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A Room with a View
A Room with a View
A Room with a View
Ebook329 pages4 hours

A Room with a View

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 1908
A Room with a View

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Rating: 3.9361156088212024 out of 5 stars
4/5

2,528 ratings105 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The inhabitants of Windy Corner (as well as Pensione Betolini) are left pale and perforated after Forster's serial needling. Forster can only stop heckling his characters long enough to appreciate the song of the season's and the subtle currents of music.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    It's fun and builds up stronger, but I never really connected with it. Maybe the weak start threw me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Listened to the Classic Tales podcast version. Not bad.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well, I think I'm going to be teaching this book this year. I see the themes that make it a good one to teach to adolescents. I have a little trouble reading it, though, unless I'm not tired and have no distractions...I tend to get a little lost in the words!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lucy Honeychurch and her cousin Charlotte are visiting Florence when they meet Mr Emerson and his son. Later in England, when they encounter the Emersons again, they both have private reasons for wanting to avoid them.I was delighted by much of this; it is astutely observant and gently humorous. Much ado is made over a kiss, which is baffling from a modern perspective, but I suspect this not only reflects attitudes common at the time but that Forster is intentionally showing that his characters are being a bit ridiculous.I would be even more enthusiastic if the final chapters had unfolded as they did. There’s an irritating scene where a man lectures Lucy, telling her what she should do. His motives aren’t unsympathetic, and his advice isn’t unreasonable -- but it is uninvited and he persists even when she becomes obviously upset. Moreover, the story then jumps in time, skipping over Lucy deciding what to do next and how she goes about it. I’m pleased with the final result, but why must you diminish her agency like that?It is obvious enough for the reader to conclude, “She loves young Emerson.” A reader in Lucy’s place would not find it obvious. Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome “nerves” or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire. She loved Cecil; George made her nervous; will the reader explain to her that the phrases should have been reversed?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    With old Mr. Emerson and Mr. Beebe, Forster moves the plot along despite silly lying goose Lucy and her tedious traveling companion and cousin, Charlotte. Cecil definitely had his moments, notably because George kept himself an odd mystery.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    # 15 Of 100 Classics Challenge
    A Room With A View
    By E. M. Forster

    Some might say Lucy's conservative values have repressed her life and religion. Her outlook is put to the test when Lucy goes to Italy with her cousin Charlotte. They meet outrageous flamboyant characters like Miss Lavish, Cockney Signora, Me Emerson, Mr Beebe and George, a son.....
    Lucy is torn between returning home to her past values or continuing with her new friends unconventional beliefs and energy?
    Really good, really quick read. Recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Our Book Club Classic Read - Listened to this on audio. An absolute delightful coming of the age love story. A touching story with a splash of comedy. Lucy Honeychurch finds herself in a precarious situation. How do you tell the person you are to marry that you are not as innocent as he thinks? How little lies and omissions come back to haunt her and an unlikely encounter upsets her plans.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Liked it. Lucy is a peach, her way to view the world sometimes dreadfully simplistic, sometimes full of wonder and naivety and sometimes, especially in moments of sudden flashes of insights, simply hilarious. Foster likes his characters, even the shady ones, each of them has wit and character in their own unique way, and the whole story is has an optimistic, sometimes even funny air about it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A lovely romance.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Truth! Beauty! Love!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    English tourists are still arriving in Florence, hoping to be dazzled by the city's Renaissance splendours, and charmed by the laid-back, earthy directness of Italians. But in our current utilitarian age, Forster's themes, unravelling from this classic opening, seem less oppressive. Who checks emotion now, in thrall to the stuffy proprieties of the well-bred? And who bothers with beauty as an ideal, and whether it fits with the lives we lead? Yet this love story still rings true and engages us, because of the credible characters, all somehow at odds with prevailing mores: Lucy, the sulky and passive lead (so memorably cast as Helena Bonham-Carter), George the dashing debunker, and his father Mr Emerson, benign conscience of the novel with his saint-like selflessness, and unmannered romantic simplicity. A satisfying read; almost as good as the film.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The famous story of Lucy Honeychuch was vaguely known to me before reading E.M- Forster's classic A Room With a View, first published in 1909. It ia particularly interesting to read a story from a different time in history that is actually written as a contemporary novel. I dod, however, at times have problems keeping the interest up, because Forster is considerably more implicit than explicit when describing the events taking place and the emotions of his protagonists . Lucy and George are outsiders in a world that is strictly regulated, at least in the minds of the people we meet in the novel, but only George is aware of it. Reading the novel more than 100 years after publication makes it difficult to regard the characters without the spectacles of our own time, and we are in a way peeping in - but this is also what Forster is doing. He is an ominpresent writer, regarding his characters like they are actors in a play, knowing very well what choices they eventually will make. Towards the end, the book really picks up and one starts to really feel for the characters, seeing them actually make choices. The Florence of A Room With a View has become iconic, both through the novel and the film. Before I went there for the first time, Forster's description made up my image of the city. Not many novels have that impact.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've a feeling I'm going to be out on a limb with this review, but, despite having loved the other EM Forster novels I've read, I found A Room with a View to be as dull as ditchwater. I've been looking forward to reading this book for ages, so my disappointment is only multiplied.This was definitely a case for me where the film totally surpassed the book. I loved the film - those gorgeous Florentine views, the fanning of the flames of desire between Lucy and George, the humorous dialogue played out so well by Bonham-Carter in particular. But the book fell so flat! The first 150 pages bored me rigid - it was only in the last 50 that it got mildly interesting. I get that Forester wanted us to feel Lucy's growing sense of boredom and desire to feel that wonderment in life, but I felt entrenched in the dullness of her world. The characters she engaged with were largely pretentious and emotionless, and I just couldn't feel anything for any of them. Even the budding romance between Lucy and George left me cold. There was so little interaction between them it was hard to feel from those 4 or 5 short encounters any building of the desire between them.It was obvious by page 20 what was going to happen in the end, and I was just glad to reach that point so I could shut the cover forever and move on.2.5 stars - yaaaaawwwwwnnnnnnnnnn
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The answer to the question, "Which book should I pack in my carry-on to Italy?"
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Avoid the 1992 "pre-echo"/"bleed-through" Books on Tape edition (and its later repackaged versions)[4] for "A Room with a View."[1] for the 1992 audiobook by Frederick Davidson. I'm not going to distort the rating for the Edwardian meet-cute romantic-comedy classic "A Room with a View" due to a bad audio experience, so the official vote here is a [4].Otherwise, this is a warning to steer clear of the 1992 Books on Tape audiobook by Frederick Davidson which is badly dated in style but is still being sold as recently as 2017 at Audible Audio. It also betrays its audiotape analog pedigree due to its constant pre-echo / audio bleed-through. This is a quirk from the vinyl/tape era where the audio signal from about 2-3 seconds in the future would "bleed-through" as a artifact in the current signal. The effect is like hearing a phantom distorted conversation constantly in the background of the actual audio that you are listening to. It is enormously annoying and distracting.Frederick Davidson (real name:David Case) was an early legend of the audiobook era and recorded many hundreds of classics. His reading style will seem very old-fashioned now but is still suitable for some characters e.g. Cecil Vyse in the case of "A Room with a View."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very funny observational humour in Florence, a comedy of interior dialogue and exterior manners. Turns a bit gloomy in Windy Corner, with quite a lot of coincidence needed to set up the action, a situation which the author manages to deal with fairly well. A truly inspiring conclusion where things fall into place, with a very profound view of what it means to live a meaningful life.Abridged audiobook (5 hours 14 minutes) read by Juliet Stevenson:A fairly light abridgement (5 and a quarter hours abridged versus approximately 7 hours and 20 minutes unabridged).Excellent narration.Musical interludes tolerable due to the reference to Lucy's playing.Stop the audio when she says "The End" unless you want the Audible.com voice shouting "THIS IS AUDIBLE DOT COM" at you immediately afterwards.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I could not find anything interesting about this book at all, particularly after reading the pre-review. I also could not get through the movie, "A Passage to India" although I tried twice. This author does have his fans and may only reflect a difference of tastes in reading material. Readers can judge for themselves.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had the great pleasure of listening to this via an Audible recording by B.J. Harrison, whose narration was wonderful. It's an early Forster, in which he delightfully skewers Edwardian upper middle class manners. A young woman takes a tour of Italy, with a rather purse-lipped older cousin/chaperone, and of course falls in love, to her own dismay, flees, makes bad choices, and then good ones.The characters are vividly different, and include sneering expats, an inappropriately wild female novelist, a clergyman, a pair of older British spinsters, and even a rather un-Italian pension proprietress. The writing is equally vivid. What is most striking to me is how Forster makes us privy to the thoughts of our heroine Lucy Honeychurch (what a name!). We hear her testing her conventions and emotions, as Italy shows her the possibilities of generous feeling, as well as the dangers of passion. Back home, she struggles to re-adapt to the expectations of society, but plans go delightfully awry.I've rarely laughed out loud walking uptown listening to a novel, but I did several times listening to this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is absolutely lovely. I would recommend this to someone who is wanting to read classics, but is unsure where to start, as it is a very easy read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A Room with a View is a wonderful classic - not that deep, but a fun book to read. I would have a hard time recommending Frederick Davidson as a narrator. I have seen lots of mixed reviews about him. Many people say he takes some time to get used to. If that's the case, at 7 cds, A Room with a View is not long enough. His women's voices have an irritating quality that made them all sound so simpering and shallow. This might have been intentional given the characters in the book, but it definitely detracted from what was a delightful story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favorite book for a long, long time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There's something rather nice about this comming of age tale. There's snobbery and all the usual hypocrasy that attends society, and it's displayed by enough people. But Eventually Lucy fnds her feet, and gets her man.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "A Room with a View" is a good novel in the nineteenth-century style, but it becomes a really interesting novel when one considers that it feels like one of the last of its kind. The old themes and plot devices -- marriage, propriety, manners, financial security, and consideration -- are still present, but in a changing, modernizing world. Indeed, a lot of the manners that allowed characters in previous romantic novels to effectively communicate with each other sometimes seem like hindrances to communication here: much of the time, the author seems to suggest that language itself can be a barrier to real understanding. Forster also includes a few characters with unmistakably modern ideas, describes the way that suburbia is encroaching on traditional English country life, and, most exciting of all, explores how values associated largely with the twentieth century, such as freedom and independence, might affect the traditional novel. Forster's imagery, particularly his use of water, seems more attuned to post-Freudian or Modernist writing as well. The novel's ending didn't surprise me in terms of plot -- this is, after all, a love story -- but it takes a few genuinely surprising thematic terms that would have been almost unimaginable in, say, a Jane Austen novel. It might not be an exaggeration to say that "A Room with a View" feels like the Victorian novel writing itself out of existence. The novel also has some other attractions. Forster has a lot of fun with the English abroad, who seek to bring their own country with them or take pride in finding an probably imaginary "real Italy." And then, of course, there's Lucy Honeychurch, the female character at the novel's center, who is wonderfully human and sympathetic. She's not as headstrong as Elizabeth Bennett, but because the conflict she feels, which often hinges on the conflict between her own affection for her upbringing and her desire for a new sort of life, her character might be an excellent recapitualtion of all the novel's themes. I didn't find "A Room with a View" to be a fun or thrilling read; in its way, it's very formal. But that doesn't mean it isn't a very, very good novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A sweet little book, a young girl's coming of age amidst the uncomparable landscapes of Florence and surroundings. Poetical language. Somehow lacking depth. One of the rare occasions where the movie is so much better and actually does rapture your imagination much more than the book itself.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Didn't finish. Never read this when I was younger. Obviously beautifully written, but just not holding my interest. Whole chapters about manners and whatnot, just not gonna happen. Same issues as when I periodically try and read Jane Austen. Recognize the brilliance, of course, just to much in another era.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    2 stars

    Lucia (Lucy) Honeychurch is a conventional young woman on tour in Italy in the early 20th century who is accompanied by her middle aged cousin who is a spinster. The trip awakens more in her as she meets some unconventional people and witnesses a murder. She falls in love with George Emerson, an unconventional man who is a socialist and very much an individual. However, she denies and suppreses this as they are separated by Lucia's cousin, Miss Charlotte Bartlett. Lucy becomes engaged to a man she thinks she loves before meeting George once again, and the rest you have to read to find out.

    The book started of rather insipidly, and there wasn't much depth put into the characters. Forster often used surnames as characters labels (surnames such as Eager, Lavish, Vyse (a surname, but sounds just like vise aka vice), or after famous people with certain outlooks that tied into his characters), which I found rather annoying. I finished this for 1001 books, etc, but was not thrilled with this book. Forster clearly meant this book to be a statement, but I didn't find it impressive in the least.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An enjoyable enough read, quite funny in places, and not quite what I expected. I was a little disappointed that the character of George was not fully explored, so that it was difficult to see what it was that Lucy was attracted to - apart from the kisses, of course.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found Lucy a bit wishy-washy, although a fairly realistic version of a girl in her late teens at this time. For me, the most interesting part of this novel was the relationship between Lucy and Miss Barlett, although I do admit to a soft spot for Mr. Emerson Sr. :)

    The British tourists were pretty insufferable, but it felt true to life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Read this and 'Where Angels Fear to Tread' in quick succession. This is definitely the 'nicer' of the two: sweet happy ending, young love story. It risks becoming schmaltzy, but avoids it through great writing and very human characterisation. You can see Forster's influence on English literature, trickled down to Smith and Hollinghurst, etc.

Book preview

A Room with a View - E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

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