I read this mostly because one of my students back in high school was reading it. She was reading it for an essay contest, so in order to help out, I felt I needed to read the book as well. When I read it, I found myself identifying with the character of Roark at times and his struggle against convention. However, not the greatest piece of fiction (I think it was because of the love story elements; it is not my favorite genre), in my opinion. And yet, the book did give me a lot to think about at the time, which was a time when I felt I was surrounded by a lot of mediocrity.