T;LDR: A coming of age novel based in Edwardian England, A Room with a View is a classic tale with wit, humor, and a keen dissection of the stringent societal rules of the time.
First, a confession. I watched the movie by Merchant & Ivory before I read this book, so when I read it, I see scenes from the movie on the page. Second, I love them both equally, although there is something about the written word that makes the book more beloved (I don’t own a copy of the movie), and more satisfying in the end.
The theme – coming of age – of this book mirrors my own, but in a different way and with a much different catalyst. There is no romance in my book. This book is also the reason why I felt good about having long chapter titles in my novel (which happened organically anyway) as it has one particularly long title. Specifically Chapter 6: The Reverend Arthur Beebe, the Reverend Cuthbert Eager, Mr. Emerson, Mr. George Emerson, Miss Eleanor Lavish, Miss Charlotte Bartlett and Miss Lucy Honeychurch Drive Out in Carriages to See a View; Italians drive them.
For these and many other reasons, it is a book I recommend people read.
The Plot
Miss Lucy Honeychurch is on a trip to Italy with her spinster cousin Charlotte. They are there to see the frescoes and the churches, and to experience a little bit of something extra outside of the life outside of their small villages in England. Cousin Charlotte is a true spinster – uptight, well-versed in manipulation by guilt and making someone feel sorry for her. Lucy Honeychurch, however, is at that point in life where she is ready to blossom or suffocate away in a respectful, but boring marriage.
While in Italy, they meet Mr. Emerson and his son George Emerson, who are ‘free thinkers.’ Lucy finds them fascinating and doesn’t quite understand why they aren’t accepted by the other upper middle class lodgers, especially since one of them is a romance novelist.
After an absolutely romantic moment in a field of violets where George kisses Lucy, Lucy is whisked away back to her safe place in England, where she gets engaged to an incredibly uptight Cecil Vyse. A good match for Lucy, even if he thinks her family is beneath him, which says a lot about Cecil.
But, as luck would have it, the Emersons end up renting a cottage in the same small village as the Honeychurches and Lucy finds herself in a muddle. Will she find her way out of it and choose love or tradition?
Major Complaints about the Plot
The first major complaint is that this book is not a romance. Quite a few reviewers found the back misleading and did not see the romance. George and Lucy barely interact, there’s the romantic kiss amongst the flowers and the rest is just Lucy muddling through to a decision.
I understand this complaint. It is not a romance. It is an awakening. It is the unraveling of the tight constraints of Lucy Honeychurch’s life and the expectations of society. George is just the catalyst, even if she does end up marrying him and loving him. Perhaps the publishers should look at updating the back of the book.
Another complaint is that nothing happens. It is boring and is “social novel” about class that only British writers seem to care about.
Okay. There isn’t a strong fast-moving plot here because it is a dissection of the constraints of marriage in Edwardian England. Written by a guy living, you guessed it, in Edwardian England. It’s meant to be a tale of enlightenment in a time when enlightenment was frowned upon (the Emersons were ‘free thinkers,’ which put them in the unwanted section of upper middle class society).
I do think this book is a bit about taste. Some people will not enjoy it, no matter what it is about. Others will love it for its prose and character journey. Still others will like it for what it said about society of the time.
And that’s the key phrase – the society of the time. If you want a fast-paced book, this is not the book for you. If you want strong description, deep reflection, and a straightforward plot, this is not the book for you. I found some of the language around her being muddled muddled me as well, but eventually I understood it.
This book meanders, as Lucy meanders in Italy, through the different scenes of Lucy’s life. She needs more than just one push – one kiss in a field – to drive her from the staid comfortability of her family into independence and love.
And she pays the price for it. Her mother doesn’t consent, the local reverend will no longer care what they do, and she broke all of society’s rules as to how one should behave.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
A beautiful slow-moving story about the coming of age of a young girl in Edwardian England, A Room with a View is one of my favorite novels. I love the prose, I love the wandering way in which the story is told. I love the little touches EM Forster uses to tell this tale (Lucy cannot escape the English even in Italy, for example).
If the book is too slow for you, watch the movie with Helen Bonham Carter. It is true to the book. It also shows more of what Lucy was up against than perhaps you’ll get from reading a book in the 21st Century when the early 1900s seems so very far away and the restrictions on society foreign.
Or not. After all, reading is subjective.
About the Author
Edward Morgan Forster, generally published as E.M. Forster, was an novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. His humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: “Only connect”.
He had five novels published in his lifetime, achieving his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj.
Forster’s views as a secular humanist are at the heart of his work, which often depicts the pursuit of personal connections in spite of the restrictions of contemporary society. He is noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels, and he has been criticised for his attachment to mysticism. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908) and Maurice (1971), his posthumously published novel which tells of the coming of age of an explicitly gay male character.
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