were not developed or you know whatever else is usually wrong with a book. In fact the characters of this book were overly defined in their roles and characteristics. The main character Howard Roark was the "ideal man." One who is willing to stick to his ideals and personal opinions through whatever means available including personal loss and a result of becoming an outcast from society and his profession as an architect.
His love interest Dominique Francon, is similar in the fact that she believes that anything beautiful should be kept to those who believe and actually recognize it for what it was. With that philosophy she would obtain statues and art she found beautiful and then destroy them so no one could destroy them with their criticism and disapproval. Its fairly maddening. They are truly meant for each other and she refuses to be with him because of her pessimistic belief that he must be held down under her hand in a sort of "mercy killing" where he and his work I deemed to be too beautiful for the common man and will be demoralized and defaced with their negativity and misunderstanding. So she just destroys him. Well attempts to.
I think what I couldn't stand about this book was that she takes all of her ideals and shoves them down you throat. Ayn Rand really puts all effort into expressing her ideals and belief, which is great, but she gives you no other opportunity to think it over or even process what she had just said before you hit another 5 page monologue. its strange the book reads more like propaganda than a novel.
Then you have characters such as William Keating and Ellsworth Toohey, both of whom you just despise. Keating because he is altogether undesirable and a complete fake, doing whatever it takes to please the masses, and Toohey who is just manipulative and evil. He goes through every length to control the masses and steer them in the most undesirable directions, telling them that the ultimate virtue is selflessness and to achieve that you must sacrifice everything, especially your values.
Which when thinking about the novel and the characters individually, I find them to be very interesting and worth the time to consider, but reading the book was a chore and not one I would embark again in the foreseeable future.
I guess what I am ultimately trying to say is, I found the book dry and uninteresting as a whole. Maybe next time I will take it slower and really break it all down further. Meh.