Room with a View (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Oops! I think I love George!

If you have a difficult time understanding older English, this book will be a challenge. However, stick with it. It has humorous characters who delight and intrigue. Lucy Honeychurch is a force to be reckoned with when she finally throws off the nonsense of society. This is a story that takes a young girl through a self-understanding process and gives the reader food-for-thought. If you can ponder her decisions and understand her choices, you will find a great heroine within the pages of this story. Lucy seems feeble and weak, but by the end, you find her quite the opposite. Watching her transformation is wonderful and well worth the time.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

An interesting love story

A Room With A View is a novel not only about the journey to find true love, but also about the difficult decisions one is faced with when one must decide to either listen to the expectations of others, or their own heart. In this novel the main character, Lucy takes a trip to Italy with her cousin, and upon her arrival meets the Emerson¿s. Lucy belonging to the upper class of society thinks she could never have an attraction to someone of the lower class, like the Emerson¿s. Love was something Lucy was hoping to find in Italy, but as soon as she arrived back to her home in England she promptly became engaged to Cecil, a man of the same social class as her. Lucy soon realizes that she is not truly in love with Cecil, and discovers that she is in love with George Emerson. Everyone Lucy knows expects her to marry someone wealthy and proper, like Cecil, but instead of listening to what others expect of her, Lucy listens to her heart, and allows herself to be in love with George. Throughout Lucy¿s journey to find true love Forster conveys the message that others expectations cannot guide one to the path of love, only one¿s heart can. I recommend this book to anyone who struggles when faced with making the decision of following others expectations, or following their heart. This novel will teach its readers that what one truly desires is the only escape to genuine happiness.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

The union of love between two people cannot be wholly attained unless each partner first establishes their own, independent identity. E. M. Forster¿s witty and coming of age novel articulated this message through the novel centering on Lucy Honeychurch¿s dilemma of pursuing love and independence in a confined social and mental environment. Mr. Emerson is a brave character that displays Forster¿s thoughts towards new-age liberalism and ultimately influences Lucy to find her own independent identity. The message Forster communicated in the novel created a timeless and beautiful love story for all generations. Anyone who picks up this novel will find it to be a great read.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Marvelous!

A Room with a View is simply amazing. Forster throws in SO much subtle wit it actually had me laughing out loud quite often. A very satisfying love story, and overall an excellent read!

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Never get tired of reading this book

I just love the characters in this book , in particular old Mr. Emmerson. I guess you could say this is a Love story, and also a young woman "coming of age story". It's also a novel with a great cast of characters. I think Forster did a great job of embodying different belief systems in his characters without making them caricatures.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

charming

Thins book is by far one of my favorites from E.M Forster. He did a great job with this one. The characters are real and believable while the plot is fun and exiting. It has the perfect mystery of romance and shows just how persistant love can be. A must read for classic lovers:]]

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

welll...

though the novel was quite confusing at first.. everything comes together towards the end.. you just need to have enought patience to get there.. there are good character in this novel such as; george and mr. emerson, and mr. vyse. I chose to do this novel for a senior project and enjoyed it.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The book is as beautiful as the movie!

So many are familiar with the Merchant/Ivory movie released in 1985 and the wonder of it all is that the book and movie are equally beautiful! Naturally there is more in the book and the metaphors for the 'room' and the 'view' become more clear after one has read the book, but since the novel is short, the directors were able to include so much of it in the movie. The book is funny, romantic and so full of life and truth, though it might be difficult for the modern reader to understand why such a fuss is made about the kiss George gives to Lucy. The book says so much about how we deceive ourselves, even those of us who are not from upper class English society. (Perhaps that is why there are so many divorces?) Lucy comes so close to making a terrible decision that would have ruined her life but Mr. Emerson saves the day. He is so honest and real that you love him at once. Almost all the characters are lovable if exasperating in this book - even Cecil redeems himself in the end. He is a pompous snob throughout but when Lucy breaks off their engagement, he humbly wishes to know why and accepts her reasons with dignity. Italy as a metaphor for life and passion works so well and Forster alludes to how religion, social mores and repression can 'muddle' things up, but all is well in the end!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Life and Love in Florence

E.M. Forster's A Room With a View is a masterpiece. I truly had trouble putting this one down. My only qualm is that it wasn't quite long enough. Viva Italia!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

"I have a view."

I found the main focus of this novel to be the room and the view meaning having an outlook beyond what you've always been told and what you've always accepted. The room so to say is society and a view is our own willingness to look outside of those customs, manners, etc of that society. EM Forster does a spectacular job of reinforcing this idea throughout the novel.
One of the most refreshing aspects I find of Forster's writing is his strong portrayal of women, which at the time was certainly abnormal. But more than just saying women are strong he shows us. He allows them blunders and mistakes but lets them flourish from that by having them solve their problems. He does not have the men be the saviors as often Austen does or even most mainstream modern romance novels.
This is a great novel, one of my favorites and I highly recommend it for any Austen, Wilde, Bronte type fans. It is a light lovable read.

Boring

I read the sample, and i was not intetested. It was easy to put down. Not gonna get it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Room With a View indeed!

I love this book! It is a very touching book and I am now dying to see the movie! Helena Bonham Carter ( Lucy Honeychurch) is my favorite actress!

Excellent Period Piece

Enjoyed this descriptive classic. Excellent character development. Plot was enjoyable. Forster has the ability to pick one up wherever they are and deposit them into France and Victorian England. The trials of love are wonderfully written.

Worth a read

I really enjoyed this book. I wished that it would have been longer but, I was happy that the two main characters finally got together in the end of the book. As always, I wish to have more of the story to read after the two get together. Worth the time to read.

Somewhat confusing, but enjoyable none the less

I found A Room with a View to be a bit confusing, although overall I enjoyed it. I read a lot of fiction and have recently started reading some of the classics. I really want to 'like' the classics, but I have only found a few which I truly liked. It makes me wonder about the honesty of other reviewers regarding the classics. A Room With a View did have some interesting characters and I chuckled now and again. I didn't try too hard to understand the underlying philosphy of the book as I don't want to work that hard when what I seek is entertainment.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Throught Provoking

Though at first this book may seem vague, it has a lot of meaning to it. It tells the story of pure love, and it is flourished in none other than the birthplace of art and beauty, Florence, Italy. I highly recommend this book. It is the first classic I read, and I still reread it from time to time.

Only Decent

I generally love this type of book, and when I read the back cover, I was immediately intrigued by it. However, after reading it, I found that it was a bit dull. I am used to longer books, so I felt like the author didn't spend much time developing his characters, and he seemed to jump from one point to the next without really elaborating. Even the heroine was only average. Overall, the book was decent, but it certainly wasn't life-changing.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Loved it

I absolutely loved this book. I know its a classic, but I had never read it before or any by E.M.Forster. I'm a fan now. He has such a literary style that you don't see anymore. It was such a joy to read this book.

The view in,'A Room with a View,' is just Dazzling!!

An amazingly satisfying read. A Room with a View deals with the Do's and Don't of the Victorian Age.It deals with many philosophical issues, as well as has a lot of sardonic humor. The book is full of amazingly detailed writings. Trust Me You Will Love It.

Overrated

Room With a View is an overrated love story that is very similar, in both the way it is told and its base ideals, to many other books of the time period. Sure, it is well-written, but the only reason why this book is so revered is because of how closely it sticks to the tried-and-true formula of its time period. This is one 'classic' book that really doesn't deserve it's title, written by an author who doesn't deserve such high priase.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.