Title: A Room With a View
Author: E. M. Forster
Pages: 196
Finished: April 14, 2020
First Sentence: "The Signora had no business to do it," said Miss Bartlett, "no business at all."
Summary: Lucy and her cousin Charlotte visit Italy where they meet all manner of characters. Namely a rector named Mr. Beebe who they both know previously and who will be taking up the position at Lucy's hometown, a novelist named Miss Lavish who apparently writes terrible novels, and the Emersons, a father and son who society doesn't entirely find appropriate. Oh boy was that a run-on sentence. Anyway, while on an excursion, Lucy and George kiss and Lucy must hastily leave Florence to avoid scandal.
The second half of the book takes place back in her place at Windy Corner where she has just accepted the hand of Cecil Vyse in marriage. However, through all sorts of machinations, the Emersons end up there as well and Lucy finds herself torn between doing what is socially acceptable and following her heart.
The second half of the book takes place back in her place at Windy Corner where she has just accepted the hand of Cecil Vyse in marriage. However, through all sorts of machinations, the Emersons end up there as well and Lucy finds herself torn between doing what is socially acceptable and following her heart.
Thoughts: For such a slim volume, this book took quite a bit of time to sort through. The main issue I had with it was, while I felt I understood the surface plot just fine, I felt I was constantly missing subtext clues. Not reading closely enough. It felt like the book was trying to say much more than I was picking up. Some of the social commentary I did understand quite nicely, but there was plenty more that just felt like, I knew Forster was making a point, but I didn't know what that point was.
Now, to be fair, this is my first ever Forster, and I'm fairly unfamiliar with Edwardian times. Also, I'm reading this in a really weird time in the life of our planet much less my own. I'm sure I could go look up notes and the like, but at 38 weeks pregnant in the middle of a pandemic... I have to admit I'm disinterested in doing that much work.
It's also important to note that my first experience with this story was watching the 1985 movie with Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy. And I seem to remember feeling much the same way, that the plot was fairly simplistic but there was much more going on that I was aware of.
Read for basically all my challenges. Let's see where it fits in...
- Beat the Backlist
- Virtual Mount To Be Read
- Classics Club List
- Reading Classic Books New To Me Author
- Back To the Classics - 20th Century Novel
Now, to be fair, this is my first ever Forster, and I'm fairly unfamiliar with Edwardian times. Also, I'm reading this in a really weird time in the life of our planet much less my own. I'm sure I could go look up notes and the like, but at 38 weeks pregnant in the middle of a pandemic... I have to admit I'm disinterested in doing that much work.
It's also important to note that my first experience with this story was watching the 1985 movie with Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy. And I seem to remember feeling much the same way, that the plot was fairly simplistic but there was much more going on that I was aware of.
Read for basically all my challenges. Let's see where it fits in...
- Beat the Backlist
- Virtual Mount To Be Read
- Classics Club List
- Reading Classic Books New To Me Author
- Back To the Classics - 20th Century Novel
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