Book Review: EM Forster’s A Room with a View

It’s soooo dated, it’s weird. It’s just so stilted. Over 100 years later this classic is fading but there are so many that haven’t.

Lucy, a middle class young lady visits Florence, chaperoned by her older spinster cousin Charlotte. They meet a rag bag of other characters in the guest house where they stay and after two moderately dramatic events decide to leave for Rome. In fact the story restarts when they are back in England and with surprising haste Lucy becomes engaged to an annoying pseud.

One might have let the dated language and behaviour go if one could get to like any of the characters. Perhaps one is supposed to root for Lucy and like others but their characters have no depth.
Two thirds through and still very little happens, and what does, doesn’t seem overly dramatic, but perhaps I’m being mean. For the time both would have been, and certainly the first ought to be now – if it were not so common, but my attempt to not include spoilers just makes this detail tricky for you. Fortunately soon after her engagement there is a little pop of drama and, pretty much that’s it.

I confess I DNF the book which I almost never do. It was a chore trying to. 100+ pages in I realised life is running out.

I watched the movie, which is admiringly close to all I read, but still incredibly dull, despite a great cast and some memorable scenes. Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day Lewis and Simon Callow stand out.

If I were Italian, I’d be pretty cross with the arrogant air the English tourists take towards their countryfolk. Given they’re in Florence with all it’s history, it’s pretty rich but no doubt representative of the time. I think given the state of our country in 2024 we are a little more humble.

There are a gazillion books in the world to read. I’d give this one a miss.