A Room With a View
by E.M. Forster
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Read in April, 2008
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Read in March, 2008
This is the first book that I've just tipped over in love with in a long time.
Having seen the movie Howard's End, and knowing that E.M. Forster wrote in the late 19th/early 20th century, and having watched that episode of The Office where the Finer Things Club discussed this book, I fully expected it to be a dull, dry slog.
But it was not. It was a pleasure.
Lucy Honeychurch learns that the rules of society can--and sometimes should--be broken. She learns that she doesn't have to...more
Having seen the movie Howard's End, and knowing that E.M. Forster wrote in the late 19th/early 20th century, and having watched that episode of The Office where the Finer Things Club discussed this book, I fully expected it to be a dull, dry slog.
But it was not. It was a pleasure.
Lucy Honeychurch learns that the rules of society can--and sometimes should--be broken. She learns that she doesn't have to...more
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Read in June, 2008
I picked up this book because I'd liked "Howards End" and because it was 50 cents at a book fair. I was pleased to discover that the first part of the book takes place in Florence and enjoyed reading scenes in Santa Croce, near the Arno, etc.
I also enjoyed reading this book because I just finished teaching a semester of Survey of British Lit II, and so it's fun to see how Forster exemplifies the Edwardian era, the transition between the Victorians and the Moderns. The protagonist...more
I also enjoyed reading this book because I just finished teaching a semester of Survey of British Lit II, and so it's fun to see how Forster exemplifies the Edwardian era, the transition between the Victorians and the Moderns. The protagonist...more
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Read in November, 2007
First, I must be clear that I started reading A Room with a View before this week’s episode of The Office. Although I would gladly join the Good Things Club, it did not inspire me.
Instead, I found this book at my apartment and decided it is time I read it. I started it as a teenager, but when I discovered the film version—which I adore—was so faithful to the book, I didn’t see the purpose.
I enjoyed A Room with a View, but this is a case of the film spoiling the book. The Merch...more
Instead, I found this book at my apartment and decided it is time I read it. I started it as a teenager, but when I discovered the film version—which I adore—was so faithful to the book, I didn’t see the purpose.
I enjoyed A Room with a View, but this is a case of the film spoiling the book. The Merch...more
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Read in May, 2008
I had to re-read this novel to get the bad taste of the recent (2007) Andrew Davies BBC production out of my mouth. And my God, how glorious it is--even more so than I remembered.
The book is amusing, particularly when it comments on social conventions and interactions. But it's also quite serious when it delves into the deepest desires of the human heart. Forster touches on modernity, the changing role of women in society, and the new mobility of the lower classes. Most of all, Forster c...more
The book is amusing, particularly when it comments on social conventions and interactions. But it's also quite serious when it delves into the deepest desires of the human heart. Forster touches on modernity, the changing role of women in society, and the new mobility of the lower classes. Most of all, Forster c...more
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Read in October, 2004
The beginning was great, but the end seemed rather abrupt, almost rushed.
Notes:
"If it was not for death and marriage I do not know how the average novelist would conclude"- Forster
"He has the merit- if it is one- of saying exactly what he means."
"It is so difficult- at least, I find it difficult- to understand people who speak the truth."
"It is sometimes as difficult to lose one's temper as it is difficult at other times to keep it."
&...more
Notes:
"If it was not for death and marriage I do not know how the average novelist would conclude"- Forster
"He has the merit- if it is one- of saying exactly what he means."
"It is so difficult- at least, I find it difficult- to understand people who speak the truth."
"It is sometimes as difficult to lose one's temper as it is difficult at other times to keep it."
&...more
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Read in March, 2008
My assumptions about E.M. Forster's writing had until now come solely from seeing the film version of Howards End when I was twelve, when I was too young to understand anything that didn't involve explosions and cyborgs (and exploding cyborgs). At the time I thought it was British and stuffy, and that perception stayed with me all these years later even though I knew I was a different human being (in at least a few respects) and would probably think of the film and thus Forster's "vo...more
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Read in January, 1991
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Read in November, 2006
Don't ever run from love if it come to you, because it will haunt you wherever you are. That's the message I catch from the novel of England's author, E.M. Forster, A Room With A View.
The first six or seven chapter of it bored me. Not just because the classic englisch language, but also I found the story flows slowly. The opposite occurs after Lucy Honeychurch, the heroine left Florence and George Emerson, the guy who kissed her for the first time, for Rome.
Lucy and her cousin, Lady Char...more
The first six or seven chapter of it bored me. Not just because the classic englisch language, but also I found the story flows slowly. The opposite occurs after Lucy Honeychurch, the heroine left Florence and George Emerson, the guy who kissed her for the first time, for Rome.
Lucy and her cousin, Lady Char...more
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Read in August, 2005
I’ve just completed E.M. Forster’s A Room With A View.
Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome ‘nerves’ or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire.
I wasn’t happy with the story in the beginning. And to be honest, the characters in this book drove me crazy with their stifling ways. It was frustrating to watch the scenes unfold with such comic tragedy made-up completely in their own heads. Then again, I believe that was the moral Fo...more
Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome ‘nerves’ or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire.
I wasn’t happy with the story in the beginning. And to be honest, the characters in this book drove me crazy with their stifling ways. It was frustrating to watch the scenes unfold with such comic tragedy made-up completely in their own heads. Then again, I believe that was the moral Fo...more
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Read in April, 2008
I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, or to be more honest, I think I went into it expecting a romance. I had seen the movie when I was 11 or 12, so I had a vague recollection of passionate kisses in the bushes (that makes it sound so errotic, but it is really not at all--I wish it were.)
I have to say, I was slightly disappointed. It is a victorian-type novel that starts out in Italy with various characters, the main one being the love-interest, Lucy. She and the othe...more
I have to say, I was slightly disappointed. It is a victorian-type novel that starts out in Italy with various characters, the main one being the love-interest, Lucy. She and the othe...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone 14 years or older
I read this whilst on holiday in Tuscany, as I thought it perfect for the setting. I loved it, but for me the book is inseparable from the fantastic 1985 film adaptation by Merchant-Ivory. In this case I would actually recommend seeing the film before reading the book; especially if you have never been to Italy before. It was a bonus to have an image of the characters and settings in my head to refer to beforehand and the film brought the real potential drama of the book out. On a straightforwar...more
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Read in June, 2008
Having been unimpressed with "A Passage to India," I wasn't expecting too much from this Forster novel. I was tickled to be proved wrong. The plot is interesting, the language is "clever," and the philosophy is respectfully thoughtful and ridiculous. However, what really makes the novel great is the author-reader relationship. From the opening pages the narrator/author is openly aware of his audience. He mocks, pities, pokes at, and exposes his own characters, at the sam...more
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I remember seeing its cinematic version years before I actually got to reading this book. I absolutely loved the film and I know it stayed with me for a long time.
The story, set in Edwardian England, talks about the dilemma and confusion before the beautiful, well-heeled Lucy. One one hand, there's the uptight, snobbish Cecil Vyse, who pretends to be authoritarian but is actually awkward and self-conscious. It's easy too see that his suffocating pretence of sophistication and placidity is a t...more
The story, set in Edwardian England, talks about the dilemma and confusion before the beautiful, well-heeled Lucy. One one hand, there's the uptight, snobbish Cecil Vyse, who pretends to be authoritarian but is actually awkward and self-conscious. It's easy too see that his suffocating pretence of sophistication and placidity is a t...more
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Read in July, 2008
"A Room with a View" is a charming little book--and a very quick read. I saw the film a few months ago (featuring Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith, among others) and wondered if the book was as funny. It definitely was, or even more so.
I had read E.M. Forster's novel "Maurice" a few years ago and had trouble with the language--which is very "Jamesian" (for those familiar with Henry James). I'd like to give it another go after reading RWAV but definitely be...more
I had read E.M. Forster's novel "Maurice" a few years ago and had trouble with the language--which is very "Jamesian" (for those familiar with Henry James). I'd like to give it another go after reading RWAV but definitely be...more
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Read in May, 2007
This was the first classic book I read not on my list, because 'passage to India' was not availible at the library, and, honestly--"A Room With a View" as a title? How could that not be intriguing? I liked it. It's about a girl struggling to find herself amidst what everyone else thinks she should do. She's incredibly passive. The story has a lot of characterization of people based on class, and reads kind of like a Jane Austen in that respect. I really love the theme of not knowing th...more
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Read in December, 2007
I honestly couldn't have predicted how this book ended. I spent the whole thing going, "Aww, everyone will learn something and this will end happily. Wait! No, disaster is about to ensue! Oh, no, wait. This will end happily." etc. etc. ad nauseam.
All in all, I did not fall in love with this story. And despite what I’d been told, Room with a View did not make me fall in love with Florence either. I’d say it’s a nice enough book: it’s well written with a decent love st...more
All in all, I did not fall in love with this story. And despite what I’d been told, Room with a View did not make me fall in love with Florence either. I’d say it’s a nice enough book: it’s well written with a decent love st...more
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Read in November, 1999
I first read this book in high school but picked it up again when I was studying in London. The strange thing is the British version, or perhaps only this mysterious edition found only in this particular university library, had an alternate ending written later and added in. No longer closing with a happy ending in Florence this edition's chapter took you into Lucy and George's future. A post-WWI future where he cheated on her while away at war. And though he stills loves her, he (and the res...more
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Read in June, 2008
One of the lighter classics to me, it was fun, though a bit too much at times, what with the prudishness and sentimentality. I didn't remember any of it from a previous reading, so I enjoyed it all the more for not exactly knowing what was going to happen. Not that it's that hard to tell. I agree with a previous reviewer, however, that I can only hope that Forster is commenting on feminine stereotypes, not agreeing with them. I found it hard to tell. Lucy acts under the guise of independenc...more
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