A Room With a View

Rating:
Summary: A pleasantly-written, enjoyable English social comedy
Review: A Room With A View is one of those light-hearted, yet serious books that starts out slowly, begins to warm up, and becomes wonderful toward the end -- leaving one with a warm, happy glow. On the surface, it is a very simple book, one with a very simple plot: forbidden love. Indeed, it is not the plot and the story itself that makes the book so enjoyable: it is the style of writing and the characters. Outside of his fiction, Forster is also well-known for his essays on various aspects of literature; he also taught in the English university system. Throughout the course of the book, this becomes clear: Forster writes like an English literature professor. This accounts for both the book's slow start and its eventual charm. Always a clever writer (though occasionally too self-consciously so), with his tongue never too far from his cheek, Forster can definitely turn a phrase -- the penultimate paragraph to one of the later chapters, on Lucy's "surrender", is bone-chillingly good -- and the book is written in a generally light-hearted, jovial way. As another reviewer pointed out, he almost seems to be making fun of his characters at times. Clearly a social critic at heart, Forster shows how what seem like earth-shattering tragedies to Lucy, the book's prim, upper-crust heroine, are, at best, mere ripples in the pool. Despite the recurring "tragedies", the book's mood never gets too dark and heavy; the light-hearted chapter titles help this along. That, then, is what raises the book above the countless similarly-plotted novels of its kind: the writing -- and also the characterization. Forster, after all, was the one who came up with the concept of "flat" and "round" characters in the first place; and, as anyone familiar with the terms knows, the former one is not a pejorative: Forster stressed that a novel needs both kinds of characters to be balanced and true-to-life. This novel, indeed, has them: Lucy, the well-rounded, life-accurate heroine, who lives, breathes, and grows; Cecil, the walking caricature. Forster's aforementioned social criticism should also be once again remarked upon. In this social comedy, Forster deflates Edwardian England's puffed-up, self-important upper-class societal values and leaves us both charmed and amused at the same time. The book's deeper element lies here, where he enlightens us about the hypocrisy and xenophobia of English society. His point should not be missed. All of these elements come together to bring about a delightful, pleasant, and short read that is likely to please most anyone who happens to pick it up. This is a well-deserved classic.

Rating:
Summary: A Room With A View
Review: Forster's indicment of Victorian England is not as enjoyable as Howard's End or A Passage to India. However his direct style and story telling ability is still preferrrable to some of his British contemporaries.

The story centers around that of the ruling gentry and their contempt for anyone a little different from themslves. Interestingly enough Forster's most booring characters seem to be the Anglican clerics who are more interested in gossip and self importance that serving their constituents.

The novel begins in Florence admidst the many treasures that adorn that City and concludes in the beautiful English countryside. The hero, Lucy, is embarrassed by her own attraction to the Emersons's, Father and Son, who are clearly not of her class. She is encouraged by her stuufy cousin and a couple of old maids who are staying at the same hotel to avoid the Emersons. Mr. Emerson is a true romantic and his style is much to direct for their comfort and his quiet son George is much too gloomy.

Lucy is so taken off balance by young George Emerson that she cuts short her stay in Florence and flees to Rome and then home. At home she becomes engaged to a dull and pretentious man who her Mother and brother dislike.

By coincidence the Emerson's let a house from Lucy's fiance and Lucy is confronted with George. Through a series of events,Lucy finally comes to grips with the feelings she has fought so hard to repress.

Rating:
Summary: Elegant, witty, insightful
Review: Wonderful book, wonderful movie, wonderful book-on-tape.
This classic by E. M. Forster is full of wicked humor that punctures the 19th century English class system. Superb cameo pieces. The character development is subtle and sure, beginning with our heroine traveling to Italy with her maiden aunt as chaperone. There, in a pensione, she meets an iconoclastic father and son, honest, rough-hewn, plain-spoken, who insist upon trading rooms when they overhear the prim aunt complaining that she booked a room with a view. It, of course, becomes a metaphor for room to view life as a whole, without prejudice, in all its wonderful complexity.
Don't miss this excellent book by this excellent author. Then read all his others, if you haven't already done so.

Rating:
Summary: The Florentine Effect
Review: Forster's turn-of-the-century novel about British snobbery opens in the Renaissance mecca of Florence, Italy, where middle-class tourists clash with both passionate natives and judgmental expatriots. Chaperoned by her prim cousin Charlotte, young Lucy Honeychurch finds herself closely guarded and overprotected in what should be an Italian paradise. Struggling to be reborn
--as a living and compassionate being--she is shocked at the rituals of propriety daily served before her naive eyes. Whom to cultivate, whom to snub, what is and is not appropriate behavior vie for dominance in her gentle soul, as she is obliged to surrender her neophyte will to please demanding elders.

Much worse still Lucy is not permitted--nor does she permit herself--to explore the forbidden territories of her own heart. The examples of unrestrained natives and a bold kiss among the violet-covered hills of Fiesole result in their precipitous departure for Rome, but continue to haunt her memory for a year. The Emersons (father and son) prove new inpsiration in Lucy's circumscribed social milieu. Against her better judgment she is charmed by their disingenuous manners and the expression of frank feelings. Inspite of her inflexible upbringing, her mind is fascinated, even if her heart does not feel attached, by the father's unselfish kindness and the son's eager grasp of life. Their unusual philosophies and behavior throw fresh air into the drafty corridors of contstraint in which she has been reared.

It all starts with the Emersons' courteous offer to exchange their own rooms in the pensione, so that the ladies might enjoy a room with a View of glorious Florence. It takes Lucy one year to realize that her own life has needed a clear view, which she can only obtain through George Emerson. Even
back in England the Emersons inadvertantly displace two elderly ladies as tenants when they rent a villa near Lucy's home. How did poor Lucy ever come to be engaged to a boor like Cecil, with his limited world view of masculine control and maternal domination? Lucy can not imagine him unless he is inside a room, without a view, while he rightly considers her a living view of the world. Lucy is dishonest in denying her growing attraction to George; both of them individually plan to flee the anguish of frustred, forbidden proximity. Then there is the ubiquitous poor relation, Charlotte, meddling, bungling, misunderstanding and misdirecting Lucy's little life--Despite the best intentions. Will Lucy realize her error before it is too late? A quiet, insightful read which will charm students of Edwardian England and the human heart.

Rating:
Summary: Fall in love, bungle it all, and still have a happy ending
Review: I found this book as a young pre-teen. My mother handed me a dog-eared copy she had owned since her teens so I would leave her alone during a very long sea-side summer holiday. As a summer novel, it is still one of my favourites.

Despite what many of my fellow reviewers have said, I found the character development redeemed many of the characters you may not have liked too much in the beginning. Lucy's growth especially is quite real. Very much something we all end up having to go through in one respect or another as we try to survive our teens. Only her struggle is made all the more aggrivating by all the unwritten rules of Edwardian Society and the meddling relations and aquaintances Forster seems to find an evil glee in throwing in her path.

Lucy is a girl caught midway between the tantrums of childhood and expected decorum of adulthood. Through the novel she stumbles her way through all the pit-falls her station and ever-so-proper upbringing keep throwing in her way as she tries to deal with falling in love with a middle-class Bohemian [good heavens]. She starts very much as a young girl still learning the "right" and "wrong" way to do things and through the novel somehow find her way past all the expectations of her mother, her fiance, and society in general to become a woman who takes her fate into her own hands and dares to say "But I want THIS!"

It's the pitfalls and meddlings of the other characters that makes this story a treat. Everyone has an opinion and everyone gets in the way. Forster many times seems to be making fun of his characters, pointing our their absuridites with the turn of a phrase, but in the end it leaves you only with a feeling of affection for the whole lot of them.

The writing is many times very tongue in cheek and you can't help but smile at the way Forster turns a phase. The chapter names especially keep the tone of the novel light, even when things begin to look as though George and Lucy will never get together.

The copy that I read as a child also happened to contain a short article that Forster wrote many year after the fact as an Epilogue called "A View Without A Room" that let you know what he saw his characters doing with their lives over the next twenty years after the book ends. Its apparently rather rare, but I would recommend it as I would recommend this book as a whole. Still one of my favourite light summer reading novels despite having read it almost every summer for the last fifteen years.

Rating:
Summary: A room with a view
Review: My grandfather bought me this book for Christmas a year ago. At first I was just going to put it on my bookshelf and forget about it. My cousin encouraged me to read it, so I did. I've fallen in love with this book.

Lucy Honeychurch and Charlotte Bartlett are touring in Italy when they meet Mr. Emerson and George Emerson. Father and Son. The believe Mr. Emerson to be a bit un-orthodox and his son to be the same. After Lucy comes homes from Italy, she gets new neighbors. Mr. Emerson and his son.

It sounds a bit un-interesting but after a murder, a stolen kiss, a lost romance and getting lost, this book captivates you. 5 stars for this classic!!

Rating:
Summary: Utterly bewildered
Review: This short novel by Forster exposes the confusion (or what some might term 'hypocrisy') of Victorian society in turn-of-the century England.

The story displays countless instances of the oppressive strictures of Victorian society. Lucia's companion becomes flustered when offered the kindness of a better room (with a view)- as the offer comes from persons of a lower caste. This offer is met not with gratitude, but with befuddlement (what is one to do in this situation?), and Miss Bartlett (?) affects indignation, recognizing this to be the proper 'feeling' when put upon by the presumptuous lower bourgeoisie. Further offense is given by Mr. Vyse's practical joke: the letting of a property to a lower class of people amidst the elite. Adn the most tragic bewilderment is Lucia's refusal to recognize her love for George: this sentiment being improper, she laboriously attempts to come up with another name for this sentiment, or to identify and name a passion that a lower caste could properly induce in her. The roles that the charcters force themselves into are humorous at times; and the temper of the times induces more pity than outrage.

Rating:
Summary: A touch of class
Review: E.M.Forster is a semi-classical English writer, who produced numerous novels set in the early 20th century. Later, film director James Ivory (an American, strange as it may seem) made a career for himself by turning these books into movies. "A Room with a View" is what you could have called "Proletarian literature" in Soviet literary canon; only working-class setting is replaced by the British "proper" society, still unscathed by the Great War. I have a thing for this epoch, but Forster's book does not reflect its charm in the least. All because of its social message. No gripping plot, no character development, no psychological motivations. The only really enthralling thing is to observe to what degree did the English train their language to conceal feelings. It is what makes the books like Forster's or Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day" almost untranslatable. In Forster's case, though, no harm done.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely, Life Affirming
Review: This elegant little novel totally swept me away. It is so perfect from any angle I look at it. I know that this will be one of those novels I will always keep in a prominent place on my bookshelf and return to my whole life.

This exquisite novel primarily concerns Lucy Honeychurch. The novel begins with Lucy on a trip in Italy. She is accompanied there mainly by members of her own society, the upper class of England among which she has been raised. While in Italy, though, Lucy is confronted by the Italian society where she notices the classes seem to mix easily. She is also confronted with George Emerson. George is simple, direct, and of a lower class, and he is having existential worries. Despite themselves (or their pasts), the two begin to fall in love with one another, and their experiences eventually lead to their realizations of what their hearts really desire.

As it is with all of my favorite novels, I really cannot do A Room With a View justice with this review. This is a truly lovely book. The prose and the pace is perfect. There are so many sentences which are just perfect little gems by themselves. The characterizations are complex. The plot is romantic and funny. The thought behind the novel is meaningful and life affirming. There's not much more that any novel can do. A Room With a View is perfection.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book
Review: This is the best love story I have ever read. You fall in love with the characters the moment you meet them. I have recommended this book to everyone I know, and everyone who has read it adores it. Just read it to find out what I mean. =)