E. M. Forster

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?


The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

A Room With a View

aybüke

George and I both know this, but why does it distress him? We know that we come from the winds, and that we shall return to them; that all life is perhaps a knot, a tangle, a blemish in the eternal smoothness. But why should this make us unhappy? Let us rather love one another, and work and rejoice. I don’t believe in this world sorrow.

He is already part of you. Though you fly to Greece, and never see him again, or forget his very name, George will work in your thoughts till you die. It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal. 

Abigail Mills

It is so difficult - at least, I find it difficult - to understand people who speak the truth.

Draculelle

Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practise, and we welcome 'nerves' or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire.

To behave wildly at the sight of death is pardonable. But to discuss it afterwards, to pass from discussion into silence, and through silence into sympathy, that is an error, not of a startled emotion, but of the whole fabric.

“have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same fime-beautiful?"

lulu p :)

but this book lies motionless, to be caressed all the morning by the sun and to raise its covers slightly, as though acknowledging the caress

Isabella 

It was a nice read, but I wouldn't say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quick and refreshing, so if you want a light book, this is a good read!

Macy Johnson

AHHHHH so I read this ahead of time for my The British Novel class this fall, and...... it gave me life. 

(I actually had seen the movie - it kind of dragged? I could tell there was a good story underneath all that, though, and there was. I think I'd like it more if I watched it again, and now I want to.)

Likes: 
-ok, when characters are so so silent for so long and finally they explode?? 
-AND when characters are forced into horribly awkward situations with that person they're in a situationship with (bonus points if NO ONE ELSE KNOWS and bonus bonus points if it's THEIR FREAKING FAMILY WHO'S PUSHING THEM INTO THE CIRCUMSTANCE I'M DEAD)
-I love it when the guy I so stupidly agreed to marry last week incidentally meets that guy I met in Italy and pushes me closer to him 100% on accident (but it serves him right because he's a tricky rotten sneak)
-so we know the pub date is obviously eons ago because Classic Literature, but the plot twists??? Um... they still very much hit. I was screaming.
-THE SCENE WITH THE NOVEL??????? this is my new standard for a coincidental moment of immense sexual tension.
-the tennis banter "actually, I'm pretty good"
-when she was playing piano and Cecil was being all bratty and she turned around to scold him and oop look who's here
-murder!
-no one knowing what to do with Cecil, like, at all
-Freddy really said "George, let's go for a very public bath" and George said "ok"
-imagining these ladies' faces by the pond 
-MR. EMERSON IS EVERYTHING
-ummmmmmmm the mystique at the end about Charlotte?? Sequel???? (lol I WISH)
-the conversation between LucY AND CECIL ABOUT VIEWS AND THEIR VIEW OF EACH OTHER
-all the propriety stuff gets annoying but it was legitimately funny in the first scene how long it drags on and it's definitely a mockery of all the fuss, so I liked that it was clever
-ok so Cecil's reaction to what Lucy told him was surprising and not unpleasant!
-this honestly wasn't a very long read even if I took a while to savor it so if you want to try a classic that's got some fun plot twists and interesting revelations and insights about relationships then you should go for it!!

Dislikes: 
-honestly, I know Lucy is young and misguided but QUEEN YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS
-at first, Charlotte, but then, that E M Forster didn't write the aforementioned sequel 👀
-the ending was a little fast
-is her mom literally mad??? About her choice?? You can't tell me Freddy really is
-I don't think I can say Cecil's interpretation of Lucy and objectification of her is a legitimate dislike because it is so typical (and not ALWAYS for males but yes mostly)
-these people marry themselves off in a blink and it's concerning
-the swoon was a little exaggerated but also I liked the results 

THIS WAS SO FUN AND ENTERTAINING

room with a view

Gillian Rose

Lovely little romance! And it made me miss Florence.

The Penguin English Library Edition of A Room with a View by E. M. Forster '"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 fiance Cecil Vyse. Will she ever learn to follow her own heart? The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War."

A Room with a View

Trish

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 characters. Miss Lavish, Mr. Emerson, Miss Bartlett, Freddy (!!!), Mrs. Honeychurch, Mr. Eager, Mr. Beebe - all such unique and large personalities. I absolutely adored this novel and really recommend it to anyone who finds the idea of reading classics in their spare time daunting or tiresome... this book reads like a fancy YA novel, and apparently that's exactly my cup of tea.

For more bookish photos, reviews and updates follow me on instagram @concerningnovels.

Pien van Nunen

Room With a View (Twentieth Century Classics)

acacia

A room with a view

Callie Anna

I rated this as a 3.5. It was well written, but I just didn't like it very much. I give characters grace for being annoying when they are being used for comedy, but that wasn't really the case. I do love the themes and motifs, and I'm sure that the novel as a whole will grow on me as I read it more. One problem with my interpretation is the fact that all discussions occurred in an immature classroom, where my classmates all thought the novel boring and pointless, with no deeper meaning. I can't wait to go to college!

British social comedy examines a young heroine's struggle against Victorian attitudes as she rejects the man her family has encouraged her to marry and chooses, instead, a socially unsuitable fellow she met on holiday in Italy.

Abi Hills

Set in late Edwardian society, the story weirdly enough centres around the title. There is also an abrupt change of setting from Florence to England, romance, a love triangle and even comedy.

This book is a classic (written in 1908), and is considered high-level literature so not for everyone. It is hard to get into, but once it hooks you in you just can't stop reading. I started off feeling unsure and bored (much like Lucy Honeychurch herself) and then ending up falling in love with the book (view spoiler)[(like Lucy falls in love with George, quite unexpectedly (hide spoiler)] If you're willing to give something like this a try, go for it!

Fraser Simons

As usual, when something is slightly comedic, I find it completely deflates the fiction, with few exceptions. The tone of the voice here really bugged me, perhaps exasperated by narration? Had it been filtered through my mind, perhaps it would be more compelling. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness it is concerned with as a young woman attempts an alternate trajectory than what the well intentioned around her try to set her on, though. Yet even some of this interactions with men, despite the better-than-average treatment of women for a classic, are still problematic, consent-wise. And while this is a sigh of the times, reading is an empathy exercise, yes? and so spending your time populating the problematic in your mind, influencing your own thoughts and emotions, is an inevitability. There is reading through the uncomfortable when it is instructive for your own person, and there is just simply being uncomfortable, which this is, with a particular dynamic between our main and a certain main. 

Though much lauded, I found not so much here as I expected. I suspect a lot of it has to do with a synchronicity with the voice, which I never developed, unfortunately. Not a bad read, of course. But as I rate everything by expectations, 3 being meeting expectations and 4 exceeding them, this is a solid 3. I’m quite at peace asking classics to live up to their labels. Plenty do.

Yulande Lindsay

Utterly boring. Well written mind you, but could not drum up ANY interest in the characters.

Barbara Williford

As you can see from my readings list, I am not a stranger to classics and books of the era in which they were written but I just didn’t get it. It seems like it was just about social classes in England. I couldn’t even finish the book. I wasn’t going to waste anymore of my time. Was there even a storyline? Girl travels, social etiquettes, meets boy, social etiquettes, not up to London par society, more social etiquettes, yada yada yada. Regretting the time I invested in this book. Not a fan.

Camera con vista

Elisabetta Gianasi

Persa per Firenze in un'afosa giornata estiva, non ho un libro da leggere sul treno di ritorno a casa. So che ho già questo libro, perso da qualche parte nella mia libreria e so che la traduzione non mi piace. 
Ci avevo già provato ma decido comunque di comprarne una nuova copia. Avevo appena terminato una nuova traduzione di 'Far from the madding crowd' ed ero rimasta estasiata a dir poco. 
L'inizio non è stato per niente facile. L'edizione risale agli anni 70 e si fa sentire in tutta la sua ampollosità. 
Già i personaggi sono ampollosi in partenza, vedi la Signorina Bartlett e un pochino anche la cara Signorina Honeychurch. Non parliamo poi di Cecil. 
Il libro si legge esclusivamente per la famiglia Emerson: freschi, spontanei, veri.
Essendo ambientato nell'Inghilterra vittoriana, non ci si aspetta che i personaggi femminili spicchino per modernità. 
Ma alla fine il personaggio di Lucy riesce a ribellarsi, elevandosi oltre le convenzioni sociali e ascoltando quello che le dice l'istinto, rivelando finalmente il suo vero io. Lucy diventa una di noi, ed è qui che il libro inizia a piacerci. Su quella collina di Settignano. 

Ve lo consiglio se avete tanta pazienza per un inizio un po' in salita, ma che vi ripagherà nei capitoli a venire e se volete leggere un libro d'ambientazione vittoriana ma che si rivela molto moderno.

Bethany

This is my second (or is it my third?) time reading this book and if I could give it more than 5 stars I would. Interestingly, I only gave it 4 stars my last read through. There is so much within about humanity and love I understand with my heart but not yet my mind, and some passages inexplicably brought tears to my eyes. I want to figure this book out, so I need to read it again. This is a strange review but I don't know that I'll be able to sort through all my thoughts and feelings about it without yet another reading. 
One thing I can say is old Mr. Emerson is possibly my new favorite literary character, and I wish I knew him in real life so perhaps he could help me sort through the "muddles" we get our minds into with our hearts.

Kali Olson

Edwardian England was a prim and proper era with little time for the real passions of real people. But when young Lucy Honeychurch has a romantic encounter with George Emerson (the son of a free-speaking Socialist—shocking!) in a flower-filled field in Italy, she faces precisely that dilemma—follow convention or follow her heart. Back home in England, surrounded by her charming and well-meaning family and neighbors, Lucy attempts the proper path and engages herself to the very prim Cecil. Less-than-satisfied but encouraged by her spinster aunt, Lucy’s orderly world is thrown into disarray when George reappears in her life. A Room with a View features some of the most delightful characters in literature—the outlandish lady writer Eleanor Lavish, the ultimate snob’s snob Cecil, the truth-speaking clergyman Mr. Beebe, and the primmest and proper-est spinster Aunt Charlotte. These characters are cast to a tee in the 1986 film adaptation which stars some of the day’s great actors, including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Daniel Day-Lewis. The scene where George Emerson meets Lucy’s brother Freddy is priceless—few films these days feature grown men skinny-dipping in a very small pond…

Emma Nash

A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century. Merchant Ivory produced an award-winning film adaptation in 1985. The Modern Library ranked A Room with a View 79th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century (1998).

Sara

When I finished reading this book, I felt like I wasn't done with the characters yet. It actually felt like I had to know more about their lives, their future. In all honesty, I don't consider this book my favorite for a couple of reasons, that I'd like to explain here. Just to be clear, I read this novel both in Italian and English, and each language put me in a different light, but this also created a sort of gap in the reading. In this book, there are some interesting and sophisticated discussions of art, history, and philosophy, but they weren't developed as much as I'd have hoped. In addition, I felt a sort of distance between myself and the characters, and I think the reason for this lays in the limited length of the chapters and in the lack of history of the characters. Apart from that, it's a good book and probably I would need to read it another time in order to have a wider and deeper view. The amount of feminism in it is pretty admirable: Lucy, the main character, is in fact portrayed as a rebel whose desires are not conventional, and whose attitude, sadly, is seen by others as confusion rather than a free spirit. I loved it that culture, here, is presented as an unpleasant atmosphere fed by hypocritical and sophisticated characters like Cecil, Mr. Eager, and Miss Lavish. On the other side, Lucy holds onto feelings rather than complex thoughts. She lives through art, rather than for it - that's why when she leaves Italy to go back home, she doesn't quite remember the names of some Italian painters whose works she'd enjoyed seeing, and she feels she doesn't belong to England anymore. Indeed, the trip to Italy shows her what is wrong and right in her life. At this point, I can't go on without mentioning that I loved the descriptions of Florence and other Italian sights! More than that, I loved how poetic and lyric the writing is - the author is great at portraying nature and having his readers get carried away by the music of his words! As I was reading some paragraphs, it seemed to me I could smell the flowers, I could hear the birds chirping, and I could see the light of the sun getting warmer above the hills. This book definitely made me want to go back home, to Italy, where I'm sure I still feel I belong to it. Some things just don't change. 

In conclusion, this book was a nice trip to Italy, and also to the core of a kind of romanticism that expresses itself through a union of love and nature. Let me just show you one of my favorite paragraphs: 

"From her feet the ground sloped sharply into the view, and violets ran down in rivulets and streams and cataracts, irrigating the hillside with blue, eddying round the tree stems, collecting into pools in the hollows, covering the grass with spots of azure foam. But never again were they in such profusion; this terrace was the well-head, the primal source whence beauty gushed out to water the earth."

Lisa van der Heijden 

*4.5 stars
I loved the story! It was beautifully written and I loved the characters.

Kirsten Devolder

Haley Thomas

this was a beautiful story of passion, with no indecency (a rare find, really). i was glad to find that there was no true "bad guy", all characters were presented as truly believing in their cause and admitting when they were in the wrong. argument of morality and politics sit on a fine line between making or breaking a story (for me, anyway), but this well-written book balanced everything so perfectly. this is definitely among my favorite classics!

Eugenia Andino

Empieza costumbrista, con un punto de humor que recuerda a Jane Austen, y termina reflexivo. Una buena novela sobre convencionalismos, y también sobre qué esperamos las mujeres de los hombres, y viceversa.

sarah 🤠

Greta V. 

E.M. Forster, what have you done! A Room With A View a is book all about conflicts: medieval vs classical. Paganism vs Christianity. On one hand the conformity to external codes of behaviour, on the other, the inner world made up of desires and passion. It’s all a question of nature vs artificial. The new world is represented by the Emersons. A world in which triumphs the gospel of humanism, love and truth. Lucy will be awakened in Italy, and at the end of the book, she’ll enter fully into this new vision in which the only thing that matters is the “direct desire”. Italy is a pastoral enchanted landscape (the descriptions are truly good) in which Italians play the role of shepards and nymphs who help the process of awakening of the English tourists still enslaved in artificial rules and conventions. The old world is represented perfectly by Cecil. The man who doesn’t play tennis, who is asleep and unable to understand intimately other persons. Cecil is the medieval man who looks back; always there to protect women. He lacks vigour, energy unlike George who is athletic and unchivalrous. I personally find the ethical position of Forster really troubling and if the message of the novel is “follow your heart no matter what” and “let yourself be guided by your passions”, I reject it. More often than not what is proper coincides with what is reasonable.

A Room With a View

Reviews

Highlights