Daniel Day-Lewis can play tough, gruff, evil characters like Bill the Butcher and Daniel Plainview and even the sexually voracious Tomas, but can he play an upper-class fop? The man's range is extraordinary. It's opulent, classic, and essentially British, but it's also occasionally boring, making the most of the most trifling conflicts. Part of this is film's inability as a medium to make compelling commonplace disagreements in a way that is unique to books, but Ivory's direction, distant shots of four or more characters, accentuates the germane nature of the film's tiny conflicts -- about a room with a view, the settling of accounts, and a writer's fictionalizing of a character's dalliance.
A Room with a View
Not my favorite of this genre, but satisfying. The reasons I didn't want to see it are probably the same that some people use to dislike it: What I think these people lack is an ability to be wrapped up in the lurid charm of this cute little tale of two people who are both strong willed and challenge the ideals of the times they live in. While Lucy portrayed by an unrecognizable Helena Bonham Carter passionately plays piano, bickers with her cousin Charlotte, and doesn't like being taken advantage of by any man, George Julian Sands is a fascinating oddity who works on impulse and yet never steps out of bounds with the outcome to hurt her.
The start of the film is in Venice, then the English countryside.
The sets and principal photography are entrancing. The actual view from the room with a view is justifiably gorgeous, and every shot of the film is impeccable. The editing and timing of each scene is quick, but not harried, which leads to some great scenes between the two leads. Because that character is neither evil, nor unforgivably droll, the fact that they're together or apart doesn't matter. No one cares one way or the other whether she marries one or the other. The "affair" is two sets of kisses, both surprises, and instead of dealing with it solemnly, George runs away from her. The ending plays back into the title which came off pretty cutesy.
Overall it was a decent film about two very strange people who show their affection in fairly crazed ways. That, and there is an entire scene of full frontal male nudity, in no way abbreviated for us females and our waspish sensibilities. It's quite torrid to say the least. Anyway, it's about love, and all the insecurities which keep us from being with the person who we deserve. More Top Movies Trailers. DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Black Panther Dominates Honorees. Trending on RT Avengers: A Room With a View Post Share on Facebook.
Movie Info Set during the Edwardian era of England, A Room With a View finds Lucy, a proper young British lady, facing a dilemma -- should she marry the safe, nerdish Cecil, or opt for the unpredictability of the charismatic George whom she met while on a tour of the continent? Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy Honeychurch. Julian Sands as George. Maggie Smith as Charlotte. Denholm Elliott as Emerson. Daniel Day-Lewis as Cecil.
Simon Callow as Reverend Beebe. Judi Dench as Miss Lavish. Rosemary Leach as Mrs. Rupert Graves as Freddy. Patrick Godfrey as Eager. Fabia Drake as Catherine. Joan Henley as Teresa Alan. Maria Britneva as Mrs. Amanda Walker as The Cockney Signora. Peter Cellier as Sir Harry Otway. Mia Fothergill as Minnie Beebe.
A Room with a View ( film) - Wikipedia
Patricia Lawrence as Mrs. Mirio Guidelli as Santa Croce Guide. Freddy Korner as Mr. Elizabeth Marangoni as Miss Pole. Lucca Rossi as Phaeton. Isabella Celani as Persephone. Luigi di Fiore as Murdered Youth. I love this type of old-fashioned romance novel where the hero has actual substance and not just a set of six-pack abs. Lucy slowly, slowly starts to think for herself. She starts to grasp what life is really about - living, people, nature, love - not what she's been trained to think that it's about: She makes a huge mistake in bowing to societal pressure and getting engaged to the priggish, domineering, bossy, judgmental and pretentious Cecil Vyse.
He adores telling her how to think, who to like, who to sneer at he loves sneering. Luckily for Lucy, George moves into the neighborhood, setting her mind and heart awhirl for a second time. Will she stay with Cecil? Will she end up with George? I'm always worried going into a classic book. Hyde, Two Years Before the Mast. I was pleasantly surprised that this book was a joy to read. It's written in a relaxed, easy style that is fun and relatable. I was completely caught up and swept away by Lucy's problems. Cecil was infuriating me to no end. I was yelling at him and cursing him out.
Every time George showed up, I'd hold my breath, waiting to see what liberal philosophies he was going to tell Lucy about and get her mind working again. I felt like Cecil was the most frustrating, anger-inducing character. When an author writes an "evil" character, let's say a rapist or a murderer or a child-abuser or a slaver, it's obvious this person is bad news. You the reader hate him, the protagonist hates him, and you only have to worry about what evil he'll wreck on people's lives. They don't commit crimes, or physically hurt anyone.
Instead, they take great delight in putting other people down in subtle ways, controlling others, and caring only about themselves and their own needs. Cecil doesn't KNOW he's a jerk - he's very insecure about his masculinity and therefore takes out his doubt and frustration by pretending to be the "big man," telling others what to do all the time and expressing contempt for people that he sees as 'beneath him.
Having someone like this at his side makes him feel like a big, strong man. Putting others down and making them feel small is also a way he makes himself feel better. But he is proper and has money and good standing in society, so Lucy thinks he must be right in his opinions - and everyone around her encourages her to marry him.
Lucy herself impressed me a lot. I could see that a lot of people would just see her as a sheltered girl who is rather stupid. She's being raised in a society where being proper is everything. Women aren't supposed to think, they're supposed to get married and have children. Lucy is someone I admire because even though she's sheltered, she hungers for a world greater than the one she's living in.
She doesn't even realize it, but there's a big hole in her life that afternoon tea with gossipy ladies can't fill. Going to Italy and seeing the beauty and different society there starts to open up her eyes - aided by a kiss from George. After moving back to England, she finds herself again bowing to the constraints and demands of proper English society. She makes a mistake in getting engaged to Cecil. But when George shows up again, the gears in her head start turning again - and she view spoiler [ realizes that Cecil is annoying and tiring to be around.
She bravely goes to him and breaks off their engagement. She tells him straight out that his behavior is appalling and she doesn't appreciate him telling her what to do and think. She expresses anger that he looks down at her mother and brother with contempt. I thought she was so brave and strong to be able to do this. I really admired her. In the end, she STILL doesn't want to admit that she loves George, but a heart-to-heart talk with George's father soon straightens her out. She elopes with George but has to accept estrangement from her family and friends for her 'scandalous,' 'improper' behavior.
He's always putting down Cecil as a man who likes telling her how and what to think - and she calls George on doing the same thing. He realizes that he himself is trying to bring her around to his way of thinking, and apologizes. Lucy turns into a very brave and outspoken woman, and I really like that she calls "bullshit" not only on the "bad guy" - Cecil - but on the "good guy" George as well. In fact, the best, most attractive guy to me is old Mr. Emerson - a man who truly seems to understand the world and to understand what is important. He is also honest and has a huge heart.
But I can see that George is more attractive and more her age - I'd never expect for her to end up with the old widower. But view spoiler [ she gets the best of both worlds - George as a husband and Mr. Emerson as a father-in-law. I was rather sad that she ends up estranged from her family and friends - they may be a bit silly and shallow, but I feel like Lucy really loved them.
I really enjoyed reading it and was completely caught up in the characters and plot. View all 24 comments. This is how I found my way towards E. Forster 's page novel about a woman who is forced to make a decision between marrying a wealthy man she will never love and a man of lower class who she knows she can be happy with. Funnily enough, I think it was this story's length that slightly let it down for me, had it been a longer book I'm su 3.
Funnily enough, I think it was this story's length that slightly let it down for me, had it been a longer book I'm sure I would have fallen in love with George as everyone else seems to. This book was published in - a time somewhat between eras for British society. Into this world strolls Lucy Honeychurch, at first a very naive and typical young woman of the time period.
But a woman who, as the book progresses, eventually challenges societal conventions and limitations.
A Room With a View: No 9 best romantic film of all time
Forster is famous for his stories about British society and class and hypocrisy. He was a gay man who spent his entire life hiding his sexuality from an unforgiving world made up of expectations and a very black and white view of what was right and wrong. Though his personal struggles weren't made clear until after his death with the publication of Maurice , it is obvious to me that A Room with a View is just one of his various attempts to poke fun at the rigidity of class, gender and sexual boundaries.
Lucy longs for independence, freedom from the constrictions of being a woman in , being upper middle class, being a label with a set of rules that she is expected to follow. She wants to live as she goes and define herself in that way, not in a predetermined fashion that stems from centuries of inequalities and the desire for "appropriateness". I cannot tell you just how much I loved this idea, I only wanted a longer story to make it perfect. Lucy is such a charming and interesting character that she could have easily held my attention for double the amount of pages in this incredibly short book.
Also, I wasn't quite sold on George and I think I was supposed to be, that the point was that the reader would come to love the man who wasn't as wealthy, who wasn't as well-educated. A little more time to get to know George would have made me happy. View all 12 comments. Love is in the air--or maybe anxiously repressed--in February and my romantic literature jag begins with A Room with a View , the novel by E.
Like a candy store, this book offers a bounty of treats that I found irresistible. There's a holiday in Italy. There's a boarding house with much ado. There are young lovers Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson. There are bridges, summer storms and a hillside covered in great blue violets. There's a return to the heroine's home in Surrey, Eng Love is in the air--or maybe anxiously repressed--in February and my romantic literature jag begins with A Room with a View , the novel by E.
There's a return to the heroine's home in Surrey, England dubbed Windy Corner and intrigue to keep the lovers apart. Experts say that eating too much candy will rot your teeth out, but I left the store with a grin. Promised rooms overlooking the Arno River, the ladies are booked into rooms facing a courtyard. Charlotte's "peevish wrangling" gets the attention of an old man who announces that he has a view. He offers to swap rooms with the women and is immediately rebuked by Charlotte, who considers the man ill-bred and his proposal untoward. An Anglican clergyman named Mr. Beebe, who Charlotte recognizes from Lucy's parish of Spring Street in the countryside of Surrey, compels her to accept the trade.
Emerson and his son George exchange rooms with the women, the guests are seated for dinner.
Recalling his parishioner's talent on the piano, Mr. Beebe finds himself much more engaged by Lucy, who only seeks to please, and maybe enjoy herself on her holiday, over the fussy Charlotte. At dinner, a little old lady drops into the conversation offering unsolicited tourist advice; her name is Miss Eleanor Lavish. The next morning, while Charlotte rests, Miss Lavish offers to escort Lucy on an adventure.
The old lady demands Lucy shut her Baedeker guidebook, which she believes touches only the surface of things. Accordingly, they drifted through a series of those gray-brown streets, neither commodious nor picturesque, in which the eastern quarter of the city abounds. Lucy soon lost interest in the discontent of Lady Louisa, and became discontented herself. For one ravishing moment Italy appeared. She stood in the Square of the Annunziata and saw in the living terracotta those divine babies whom no cheap reproduction can ever stale.
There they stood, with their shining limbs bursting from the garments of charity, and their strong white arms extended against circlets of heaven. Lucy thought she had never seen anything more beautiful; but Miss Lavish, with a shriek of dismay, dragged her forward, declaring that they were out of their path now by at least a mile. Lucy and Miss Lavish end up in the Basilica of Santa Croce, where the escort becomes distracted by her "local colour box" and abandons Lucy to gab with him. Lucy enters the Franciscan church and encounters Mr. Emerson, whose son George invites Lucy to join them.
Emerson's theological opinions grow so boisterous that his voice drowns out a tour group led by a fellow guest, a curate named Mr. Emerson to be foolish, irreligious and the sort that her mother would not want her to associate with, and she is unnerved by the melancholy of George.
Emerson feels sorry for Lucy, so concerned with doing what she thinks will please others. While Miss Lavish and Charlotte pair up, Lucy feels left out. She goes alone to the Piazza Signoria, purchasing photographs and other objects of beauty she comes across. Lucy stumbles into an argument between two Italian men which turns violent, with one stabbing and killing the other. As she swoons, George Emerson comes to her rescue.
Escorting Lucy back to the pension, George returns to the square upon her request retrieve her photographs, which he awkwardly disposes of in the Arno, explaining that they had blood on them. Discussing the murder they've witnessed and how to move forward, George replies cryptically, "I shall want to live, I say.
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Eager on an excursion by carriage to the summit of the Torre del Gallo. She learns that Miss Lavish aspires to write a novel about Florence. Lucy is pelted with questions by the little old lady about the murder she witnessed. Eager joins Charlotte in his contempt for the widowed Mr. Emerson, who the curate blames for the death of Mrs. Since her brush with death, Lucy has begun to see through the pretensions of her fellow travelers. The carriage party splits up and when Lucy stumbles in a field of deep-blue violets, she is kissed by George Emerson.
Her cousin witnesses the act. There is no need to call him a wicked young man, but obviously he is thoroughly unrefined. Let us put it down to his deplorable antecedents and education, if you wish. But we are no further on with our question. What do you propose to do? Miss Bartlett uttered a cry of genuine alarm. But--as you said--it is my affair. From her family home in the Surrey hills, a country district developed by her late father they call Windy Corner, Mrs. Honeychurch and Lucy's teenage brother Freddy discuss the engagement. Freddy doesn't hate Cecil, but doesn't much like him, while Lucy's mother finds her son-in-law "clever, rich and well-connected.
Cecil decides to have some sport with a neighbor in Windy Corner who seeks to let a cottage. Though Lucy makes overtures to a pair of dear old English ladies she met in Florence called the Miss Alans to take the house, Cecil brokers the cottage for a father and son he meets in a London art museum, the Emersons. Freddy invites George Emerson for a swim in a hidden pond he knows well, with the vicar Mr. Beebe reluctantly tagging along. When she is reunited with George, Lucy struggles to keep her composure, even though her Florence affair is half-naked and wet. The intrigue rises when Lucy learns that her mother has invited Charlotte down from London to repair at Windy Corner while her plumbing is being fixed.
Cecil becomes obsessed with an awful novel he's discovered and as he reads the prose aloud, Lucy discovers it to be Miss Lavish's book. Lucy confronts her cousin about betraying her confidence to Miss Lavish and confronted by George alone, is again kissed by him. George urges her not to marry Cecil and Lucy is torn between who she will elect to disappoint. The contest lay not between love and duty. Perhaps there never is such a contest. It lay between the real and the pretended, and Lucy's first aim was to defeat herself.
As her brain clouded over, as the memory of the views grew dim and the words of the book died away, she returned to her old shibboleth of nerves. She "conquered her breakdown". Tampering with the truth, she forgot that the truth had ever been. Remembering that she was engaged to Cecil, she compelled herself to confused remembrances of George: The armour of falsehood is subtly wrought out of darkness, and hides a man not only from others, but from his own soul. In a few moments Lucy was equipped for battle. A Room with a View is divided into two parts--Florence and Windy Corner--and I was twittering in the 20th century sense through part one.
Lucy Honeychurch is such a passive character initially, bullied by her cousin, hounded by her mother's values and introduced to outspoken men she has been told to disapprove of. Forster devotes a great deal of attention to Lucy's henpecking and I was struck by how long the poor girl put up with it.
The author's sumptuous prose and travelogue kept me engaged, and when he moves the story to England, it takes off. He saw that the local society was narrow, but instead of saying, "Does this very much matter? He did not realize that Lucy had consecrated her environment by the thousand little civilities that create a tenderness in time, and that through her eyes saw its defects her heart refused to despite it entirely.
Nor did he realize a more important point--that if she was too great for this society she was too great for all society, and had reached the stage where personal intercourse would alone satisfy her. A rebel she was, but not of the kind he understood--a rebel who desired, not a wider dwelling-room, but equality beside the man she loved. For Italy was offering her the most priceless of all possessions--her own soul.
While Lucy's thoughts and passions are masked in Florence, once the story moves to Windy Corner, Freddy and Cecil show no decorum and through those characters, Forster's wit is unbound. There's a wonderful comedy of manners in which the boys harangue Charlotte Bartlett to accept reimbursement for her cab ride over, with neither side willing to lose face by taking money when that is exactly what each side wants.
Lucy does slowly assert herself and finds her own voice amid all the henpecking, but the young lovers are eclipsed by Freddy and Cecil and the novel, despite Forster's delightful writing and seasonable insights, comes up just short of complete satisfaction. The furor stirred up by a woman simply kissing a man on holiday was difficult for me to relate to, but by the end of the book, I came to appreciate the awakening Lucy experienced. Forster wrote six novels, five of which have been adapted to film, including A Room with a View in , which was nominated for eight Academy Awards.
Emerson and Judi Dench as Miss Lavish. Forster's character names sing and so does this novel. View all 31 comments. Jul 07, Madeline rated it liked it Shelves: What happens in Florence, stays in Florence. Unless this is the early 's and you're visiting the city with your annoying spinster cousin, then you kiss some boy in a field of violets for like two seconds and nobody ever lets you forget it.
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This is a brief, sweet little novel about Lucy Honeychurch winner of the prestigious award for Most Adorable Name Ever , who goes to Florence with previously-mentioned spinster cousin. Then they go back to England and she gets engaged to a schmuck. For this part of the novel, I was mostly coasting along, having a reasonably good time reading about well-off English people and their Well-Off English People Problems "Our Italian pension is owned by a Cockney lady!
So-and-so isn't the right kind of blandly religious! It was mildly entertaining, and I was a huge fan of Mr. Emerson from the get-go. George, sadly, never quite did it for me, and Lucy I found to be kind of boring until, UNTIL, the glorious moment when she breaks up with her lame fiance and gets awesome. Here's part of her breakup speech: I won't be protected.
I will choose for myself what is ladylike and right. To shield me is an insult. Can't I be trusted to face the truth but I must get it second-hand through you? I won't be stifled, not by the most glorious music, for people are more glorious, and you hide them from me. That's why I break off my engagement. Because this concerns you. Maybe I imagined it, but it seemed like the writing became so much more beautiful after that, and I was reading the story more carefully and with more interest than I had before. It was a slow start, but Forster's fantastic characters managed to win me over in the end yes, even the annoying spinster cousin.
View all 10 comments. I was overjoyed to discover that this book I had liked when I was in high school was even more charming and lovely than I remembered. I'm not sure what impelled me to suddenly reread this novel about a young Englishwoman, Lucy Honeychurch, whose life is transformed after she visits Italy, but I'm glad I did.
Forster's language is so inviting and engaging that as soon as I started reading, I didn't want to put down the book. The story opens at a hotel in Florence, and Lucy is being chaperoned by h I was overjoyed to discover that this book I had liked when I was in high school was even more charming and lovely than I remembered. The story opens at a hotel in Florence, and Lucy is being chaperoned by her meddling and fussy cousin, Charlotte Bartlett.
The two ladies are upset that their rooms don't have a view of the Arno, but at dinner, a loud Englishman, Mr. Emerson, offers to switch rooms with them. After some awkward exchanges, the ladies finally agree to the deal. Since this was the early s, delicate things were not discussed and caused much embarrassment among gentlefolk.
Over the next few days, Lucy often crossed paths with George, Mr. Emerson's son, and during an outing to the country, George surprised her by kissing her passionately. While Lucy didn't realize it at the time, that kiss ended up changing her life. OK, I hate writing summaries of classic novels because it feels like I'm writing a high school book report, so I'm going to assume that anyone who takes the time to read this review is already familiar with the rest of the plot, thanks to the popularity of the Merchant-Ivory film.
Oh, how I loved that movie when I was young! It was definitely one of the things that set me on the path to becoming an anglophile. If you are reading this review and don't know the rest of the story, well, golly, I'm not going to ruin it for you here! Besides being gorgeously written, this book is endearing for how Forster gave Lucy a chance to be her own person. There are several quotes about women that showed how progressive Forster was, and that was refreshing.
Lucy was also so passionate about music that her parson was fond of saying he hoped she would learn to live as vibrantly as she played. When Lucy gets into a muddle over her whether or not to marry the uptight Cecil, she makes a grand speech about not wanting to be locked up, and wanting to have her own thoughts. I loved this book so much that I will keep it on my shelf for future reads. Now I need to reread Howard's End and see how that holds up. Funniest Quote by Cecil "All modern books are bad Every one writes for money in these days. Honeychurch so much as literature in the hands of females.
She would abandon every topic to inveigh against those women who instead of minding their houses and their children seek notoriety by print. Pull out from the depths those thoughts you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them. By understanding George you may learn to understand yourself. It will be good for both of you. She was then no longer either deferential or patronizing; no longer either a rebel or a slave.
The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world; it will accept those whom breeding and intellect and culture have alike rejected. The commonplace person begins to play, and shoots into the empyrean without effort, whilst we look up, marveling how he has escaped us, and thinking how we could worship him and love him, would he but translate his visions into human words, and his experiences into human actions.
Perhaps he cannot; certainly he does not, or does so very seldom. Lucy had done so never. Charlotte had once explained to her why. It was not that ladies were inferior to men; it was that they were different. Their mission was to inspire others to achievement rather than to achieve themselves. Indirectly, by means of tact and a spotless name, a lady could accomplish much. But if she rushed into the fray herself she would be first censured, then despised, and finally ignored.
Poems had been written to illustrate this point. In this circle, one thought, married and died. Outside it were poverty and vulgarity for ever trying to enter, just as the London fog tries to enter the pinewoods pouring through the gaps in the northern hills. But, in Italy, where any one who chooses may warm himself in equality, as in the sun, this conception of life vanished. Her senses expanded; she felt that there was no one whom she might not get to like, that social barriers were irremovable, doubtless, but not particularly high.
You jump over them just as you jump into a peasant's olive-yard in the Apennines, and he is glad to se you. She returned with new eyes. For Italy was offering her the most priceless of all possessions — her own soul. View all 17 comments. Oct 19, Kevin Ansbro rated it really liked it Shelves: I was reminded of this, an old favourite of mine, when a Goodreads' review of the book, by Apatt, https: Forster writes in a way that would seem archaic now natch , but the same codes of conduct and social divisions still apply in our modern age.
In pre-WWI, England , travel to sunny Euro destinati "She knew that the intruder was ill-bred, even before she glanced at him. Rebel-in-waiting, Lucy Honeychurch takes the Grand Tour to Florence, chaperoned by her snobby Aunt Charlotte, whose 'manners' get in the way of good common sense. Uptight spinster, Auntie Bartlett, attempts to counterbalance the nothingness of her frigid life by looking down her nose at people who possess far better qualities than she.
Forster does a great job of lampooning the superciliousness and the haughtiness of an old money Brit abroad, something that he, as a man from a privileged background himself, observed at very close quarters. His deadpan wit is recognisably reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's and should even have the modern reader "L"ing out loud!
I thoroughly enjoyed this a long while ago, and really need to read it again in order to do it justice. View all 21 comments. It was Phaethon who drove them to Fiesole that memorable day, a youth all irresponsibility and fire, recklessly urging his master's horse up the stony hill. I was so thrilled that I had actually been in Florence, where a part of the story takes place. The "main event" of the Florence episode occurs when the English ladies take a chaperoned carriage ride into the hi It was Phaethon who drove them to Fiesole that memorable day, a youth all irresponsibility and fire, recklessly urging his master's horse up the stony hill.
The "main event" of the Florence episode occurs when the English ladies take a chaperoned carriage ride into the hills near Fiesole. Don't dismiss this "romantic comedy". As noted in Wiki, Modern Library has ranked the book on its list of the greatest English-language novels of the 20th century.
And the "comedy" aspect is not a laugh-out-loud variety, rather a gentle, mildly mocking satire of manners. It could probably be compared to some of Jane Austen's novels - not as great a work as Pride and Prejudice , but in a similar vein. This tacked on a very poignant, and different, ending to the novel, I thought very well done. This is available on Netflix DVD 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.
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 love a man just This is the first book that I've just tipped over in love with in a long time. She learns that she doesn't have to love a man just because everybody else tells her he's right for her. And she finally follows her own instincts to find happiness.
Some of the best parts: Upon hearing Lucy playing the piano " Beebe says,"If Miss Honeychurch ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting--both for us and for her. There, they meet the old Mr. Emerson and his son George, who are sort of lower class, or at least other people think they are, when really Mr. Emerson just says what he thinks, which is never appreciated. Several in the group take a road trip out to a famous landscape, and Lucy finds herself alone. She goes looking for the vicar when she falls into a little violet-covered terrace: For a moment he contemplated her, as one who had fallen out of heaven.
He saw radiant joy in her face, he saw the flowers beat against her dress in blue waves. The bushes above them closed. He stepped quickly forward and kissed her. Lucy returns home and Cecil follows her and asks her to marry him for the third time and she says yes. She's happy for a while, until George and his dad move into town. That leads to this: She thought a disaster was averted.
But when they entered the shrubbery it came. Cecil must go back for [a book: This next is my favorite part, when George is trying to convince Lucy that Cecil is wrong for her, that Cecil just wants someone to talk the ears off of, with all his stupid "witticisms" and holding forth on various profound subjects that he doesn't know anything about. But Lucy is tired of being talked at, and tells George that he is doing exactly the same thing. And he says, "This desire to govern a woman--it lies very deep, and men and women must fight it together But I do love you--surely in a better way than he does.
I want you to have your own thoughts even when I hold you in my arms. That is a good line there, a surefire way to talk a woman into anything. But Lucy holds fast--I don't know how she does it--and George goes away. What follows next is probably the most gracious broken engagement ever recorded, which may be the redemption of Cecil Vyse who turns out to be sort of interesting, when he's not a giant prat.
And then a happy ending that may have been brought about by the person you'd least expect it from. Obviously, what I've written here is just the surface of the story. There's tons of deeper analytical stuff about the role of women in society, class divisions, Fate vs. God, the probably gay vicar, and how Italy makes everything better. But you can ignore all that, if you want, and stay in the shallow end of the pool with me Jun 10, Apatt rated it it was amazing Shelves: A couple of days before I started to read this book I have just read and reviewed E.
Forster is of course not known for his sci-fi as he wrote only the one story as far as I know. All of which have been adapted into films. A Room with a View is his most widely read and popular work. I decided to read it after reading The Machine Stops. Room is superficially a romance and a comedy of manners, but it is also a social satire a character study and an exploration of the human mind. The protagonist Lucy who has been living a sheltered life meets a seemingly plebeian English father and son while on holiday in Florence with her snooty cousin Charlotte.
A Room with a View is a pleasant, amusing and thought provoking book. Sometime this is justifiable but as this novel shows it can leads to life changing error of judgment. A couple of quotes from this book that deal with this particular theme: It should forget civility and consideration and all the other curses of a refined nature.
Above all, it should never ask for leave where there is a right of way. For me it is a less interesting aspect of the book due to its commonplaceness. I do tend to get a little frustrated with the heroines of romcoms when they acting out their self-denial. There is also a satire of people who like to act the martyr for the purpose of emotional blackmail which had me chuckling. The characters are all believable and the central characters are quite complex, probably too complex for their own good. The prose and dialogue, as I expect from [author E. Forster], is beautifully written. This is one of his lighter novels and there are amusing scenes and dialogues scattered throughput the book.
As I read this in audiobook format it is more difficult to make notes and highlight favorite lines. Speaking of which, the audiobook is superbly read by Elizabeth Klett who is an American lady but reads all the dialog in a convincing English accent; the narrative parts are read in her natural accent, which makes for an interesting contrast and serves to highlight her skills.
Any way, lovely book, time well spent! View all 11 comments. A Room with a View is a story of love; a story of self-realization of a young woman; and a story of the Edwardian English society still governed by strict Victorian values. This is my first experience with E. Written in the beginning of Edwardian era, Forster critically exposes the cultural restrictions, class difference and rigidly maintained social status that had swallowed the English society.
The story is set up in England and Italy and Forster with his craft A Room with a View is a story of love; a story of self-realization of a young woman; and a story of the Edwardian English society still governed by strict Victorian values. The story is set up in England and Italy and Forster with his crafty and witty writing style, draws comparison between English cultural rigidity and Italian cultural relaxation. The opening of the book is a scene in a pension in Italy, where a group of English tourist who, being in a foreign country, were still divided by class.
There was the assumption of George Emerson being a porter just because he works in the railway, although he actually is a clerk. The focus of the story is a young woman named Lucy and her journey of finding both herself and love. It is not an easy journey, as she has to hurdle through strong social barriers. The inner struggle that she goes through is the struggle of young men and especially young women in the Edwardian society, being torn between strict conventions and emerging modern opinions.
Forster is a radical. He mocked the Victorian perceptions in the old generation that still held strong and supported the view of mixed class marriages in the wake up of a new middle class which was steadily brought forth by industrialization. However after finishing the read, there is this nagging feeling in me that perhaps, I have not pealed all the layers that were laid out; perhaps I had missed out something, for Forster has this astonishing ability which I can only compare to that of Virginia Woolf to keep you wondering whether you really, really understood it.
Overall, I enjoyed the read very much. View all 14 comments. One of those classics which I always felt I must have read at some time in the past but apparently had not, so meeting Lucy Honeychurch for the first time was a great pleasure. A Room with a View is a very enjoyable humorous critique of society, much in the style of Jane Austen. Lucy's travelling partner, Charlotte, could have come straight from an Austen novel. It is also a romance with, of all things, view spoiler [an unexpectedly happy ending.
It is a short book, easy to read and definitely a good choice for anyone who wants lay claim to reading the classics without having to try too hard. I am pleased I have read it at last: View all 5 comments. I imagine that in the early twentieth century, this book could have been marketed as a "beach" read. It's fast-paced, romantic, endearing, funny, dramatic and even fulfills a little bit of that wanderlust feeling we all get in the summer months. Frankly, I couldn't stop smiling throughout this entire novel. This is one of those books in which the setting though it may be as stunning as Florence, London, or the English countryside takes a back seat to the vibrant and highly entertaining charact I imagine that in the early twentieth century, this book could have been marketed as a "beach" read.
This is one of those books in which the setting though it may be as stunning as Florence, London, or the English countryside takes a back seat to the vibrant and highly entertaining characters. Emerson, Miss Bartlett, Freddy!!!