Fairytale Reader: Review: A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

A ROOM WITH A VIEW BY E.M. FORSTER
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Series: No
Pages: 221
Date Finished: 31.12.15
Rating: 3.5/5
Summary: "But you do," he went on, not waiting for contradiction. "You love the boy body and soul, plainly, directly, as he loves you, and no other word expresses it ..."

Lucy has her rigid, middle-class life mapped out for her until she visits Florence with her uptight cousin Charlotte, and finds her neatly ordered existence thrown off balance. Her eyes are opened by the unconventional characters she meets at the Pension Bertolini: flamboyant romantic novelist Eleanor Lavish, the Cockney Signora, curious Mr Emerson and, most of all, his passionate son George.

Lucy finds herself torn between the intensity of life in Italy and the repressed morals of Edwardian England, personified in her terminally dull fiancé Cecil Vyse. Will she ever learn to follow her own heart?

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster is a little novel that manages to tackle a great number of themes in its few pages. From the summary it may seem like a frivolous story surrounding a love triangle, but that is almost definitely not the case. Ultimately, it criticises the many flaws of society in 1908, it's date of publication, and presents many ideas that have significant merit, even today.

"I want you to have your own thoughts even when I hold you in my arms."

The novel follows Lucy Honeychurch, firstly during her holiday in Italy and secondly back at her home in Surrey. Essentially Lucy has to choose between George Emerson, a man considered beneath her in terms of class yet someone she could live a passionate life with, and Cecil Vyse, a wealthy yet generally boring and selfish man. There are definitely other aspects to the novel such as the elements of social critique and the cast of varied characters.

A Room With a View is a book I'm required to read for my A Levels. I'm not honestly sure that I would have picked it up otherwise, and whilst I am glad that I did I wouldn't be surprised if months of in depth analysis eventually kill it for me. I did quite like it, yet my general attitude towards Forster's novel isn't full of praise simply because I didn't fall in love with it. It is a great work of literature that can definitely be analysed in detail, but in terms of enjoyment it didn't blow me away.

“Life' wrote a friend of mine, 'is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.”

Perhaps the best element of the novel was Lucy herself. Starting out naive, Lucy's bildungsroman saw her develop as a character and by the end I would definitely call her progressive in terms of assertiveness and gender equality, something I enjoyed. She became honest and strong, and one of the final scenes between her and Cecil was just wonderful to read.

Cecil, one of the love interests, comes across as the kind of person that is just asking for for a punch in the teeth. He's dry, boring, sexist, controlling, and selfish, and as much as I dislike him that's exactly why he's a great character. He represents many of the flaws with the era, and contrasts against Lucy and George on many aspects.

“No, he is not tactful, yet have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet, at the same time, beautiful?”

Whilst I definitely preferred George, and liked where his character was going, I felt like Forster didn't give us enough time to get to know him as a character. That's where I think the novel fell short for me--I wanted to truly see Lucy falling for him, not be told that she did. More depth from his character would make the romance work a lot better, and then I think I definitely would've pushed the rating up higher. I'm not saying that George is underdeveloped, but rather that I just wanted to see more of him.

Overall, this is an excellent novel that just failed to make me fall in love with it. In terms of the prose alone I would give it five stars, but I didn't enjoy it enough to warrant it that. That be said, I'm definitely looking forward to writing essays where I can rip apart Cecil for being a patriarchal idiot. That's always fun.