Steeplechase & BWF - A Room With a View - E. M. Forster - 4 Stars

[Olivermagnus]

A Room with a View is set in the early 1900's and opens in Florence. Miss Lucy Honeychurch, an upper-class English woman, is touring Italy with her cousin, Miss Charlotte Bartlett. At their hotel in Florence they were promised rooms with a view of the River Arno but, instead, their rooms only look out onto a courtyard. Mr. Emerson offers to swap rooms with them because he and his son, George, have views of the Arno. They eventually agree to the room swap.

Lucy, a young woman in Italy for the first time, wants to take in all the sights but is slowed down by Charlotte, her spinsterly chaperone. Fortunately, another English tourist, Miss Lavish, offers to take her to Santa Croce. After an exciting walk, Miss Lavish abandons Lucy who enters the church alone. Lucy meets the Emersons, who show her how to enjoy the church in their own way. Things progress, but after Lucy is discovered kissing George she is rushed to Rome, where she ends up meeting a young man named Cecil Vyse. Sharing a lack of passion, Lucy and Cecil get engaged.

"A Room With a View" is composed of two parts; the first set in Italy and the second in England. Forster inserts his sense of humor into the narrative, especially when he is poking fun at strict British rules of manners. The contrast between the stiff British and the carefree Italians is perfect. He writes a wonderful satire about social conventions that will make you laugh. I found the first two thirds of the book very slow moving and I had difficulty connecting with the characters. The final third actually captured my interest and I'm glad I persevered to the end. Forster was a great storyteller and "A Room With a View" tells a great story.

[Joy D]

I really enjoyed this one, too. I was pleasantly surprised by the feminist aspect (especially in a book written by a man of that period)!