Many people make fun of Rand's style of character development, which they characterize as stereotyped. Her "wooden" characters can, indeed, be off-putting, unless one appreciates where Rand is coming from in her style. Rand writes in the old Romantic style. Think Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, or the turn-of-the-century Russian literary perspective. The main characters are generally archetypes, representing philosophical and psychological concepts.
For example, no one like John Galt could ever exist in the real world. He's a walking archetype to present concepts.
Probably the only character that would exist in the real world is Cuffy Meigs; I've actually met and worked with people like that one.
Good luck when you reach the 80 page speech.