Book Review: A Room With a View

Book: A Room With a View by E. M. Forster

Description:

The Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters assembled in an Italian pensione and in a corner of Surrey, England.

A charming young English woman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Britisher when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza. Attracted to this man, George Emerson -- who is entirely unsuitable and whose father just may be a Socialist -- Lucy is soon at war with the snobbery of her class and her own conflicting desires. Back in England she is courted by a more acceptable, if stifling, suitor, and soon realizes she must make a startling decision that will decide the course of her future: she is forced to choose between convention and passion.



Rating: 4 stars

My Review:

This book hold true to it's era where people didn't speak their mind or say what they truly wanted. They were constantly worrying about what others thought and acted accordingly. The main character Lucy Honeychurch, like so many young women then and now, we truly just want to find ourselves and to be happy enjoying our lives. The book starts out with her trip to Italy, which would have been much more enjoyable had not her cousin Charlotte been her chaperon. Charlotte was a constant bore and consistently tried to influence Lucy's thoughts with her own.

I really enjoyed the characters Mr. Emerson and his son George because they felt so real and relatable even now. They said what they felt and followed their heart. Which is how I saw Lucy while she was trying to enjoy her vacation in Italy until she would let her cousin's influence change her slightly. George was perfect for Lucy instead of Cecil because I felt like Cecil didn't see who Lucy truly was.

I think this is a good read because it shows how not to live. That is, how not to let others influence you to the point that you are so busying trying to change that you stop enjoying your life. I'm glad Lucy finally followed her heart and ended up with George in the end.