A Room with a View / Howards End by E.M. Forster

A Room with a View / Howards End Reviews

• 
  Sharone

  Oh, friends. There is only one word to describe my experience reading this book: delightful. But because you know I can't resist the opportunity to say more than one word, I won't stop there.
  
  A Room with a View is deeply satirical, and yet the characters manage to be real people rather than one-dimensional conduits for the author's social criticisms. Forster's voice and humor are subtle without being sly, and he draws you into the inner lives of his characters in a way that feels so natural it's hardly noticeable. Forster truly sees his characters, and he makes you feel that you see and instantly comprehend them too, in spite of their complexity. It seemed like every paragraph I read, I wanted to post part or all of it somewhere for others to share and appreciate, but I was afraid that once started, I'd be unable to stop.
  
  Even though it's short and sweet, Forster packs in fabulous scenery, murders, scandals and gossip, people getting comeuppances, characters you love and characters you hate, characters that you hate and then love, and vice versa. I warned you I'd gush over this book - I mean really. Every time I read just a little bit of it, I slip right back into that world and I'm tempted to just drop everything and read it again--and it's so short that it could easily be done. Gosh, I could go on and on, using any and all of these words: charming, insightful, effortless, fascinating, hilarious, clever, absorbing. So enjoyable that I just flew right through it. Oh, and romantic. Terribly, meltingly, giddily romantic.
  
  So go read it already. Come on, it'll take you five minutes -- at least, it will feel that way. That, to me, makes A Room with a View just the best kind of book. :)
• 
  Ivana Colorado

  I LOVE THIS BOOK WITH MY WHOLE EXISTENCE
• 
  Nadhirah

  Separate reviews for Howards End and A Room with a View below:
  
  Howards End
  
  I really didn't enjoy this one. There were so many themes cramped into this very short novel that I felt like I needed an English teacher looking over my shoulders explaining things to me.
  
  Henry Wilcox and his son, Charlie are the epitome of upper-class snobbery. They think the lower-class uneducated, lazy, and crude. They think that men are superior to women, reflected in the way Henry treats Margaret (he thinks she's intelligent but should be left at that lest she becomes unladylike), and the way they laugh at Dolly who's merely a bimbo to them. Margaret and Helen Schlegel are also rich but they're idealists and aware of their privilege. Helen has a distorted sense of duty to the poor that manifests in her trying to force her help onto the lower-class (the Basts) even when they don't want it. Margaret, on the other hand, transforms into a submissive woman, who thinks she can change Henry but unconsciously becomes his enabler. Meanwhile, Leonard Bast represents the lower-class; his only desire is to have intellectual conversations with the Schlegel sisters but instead finds unsolicited help being foisted onto him. He is proud even when thrown into desperate situations.
  
  While I appreciate the literary merit of this novel, in the end I really struggled to keep my interest especially in the long-winded passages of reflection that came too close to becoming stream-of-consciousness writing (a writing device I dislike).
  
  A Room with a View
  
  Slightly more enjoyable. I thought Part 1 was draggy and a tad boring. Part 2 was much better especially when Lucy started taking control of her life. I found her outbursts against the patronizing people around her particularly satisfying. This novella is a dig at social class and English snobbery by way of a love story. Also made me realize the importance of being truthful to one's feelings. And the ending was very beautiful.
  
  I understand why so many people love Forster. He was an intelligent writer and weaved social commentaries into his work deftly. But I honestly had to slog through these two stories and ultimately, I think his writing just isn't for me.
• 
  Rae

  I consider A Room With A View to be Winnie-the-Pooh for adults and something that should be read often. It is the delightful story of Lucy Honeychurch, a young woman who eventually accepts responsibility for her own life and marries a man whose sense of freedom reminds her of a room with a view. The movie version of the book is charming and faithful to the story and (despite an amusing river bathing scene in which there is full male nudity) is rated PG.
  
  Rooms stand for social conventions, deadening by themselves--views for naturalness, freedom, whatever makes it possible for the spirit to breathe and expand.
• 
  Monica

  Fabulous pair of stories! “Howard’s End” was even better than “A Room With a View.”
• 
  Octavia Cade

  Honestly, I've read and reviewed both the novels here separately, so when I came across this collected edition in the library, I read the introduction - brief and unilluminating as it was - and came to log it here for completeness' sake.
  
  I remember thoroughly enjoying both novels, giving them four stars each, although of the two I give the edge to Room, simply because it is funnier. In both, however, Forster's cuttingly observant writing absolutely shines as he skewers the middle-class pretensions around him. I can't help but think he would have been a wonderfully entertaining person to have at a dinner party. I'd like to read a biography of him one day... goodness knows the introduction in this volume was only minimally informative.
• 
  Webcowgirl

  This is really a rating for Howard's End, as I only got the book to read it. Forster has a great understanding of how people think and also shows us the limitation of the people of the time. He makes England sound so beautiful and yet it's also a nostalgic looking backward at a time when there was more beautiful countryside ... and far more crushing poverty. A truly enjoyable read and a rich, rich book. It has made me sad, though, because it's so completely aware of how transient our lives are and how frequently we just fail to be kind and loving to each other, and what a tragedy this is. We may not all manage to be great, but can we at least manage to be kind?
• 
  Jasmine Pope

  It was more educational than entertaining. By that I mean, I got a glimpse into past culture and a good look at a complex writing style. The author’s ability to represent the surface level chaos of life is mastery. It’s presentation and tone was very realistic and certainly takes talent to represent.
  
  Again, I appreciate the work and this story was likely striking at the time. It just was really hard for me to keep with it on this one. I even read literature reviews and discussions to see if I’m missing something, I’m not. For me, it was educational not entertaining.
• 
  Joy Davenport

  Phew. Not sad that’s done. I did not love this book. It felt laborious to me, to follow the myriad cast of characters, to care about what they thought, to translate whether they were being honest or snarky or what. I listened to a stage production before the novel; that helped me follow the story, and I could have left it at that… but maybe that complicated the reading: let’s just get to the end already! Lol
  Rating: g
  Recommend: readers of classics, jh and up for interest: it’s definitely a romance.
• 
  Katie

  Listened to a fantastic audio performance of this by Rebecca Hall, which is available on Audible. EM Forster wrote absolutely beautiful prose, although the story itself is not that complex. Even if you aren't that into the story, the writing is beautiful to listen to.
  I might watch the 1985 movie version as well, given the (baby) all star British actor cast.
• 
  Kay

  For GSHNJ Staff Healthy Living Challenge 2019.
  
  A delightful book; Forster nails society and concerns with appearance. I should not have been surprised that the final scene was a bit different from the movie.
• 
  Hannah

  I liked this story! But, I couldn’t help connecting it to the book Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan. Kwan used the exact same storyline and even some of the same character names! It was bizarre how alike these books were. I didn’t like the audiobook version of this book though…the narrator was bland.
• 
  Dave Moyer

  Decent and interesting if not my favorite.
• 
  reneeNaDaCherry

  Romantic and classic book that shows the upper class values as opposed to the lower class. Love still rules in these two stories.
• 
  Andrew

  Review to follow soon.
• 
  Louise

  This was a little difficult to follow at first and was challenging but well worth the effort.
• 
  Peter

  Beautiful both.
• 
  Austin San Juan

  Room With a View was serendipitous and the language divine
• 
  Emma1235

  Beautiful story, almost as good as The Great Gatsby.
• 
  Cedahlia

  ❤️
  Very good read, I was delighted tremendously.
  Likely to read it again
• 
  Beth Stanley

  Loved the character of Lucy
• 
  Realini

  A Room with a View by E. M. Foster
  Delightful classic
  
  It is the second time that I am rating A Room with a View.
  That is because I have finished listening to it again.
  
  This time, it was a BBC production.
  An adapted, abbreviated version.
  
  Generally, this is to be avoided.
  When the original is an acclaimed masterpiece, it is wrong to go to an abridged format.
  But one cannot listen to or read War and Peace so many times.
  Actually, I intend to listen to a BBC version of the mentioned chef d'oeuvre and a good deal more.
  Hearing again the story is generally a good entertainment.
  It does flop, like the recently heard Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, that had Elizabeth McGovern spoiling my pleasure with her artificial, over the top efforts.
  
  A Room with a View has a somewhat simple story line.
  Without giving details out, a man falls in love with a girl in the sensational setting of the Italian countryside near Florence.
  Or maybe it all started with A Room with a View ...
  Lucy Honeychurch, the main female character is talking to her companion, Charlotte Bartlett about their room in this pensione of Florence.
  Charlotte is a rather artificial, pretentious character in the first place, but may take an unexpected turn later in the story.
  She is complaining that they have no view.
  Mr. Emerson and his son George offer to change their rooms, that have a view.
  From here on, we have clash between authenticity and artificiality.
  I would say that this book is a poignant criticism of a number of aspects of British mentality in the nineteenth century.
  Only I must say that I am an unrepentant admirer of that very way of life.
  At the upper level obviously.
  If I were given to choose other periods for my life, I would choose Victorian Britain.
  Not the gutter if possible, but a mansion, a sumptuous location in the Far East, the South Seas maybe.
  So I disliked the character of Cecil Vyse, with his pomposity , falseness, snobbishness, stiffness.
  But if he represents a caricature of British upper class unnatural behavior I still opt to favor those gentlemen.
  That's because I probably am snobbish and unnatural
  
  The film based on the book is also a good way to approach the original.
  It won Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTAs
  
• 
  Terzah

  I've always been drawn to love stories where, when someone finds a soul mate, that person knows them inside and out, and loves them inside and out, with just the barest of interactions to go on. Such is the case with George and Lucy in this book. All it takes are a few stilted conversations, a harrowing encounter in Florence and a kiss in a Tuscan meadow--and he knows he loves her and is willing to bare his heart to her and help her find her true self through both actions and words. He fears no embarrassment and never doubts that she loves him too, even when she flat out denies any feeling for him. Who among us wouldn't swoon for someone like George?
  
  In the real world, at least in my experience, the truth of love is more complicated. People can't read you that easily--or if they can, such clarity is impeded by the fact that we all doubt ourselves so much, and second guess ourselves so much, that both the one who needs to be brave and the one who needs someone to brave on their behalf dare not speak or act. Edwardian England was a strait-laced society. But we are equally bound today by our desire not to upset anyone or rock anyone's vision of themselves. So maybe a love as spontaneous and simple and true as George's for Lucy is still possible--and maybe it's also possible that a modern Lucy, willing herself NOT to feel as she does because she doesn't wish it, could still see the light. But I kind of doubt it. Someone who spoke as directly as Mr. Emerson, George's father, does to Lucy at the end could easily be branded as a creep. I know I would make that judgment. It's hard for me to imagine a circumstance where I wouldn't.
  
  All the more reason to read and enjoy this romantic book. It has made me think about the restraints I once laid on myself when I was younger, the concerns I had for what others thought. I wonder how many of them are still there. I wonder to what extent they still hold me back from inappropriate actions, and what "inappropiate" really means.
• 
  klingon

  Makes a nice little double feature. Howard’s End is exciting in the middle and then ends rather lopsidedly, whereas A Room With A View is lopsided until the neat ending. I think HE is probably more complex/interesting, but really enjoyed both.
  
  Howard’s End thoughts:
  I love the family in this so much!! And I love the implied lesbians. And I love Margaret’s mission to fix Henry, and I loved that line that everyone quotes slightly less than I expected, perhaps because I failed to totally understand it. And I loved the way that the landscape plays into the story. And I loved Mrs. Wilcox in all her perfect-mother-untouchable-goddess-ness. She reminded me of Mrs Dempster in Fifth Business— altogether too good to be possible, a child’s image of maternal innocence. Indulgent, unreal, lovely.
  
  A Room With A View thoughts:
  - Cecil gave me gay vibes
  - Love the narrator intercessions! You feel like you and the author are on the same team. And this sense if Lucy’s true self struggling to break through how she was raised. And little throwaway lines about Charlotte’s past!! Delightful.
  - Mr. Emerson has slight Mrs. Wilcox energy. it’s really him, and not George, who enables Lucy to break free, who probes at her from the start to speak and act not like a nice English schoolgirl, but like herself. Neat stuff.
• 
  Traci

  I only have read "A Room With a View."
  This book is not easy to sink into but so far I love the language.
  Update: finished the book. It was very enjoyable as I kept on reading it and towards the last 5 chapters read it more quickly than the others. The prose is so thick with details every chapter packs somewhat of a punch which made me read it more slowly then I would normally. I have never been the type to reread books, wanting to move on to the next but this one is the first I've read that I think "I've got to read that again" because there was so much involved in it that was outside the story but definitely still opened up new perspectives about the story.
  The story is very romantic and George the love interest is very attractive and appealing but the main character Lucy comes off a bit of a wimp; however in all fairness this was a different time and in old England where impressions about your reputation was taken with extreme seriousness. So I think that was hard for me to appreciate.
  Georgeous read and insightful glimpses into another time and place.
• 
  judy weaver

  classic romance 2015 reading challenge Edwardian England. Published in 1908 to both critical and popular acclaim, A Room with a View is a whimsical comedy of manners that owes more to Jane Austen that perhaps any other of his works. The central character is a muddled young girl named Lucy Honeychurch, who runs away from the man who stirs her emotions, remaining engaged to a rich snob. Forster considered it his 'nicest' novel, and today it remains probably his most well liked. Its moral is utterly simple. Throw away your etiquette book and listen to your heart. But it was Forster's next book, Howards End, a story about who would inhabit a charming old country house (and who, in a larger sense, would inherit England), that earned him recognition as a major writer. Centered around the conflict between the wealthy, materialistic Wilcox family and the cultured, idealistic Schlegel sisters-and informed by Forester's famous dictum 'Only connect'-it is full of tenderness towards favorite characters.