Forster, E. M.

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Nothing Else Like It
Information on writing everyone should read.
<yawn>
Genius
Great Literary Insights

Aspects of the Novel
E.M. Forster
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156091801

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There are all kinds of books out there purporting to explain that odd phenomenon the novel. Sometimes it's hard to know whom they're are for, exactly. Enthusiastic readers? Fellow academics? Would-be writers? Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster's 1927 treatise on the "fictitious prose work over 50,000 words" is, it turns out, for anyone with the faintest interest in how fiction is made. Open at random, and find your attention utterly sandbagged.

Forster's book is not really a book at all; rather, it's a collection of lectures delivered at Cambridge University on subjects as parboiled as "People," "The Plot," and "The Story." It has an unpretentious verbal immediacy thanks to its spoken origin and is written in the key of Aplogetic Mumble: "Those who dislike Dickens have an excellent case. He ought to be bad." Such gentle provocations litter these pages. How can you not read on? Forster's critical writing is so ridiculously plainspoken, so happily commonsensical, that we often forget to be intimidated by the rhetorical landscapes he so ably leads us through. As he himself points out in the introductory note, "Since the novel is itself often colloquial it may possibly withhold some of its secrets from the graver and grander streams of criticism, and may reveal them to backwaters and shallows."

And Forster does paddle into some unlikely eddies here. For instance, he seems none too gung ho about love in the novel: "And lastly, love. I am using this celebrated word in its widest and dullest sense. Let me be very dry and brief about sex in the first place." He really means in the first place. Like the narrator of a '50s hygiene film, Forster continues, dry and brief as anything, "Some years after a human being is born, certain changes occur in it..." One feels here the same-sexer having the last laugh, heartily.

Forster's brand of humanism has fallen from fashion in literary studies, yet it endures in fiction itself. Readers still love this author, even if they come to him by way of the multiplex. The durability of his work is, of course, the greatest raison d'être this book could have. It should have been titled How to Write Novels People Will Still Read in a Hundred Years. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

Forster’s lively, informed originality and wit have made this book a classic. Avoiding the chronological approach of what he calls “pseudoscholarship,” he freely examines aspects all English-language novels have in common: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm. Index.

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Certain people pretend to tell us what birth and death are like: a mother, for instance, has her point of view about birth; a doctor, a religious, have their points of view about both. But it is all from the outside, and the two entities who might enlighten us, the baby and the corpse, cannot do so, because their apparatus for communicating their experiences is not attuned to our apparatus for reception.

Customer Reviews:

Nothing Else Like It.......2007-04-19

Sometimes one reads a book and it opens up the brain and heart in such a way that one views the world differently thereafter. This is such a book. You will never again read a novel and think about the book in front of you or how it was written in quite the same way. There is nothing else like it.

Delving into this book was part of a quest over the past year to read books on writing by writers. The books did not address HOW to write a novel other than tangentially. Although there are a plethora of dubious choices along those lines, I stayed away from them. The books that I searched out were books on the process of writing, the very lonely experience of the writer in creating fiction.

Several of the books were fogettable. A surprsing number of them were memorable, including Mystery & Manners by Flannery O'Connor, On Writing by Stephen King, and anything by Margaret Atwood.

Of all of the books that I read, this one was the best by far. It covered not only the process of writing but also provided a structure for discussing and understanding the novel art form.

As a result, I highly recommend this book for book clubs. When presenting this book recently to my book club of 14+ years as my pick, there was a collective groan. Upon finishing the book, we all thought that it was one of the best of the 125+ books that we had read. It gave us a missing structure and tools for moving discussions and disagreements forward. Several times over the years, one or more of us have disagreed over some book selection or an aspect of it, but the discussion would stall for lack of a way to bridge the various viewpoints. For the first time, we were able to go back through those arguments in a new light using the tools presented in the book. It was very enlightening.

The books's title tacitly promises dry intellectual discourse, but the text reads off the page as fresh as it certainly did when it was originally presented by Forster as a series of guest lectures at Cambridge in the '30's.

Highly recommended reading.

Information on writing everyone should read........2006-10-30

Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster, addresses both readers and aspiring writers--and gives example after example of literary masterpieces and offers techniques for writing more attentively, for noticing and thrilling in the language on the page. It comes from the wisdom of a seasoned teachers of literature, longtime journalists and host of other collected articles, and the author of fourteen works of fiction. E.M. Forster has a guarded enthusiasm for MFA programs; the book, in part, is a criticism of where some of the MFA program culture has gone astray, as if some writing workshops have become unmoored from the literary masterpieces that inspired them. If I had to really characterize the book I'd say it's about the pleasure of learning to write.

<yawn>.......2006-07-18

I've tried for the fourth time to read this book. For the fourth time, I had to give up half-way. This book is just too dense for my simple mind.

I am sure that it contains more substance than most books on writing (hence, the generous two stars), but the packaging and, maybe, relevance compelled me, once more, to use the time I would on it to some other book more suitable for my Philistine tastes.

Genius.......2006-04-15

I will read this again and again. It's loaded, packed, stuffed with fabulous writerly advice.

Sandra Glahn, Lethal Harvest

Great Literary Insights.......2006-01-11

Though Aspects of the Novel was published in 1927, its topics shine relevant today. This is a great read for fresh writers, advanced writers, or anyone interested in literary criticism. The whole book is based on Forster's lectures at Trinity College, Cambridge. The text has been modified so as not to sound too conversational, which makes it not even read like a lecture--it's so fluent and brilliant, it's as if Forster sat down and wrote it.

The first few chapters discuss the meat and bones of fiction (story, people, plot), and integrate many literary examples. What speaks to me most, however, are the chapters titled "Fantasy" and "Prophecy": two topics that writing/lit-crit books typically don't cover. According to Forster: "Fantasy has asked us to pay something extra; and now prophecy asks for humility and even for a suspension of the sense of humor, so that we are not allowed to snigger when a tragedy is called Billy Budd." He explains that fantasy implies the supernatural, but need not express it.

Another trait that I like about his lectures is that instead of trying to cluster writers by time period or place, he suggests that his students visualize the novelists as sitting in one room. I think this forces readers to analyze more open-mindedly and discover links they might not otherwise see. A short yet inspiring read!

Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition)

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Classic literature that is nothing less than masterful...
"All we have is the rules"
True hearts of darkness
Social degeneracy
A classic with many meanings

Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition)
William Golding
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399529209
Release Date: 2003-10-28

Book Description

The story that never grows old...

Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.

Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse,Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic. And now readers can own it in a beautifully designed hardcover edition worthy of its stature.

This Christmas' meaningful gift, the 50th Anniversary Edition of the Lord of the Flies is the volume that every fan of this classic book will have to own.

Customer Reviews:

Classic literature that is nothing less than masterful..........2007-06-18

One of the most influential and important novels ever penned, `Lord of the Flies' may be even more poignant today then when it was initially released. Telling a very realistic and moving story set in a very unrealistic backdrop `Lord of the Flies' works on almost every level of literature to provide the reader with an all around emotionally gripping experience, and one they won't soon forget.

As a plane carrying a group of young children is shot down during warfare the valuable cargo is spread out over an uninhabited island. The boys quickly must for their own civilization with only a sliver of hope to ever be found. The story mainly focuses around three very different boys. Ralph is the chosen leader, a boy who possesses common sense and an open mind. Piggy is his self-ordained advisor. He's the smartest of the boys but the most nervous and thus becomes the easiest target for the ruthless. Jack is one of the more ruthless, a born leader mostly because of his strong presence. He immediately attaches himself to the idea of hunting and becomes infatuated with the prospect of spilt blood.

There's a scene in the novel where Ralph and Piggy lament over not having any adult supervision, not having a grownup tell them the course in which they should plot. Sitting back after reading this impressive classic and one will realize that adult supervision, or lack there of, was not the problem. The problem was that these boys grew up way too quickly. The problems that ensued were a direct result of their acting as adults, pursuing leadership and power and respect and authority. The clashes between Jack and Ralph and Piggy were all over power, over who had the right to rule and who would follow who.

The novel opens with a glimmer of hope, that maybe just maybe with all the innocence in adolescence they may be able to survive in cohabitation without debilitating consequences, but almost immediately those hopes are smashed as the personality traits of the three main characters are uncovered and problems within the group begin to surface. The conclusion, as grim and tragic as it is, is a conclusion that is almost expected and best left to the readers discovery.

So, with that in mind, I urge you to refrain from reading the introduction (beautifully written by E.M. Forster) or any of the `notes on the text' found in the back for they give away too much of the story and or experience that is best left to self discovery. After you've finished the novel though, I encourage you to take a few minutes and read over what others have to say about the brilliance that is `Lord of the Flies'. It will enlighten you and help you better appreciate and understand this novel as William Golding intended. `Lord of the Flies' is classic for a reason. It's brilliant literature with meaning for all of us today. As we all may know full well, there's a lot we can learn from our children, but sadly, there's a lot our children learn from us that can be detrimental.

"All we have is the rules".......2006-11-26

Ever fantasize that you are on an island free from the restraints of society? William Golding has taken that scenario to the nth in this story of a bunch of English boys, plane wrecked on an island during WWII.

We see the fabric of society slowly and most assuredly ripping as the rules are discarded one by one. Golding is very graphic in his description of the demise of pigs and plants.

One will never look at fun and games in the same way.

True hearts of darkness.......2006-11-12

In "The Lord of the Flies" Golding wrote a very different yet very comparable story to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". A group of English schoolboys, ages six to twelve, are stranded on a tropical island when their plane crashes and all the adults are killed. After initial attempts to organize, the children gradually descend, first to disorganized and purposeless play, then to struggles of dominance and an attempt at establishing an hierarchy, and finally, with a few exceptions, to barbarism and violence.

Many of the characters are archetypal. Ralph is the good leader, but he gradually loses his ability to think logically; Piggy is the myopic, overweight, asthmatic, indolent but intelligent voice of civilization; Jack is the authoritarian, dominant, aggressive leader; and Roger is the mysterious, secretive, suppressed savage, who gradually shows how extreme he can become in his violence.

How far will things go before somebody stops and says, "Wait a minute! What are we doing?' AND the others listen? As I read this well-written, well-paced, highly descriptive novel, two things kept popping into my head: What would I have done in this situation? How does the savagery described in the book fit with some of the extremes seen in the behavior of today's children and adolescents? I work, as a therapist, with emotionally disturbed, low-income children and teens, and the behavior I see in a few of my clients parallels what happened with Jack and Roger of Golding's book. I want to believe I would have done better, at twelve, than the boys in the book, but I don't know how my then-peers might have handled it, or if I would have ended up being like Ralph, fighting a battle for survival and gradually losing.

"The Lord of the Flies" is a very dark and disturbing novel, that is also brilliant. It is a timeless, thought-provoking story, and I can see why it is often required reading in schools. I didn't discover it until age 43, but I still found it worthwhile and moving.

Social degeneracy.......2006-09-19

I remember reading Golding's novel as a teenager for some English class I didn't care about. I had a littlun's attention span then, and never really understood the work.

So I gave it a re-read. This time, I may have grasped a few more things.

Why are there no females on the island? The presence of females would have turned the novel at best into a pulp teen romance novel, at worst into a Survivor episode. Teen and pre-teen romantic entanglements on a remote island. Yikes. Their absence is to me striking. I think Golding chose to leave them out because, like in real life, girls only complicate things.

It seems unlikely as well that dozens of young boys would end up on a remote island by themselves. Something like a Gilligan's Island, English boys-only school field trip? I understand it had to happen like this in order for the story to develop, but I wonder how all the adults could be killed and somehow small boys survived a terrible boating accident.

It is obvious that the novel is a social parable seen through boy-play. It mocks human superstitions and fears (the beast) and stupid clan alliances. It explains how we humans, with all our modern technological inventions, are only an instant away from devolving into savages. We need authoritarian symbols (the conch in the story) and rules to stay the decline. The conch in the story always calls the boys to order, up until the first human sacrifice of Simon.

The boys engage in ritualistic-like pig sacrifices, where they chant Kill the pig! Spill the blood! Slit her throat! in a savage mantra, and proceed to devour the meat after the killing. Ralph, representing law and order, takes part in the ritual by eating the pig flesh; he is hungry even though he is disgusted by the ritual. The sacrifice ritual eventually devolves into human offerings, with the killing of Simon. We know who is next, because Piggy (the despised intellectual) predicts he is. And then the final act is to attempt to destroy Ralph, who represents all law and order. Ralph is only rescued in the end by the Naval Officer, ultimate adult authority.

It is significant that the youngest boys exclaim that the beast lives out in the sea, after a search on the island fails to uncover any monster. The bodies of the human sacrifices, Piggy, Simon, even the Pilot, are washed out to sea in a symbolic offering to the unknown Sea-monster.

Some reviewers have criticized the work for being overly simplistic. I say good chefs boil their soups down to concentrate the flavors. The symbolism is rich and potent in this text, and many are the modern writers in need of this advice.

A classic with many meanings.......2006-09-13

Some have derided Lord of the Flies for not being overly descriptive, but I would say that it works this way. One doesn't need to have too much detail elaborated on in order to understand the trust that developed between Ralph and Piggy when Ralph promises to give his glasses back. Some have objected to the violence, but that violence is necessary in order to examine the dangers of irresponsibility. The symbolism of the animal's skull as the "Lord of the Flies" is itself perfectly punctuated so that you feel as if it's really there when Simon communicates with it as he slowly grows lethargic. Part of this novel's appeal is the different interpretations of it. Some have said that its about the need for society, but society is nothing but a collection of individuals. Others have said that it's about the need for government, but government is itself force and Jack rather than Ralph exemplifies that reality of those in positions of government. Others have said that it's about the concept of Original Sin, but then how do you explain Ralph, Piggy, and Simon, all of whom are good guys. If anything, my favorite interpretation is that its about the potential for evil in all human beings and that only when we don't acknowledge it then we descend into savagery. Notice the fact that Simon sought to express human beings' inherent flaw, yet was laughed at for suggesting that the beast was inside them.

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"I haven't received it YET"....
A classic, and very tedious
The Echoing Malabar Caves Speak Loudly and Clearly
Exiles All
E.M Foster's Beloved Classic

A Passage to India
E.M. Forster
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156711427

Amazon.com

What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?

"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel. <blockquote> "They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.

"He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton!

"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike." </blockquote> Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging. <blockquote> "Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar.
"How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile.
"He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps." </blockquote> Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.

Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

Among the greatest novels of the twentieth century and the basis for director David Lean’s Academy Award-winning film, A Passage to India tells of the clash of cultures in British India after the turn of the century. In exquisite prose, Forster reveals the menace that lurks just beneath the surface of ordinary life, as a common misunderstanding erupts into a devastating affair.

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A classic novel about the misperceptions and misunderstandings that illustrate the divide between East and West, E.M. Forster's A Passage to India is a masterpiece of twentieth century English fiction, and an important text for anyone interested in understanding the British involvement in colonial India.

Customer Reviews:

"I haven't received it YET"...........2007-02-08

Ok, that I live in Italy, but even if a whole month's already elapsed, I haven't gotten yet this book...
Honestly, I had hoped for a quicker delivery.

A classic, and very tedious.......2006-11-08

This was required reading for my British Literature class. It's the only novel in the class that I struggled with and only struggled from boredom. It is entirely possible that I just do not understand the genius that is Forster, but I did not enjoy this novel. A lover of Forster or Modernist writing might enjoy it more. It must be a classic for a reason.

The Echoing Malabar Caves Speak Loudly and Clearly.......2006-08-28

At its core A PASSAGE TO INDIA is a darkly pessimistic view of the future between India and Great Britain. When E. M. Forster published it in 1924, England had but recently begun to divest itself not only of its overseas colonial empire but also the attendant mind set that was proving more difficult to eradicate. Many English still believed, even if subconsciously, that Indians, in their swarthiness and what to the English seemed like their grubby living conditions in Bombay were utterly incapable of carrying on in any meaningful way without the constant assistance of Britain. It was against this background that Forster wrote of the bitterness and harsh feelings that he saw as deeply ingrained on both sides. Ironically, for those who view his book as a raw but honest portrayal of this mutual acrimony, Forster himself is guilty of the same underlying assumptions against which he so eloquently rails.

The dramatic focus begins with Dr. Aziz, an intelligent Moslem physician who sees the English as arrogance personified but is inclined to think that with a growing understanding and compassion, the walls of prejudice may be breached and India and England may co-exist in reasonable harmony. He is aided in this belief by his association with Mrs. Moore, a liberal Englishwoman, and Cyril Fielding, an equally understanding principal of the British Government College. However, when Aziz attends a bridge party given by various English personnel, he is rudely treated and is humiliated, causing him to rethink his earlier optimism. The climax of the book occurs when Aziz invites Mrs. Moore and her friend Adela Quested to visit the mysterious Malabar Caves, where wind and echoes resound. During their trip, Adela hears the wind and becomes disoriented. She later claims that Aziz assaulted her, a crime for which he is arrested and tried in court. This trial becomes a national event, and when Adela recants her accusation, Aziz is freed, but he is terribly embittered, and India itself sees the accusation as yet another example of English condescension. The novel ends with Aziz breaking all ties with his friend Fielding.

Early in the novel, Forster clearly states his belief that it may not be possible for English and Indians to live in harmony. He suggests that in the early and friendly relations between Aziz and Fielding such a harmony may be realized, but as the book's events reveal, that this harmony is but an illusion, as wispy as the sounds echoing from Malabar Caves. The friendship between the two is not strong and is based more on shared philosophical goals than personal affinities. During the course of the bitter trial, this friendship proves incapable of supporting the strain and is finished. The other liberal, Mrs. Moore, is conveniently spirited out of the book so she need not testify on Aziz's behalf. When Forster closes with Aziz defiantly proclaiming that he is now staunchly in the camp of those who oppose social reconciliation, there is a tendency to overlook what undercuts what otherwise might be Forster's surface sadness at his view that matters between England and India are irreparably breached. Forster is so relentlessly insistent in his belief that this gap is permanent that the reader begins to wonder whether Forster's reasons lie more with subliminal agreement with the "white man's burden" rather than any objective assessment of undeniable fact. Further, when he allows Mrs. Moore to so conveniently avoid helping Aziz during the trial, Forster may simply have found the path of least resistance and thus not have to worry about questioning his own underlying assumptions. The problems, then, in identifying and confronting the issues that Forster raised in 1924 are as elusive today as were the echoes that resonated so loudly in the Marabar Caves the day Adela Quested opened that can of racial worms.

Exiles All.......2006-07-18

First of all, I'd like to commend the reviewer G.B. Talovich (in the Spotlight Reviews as I write this) for his analysis of the archetype underpinnings of the novel. It made me reconsider the novel as a whole and appreciate it all the more.

A Passage to India was written in 1924 and it bears similarities to some of Forster's literary contemporaries, most notably Orwell's Burmese Days and the short stories of Somerset Maugham. Here we have India, ancient, diverse, plagued with ancient schisms, a "muddle", under the authoricratic rule of colonial Britain. The British portrayed here conform to the rule: stuffy and prejudiced, with no love for their foreign station, maintaining a thin veneer of the Victorian role - to keep themselves "proper", warding away the dust and sweat and sweltering heat of an exoticism they can never truly understand, nor wish to incorporate. It's all about tennis and tea-time and the Club. As a contrast to these rigid expatriates, Forster introduces two arrivals, Mrs. Moore and Ms. Quested, initially starry-eyed and curious about the subcontinent, willing to taste the culture - if only taste, and nothing more - to satisfy the instinct for romance and adventure. This leads them into contact with the Muslim Dr. Aziz, who promises to show them India and ends up doing so more than any of them wish; "that incident at the Marabar Caves" results in explosively exposing the dichotomy of social conduct and temperament between disparate cultures, the superiority-wound ever-festering beneath the Western mandate to civilize and the East's own long-standing hierarchy establishment.

To wit: "It was, in a new form, the old, old trouble that eats the heart out of every civilization: snobbery, the desire for possessions, creditable appendages; and it is to escape this rather than the lusts of the flesh that saints retreat into the Himalayas. (chapter 26 pg 235, old penguin edition)"

At first I was a bit puzzled by Forster's approach, but as I read on it dawned on me that the author was displaying not just the discomfort and isolation of the British, but that of Aziz as well. As a Muslim, he is forced to inhabit three worlds: that of the dominant Hindu population, that of the snooty colonials and, deep within, that of his own faith and culture, marginalized by sheer population. Victimized as much by his own people as by the judgment-cry of the West, he eventually chooses exile, augmented in the final section `Temple'. The `Author's Voice' character, the atheist and open-minded Fielding, also capitulates to the home-town creed by the end of the novel, sacrificing his freedom for the reward of security, the buffer against the exile's loneliness, and his final meeting with Aziz - in which the earth itself seems to grumble that reconciliation between East and West cannot yet happen - is more powerful because of where these two characters have gone and what they have, in effect, given up due to outward pressures.

A Passage to India is widely regarded as a masterpiece of the 20th century, highlighting the internal conflicts that would, in time, lead to Indian independence, casting a caustic eye to the irrevocable differences endemic to East/West relationships whenever superstition and racism rear their ugly heads... an all too common occurrence. Recommended.

E.M Foster's Beloved Classic.......2006-06-27

Being the "Orientalist" that I am, I simply loved "A Passage to India" E.M Foster does an excellent job on character development and the relationships that build up to fall; then of course, build up again. The entire book is a rollercoaster of friends and foes. The book will keep you puzzled at who really is the antagonist and protagonist of the story. The book has many symbolic meanings within itself that deal with humanity and conflict in general.

My favorite character in the book was Mr. Fielding. He related to my own character in so many ways. He seemed to be one of the few who wanted to understand the Indians (Muslim and Hindu).
The book is dealing with the conflict that the British and Indian people had when the British Raj was in power. Looking from both sides of the spectrum, it really exposes the prejudice one had for another. Not only is it a matter of separation in India by the Indian and British, but it also deals with another internal conflict in India with Muslims and Hindus. Truly, it was a divided India.

While sometimes a tedious read, "A Passage to India" plays out to be a very well-written story full of rich history, interesting characters, and very opinionated peoples. This book is highly recommended to anyone who would like to understand some very interesting customs of India. Check it out!

A Room with a View (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

Average customer rating:

Love vs. Books
A must-read --- captivating!
Quaint Review of a 20th Century "Muddle" [39][79]
wonderful
Classic love story

A Room with a View (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
E. M. Forster
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Room with a View (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Maurice: A Novel

ASIN: 0141183292

Book Description

Visiting Italy with her prim and proper cousin Charlotte as a chaperone, Lucy Honeychurch meets the unconventional lower-class Mr. Emerson and his son, George. Upon her return to England she becomes engaged to the supercilious Cecil Vyse, but finds herself increasingly torn between the expectations of the world in which she moves and the passionate yearnings of her heart. As Forster writes, "You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you." More than a love story, A Room With a View is a perceptive examination of class structure and a penetrating social comedy.

With an Introduction and Notes by Malcolm Bradbury

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If you liked the movie, read the book.

Customer Reviews:

Love vs. Books.......2007-03-29

This is the first E.M. Forester book I've read and it affected me greatly. When I write 'reviews', I don't mean to give a traditional book review, but to note how the book affected my real life.

This is how: One of the characters, Cecil, is a bit of a snob and looks down on the common homey interests of his betrothed's family. He is good with books,art, ideas and 'things', but when he interacts with real people, his personality 'kills' any chance of having an intimate relationship and thus, his life is one of ideas rather than people.

How fiction unwraps itself and reveals itself to be true! This was looking into a mirror for me. What my friends won't tell me, a good novel will! Doing well with "books, ideas and things" is not the epicenter of living, says Forester, but the nitty gritty give and take of affectionate living is where life's eruption takes place. Art and ideas and books, although glorious, arise from this center, not vice versa. First comes the flesh, then the idea.

Thus this 'old' book, written over 100 years ago, performs the magic of all good literature: it makes me act and think differently. I now, attempt to(!), treat the person who stands before me, not as an idea, but as another real, carbon-based life form!

"A Room With A View" tells the often told story of a young person learning to stand in her own place rather than where society demands she stand, yet Forester's characters are so complete that this old story is like a skeleton that is dressed up in finery and begins to walk! I fell in love with the characters and recognized myself in all of them; yes, even in the old biddy Charlotte, who, as it turns out, wasn't so old fashioned and possibly was the master puppeteer.

A must-read --- captivating!.......2007-01-28

"A Room with a View" is a novel that is thoroughly enjoyable from the first page to the last. It's a heart-warming love story, and this aspect of it completely charmed me. It's also very funny in some places. It's not overlong, either, so it doesn't drag, and it's a very easy read. I simply fell in love with "A Room with a View", and it has to be one of my favorite books I've ever read. I'd recommend it to anybody.

Quaint Review of a 20th Century "Muddle" [39][79].......2007-01-02

This book, written in 1908, is enwrapped with the then-stereotypical clash of the British castes. In this book, a young British Brahman woman, Lucy Honeychurch, must decide whether to marry wealthy Cecil Vyse or follow her heart after the young and buff, but socially crass (to them but not to us 21st century Americans), George Emerson.

Cecil dislikes most everyone, because they are not as gifted or talented as he. And, George - as well as his father Mr. Emerson - ignore the innuendo and scofflaw-like attitudes thrown in their direction by Cecil and people with whom he associates. In fact, when discovering Lucy's engagement to Cecil, George flatly (and out of character) responds, "You cannot live with Vyse. . . He should know no one intimately, least of all a woman." This sentence is so out of context with his character's dialogue throughout the remainder of the book. But, perhaps more true to the character, it describes his emotions about Lucy and his main competitor for her heart.

Lucy is torn between two lovers. She is in what Mr. Emerson describes to be in a "muddle." Much of the muddle has been exaggerated by her meddling spinster cousin, Charlotte, and Charlotte's poor choice of a friend, Eleanor Lavish. But, to her credit, she thinks the situation through, and makes a decision which she enjoys, but which most around her do not understand.

Forster's dialogue reminds me greatly of Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, or either Austen. The prim respectability often reads constrained when emotions of anger or hatred are expressed. But, the richness of the dialogue and depth of insight for the main characters are masterfully done. That is why this novel still is read today and will be for years.

wonderful.......2006-11-21

One of my absolute favorite books. I discover something new every time I read it. Beautiful settings, lovely characters, an interesting style, and at least a few hearty laughs for everyone.

Classic love story.......2006-11-07

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.

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Love is just Love
Love Ultimately Prevails
Let me count the ways...
A Most Wonderful Novel!
a novel not published for many years

Maurice: A Novel
E. M. Forster
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
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Book Description

"The work of an exceptional artist working close to the peak of his powers."—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times Set in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow him through public school and Cambridge, and on into his father's firm, Hill and Hall, Stock Brokers. In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional young man in almost every way, "stepping into the niche that England had prepared for him": except that his is homosexual. Written during 1913 and 1914, immediately after Howards End, and not published until 1971, Maurice was ahead of its time in its theme and in its affirmation that love between men can be happy. "Happiness," Forster wrote, "is its keynote….In Maurice I tried to create a character who was completely unlike myself or what I supposed myself to be: someone handsome, healthy, bodily attractive, mentally torpid, not a bad businessman and rather a snob. Into this mixture I dropped an ingredient that puzzles him, wakes him up, torments him and finally saves him."

Customer Reviews:

Love is just Love.......2007-06-18

This is one of the few books I plan to read again. What a beautiful story. For those of us who have not had a same-sex relationship, it illustrates that, love is just love, the emotions and feelings are the same regardless. This book was impossible to put down yet difficult to finish and say goodbye to.

Love Ultimately Prevails.......2005-03-18

I saw the film "Maurice" long before I read the book. As delightful as the movie is, the book is even better, because we are able to get into the thoughts of the characters and the mind-set near the turn of the 20th century. At first, I did not like Forster's writing style; it's almost too economical, occasionally cryptic. Many times the prepositional referent isn't altogether clear, creating unnecessary ambiguity. Moreover, a lot of the jargon is particular to second-decade England, not to current U.S readers. But as the story picks up momentum, the economy of style turns almost poetic, and the linguistic particularities fade, making this novel into a real page-turner.

The story and the characters are highly realistic, even by today's standards (though written in 1914). There's the common issue of the conflict with "coming-out" gay vis-a-vis the desire to be "normal," which as Forster concludes, is essentially one and the same, regardless of nature's impulses. While to be gay is ultimately to be normal, it is not without its social and personal prejudices and misunderstandings, particularly at the time this book was written. Likewise, Forster demonstrates that gay people can (and most often do) lead quite normal, happy, even transforming lives, despite these difficulties. This is what gives the novel its joy.

Above all, this is a typical story of the vicissitudes of love, the only difference being that it involves three men (and several secondary women). One man (Clive), while thoroughly enjoying his same-sex love, ultimately represses it to make himself socially acceptable, politically viable, and personally miserable. Another man (Maurice), initially thinks he has to do likewise, but he cannot suppress the insuppressible, and finally does the inevitable and heeds his nature's call. The third man (Alec) discovers his unique love, and while initially angry that his love isn't immediately reciprocated, comes to love the man who really does love him after all. In many ways, this is the ultimate "homosexual" novel, but in many other ways, it is also the universal romantic novel.

Beyond the obvious love story, Forster weaves in various themes and ideas of the times (that are still with us). For the perspicuity in incorporating these themes and how they relate to being a human being first, and being gay second, Forster makes for a most satisfying reflection and examination of perennial issues. Not only is the single most important emotion, love, addressed in all its complexities, but so are certain theological, psychological, philosophical, business, and political nuances addressed. The whole enterprise is exceptionally satisfying. A novel worth anyone's time.

Let me count the ways..........2005-01-04

Why do I love this book? Is it because E. M. Forster presents a wide and believable spectrum of queer men? Because of how the title character is such a good example of the heroism ordinary people can have? Because of the fact that it's a piece of Edwardian queer literature that doesn't end with insanity, despair, or death? Because Alec Scudder is the best bisexual character in all of literature? Yeah, it's all of the above.

Various literary critics and historians have voiced the opinion that E. M. Forster was cowardly to have not published it during his lifetime, but given that he was a somewhat retiring person who came of age as Oscar Wilde was undergoing his trials, I think it's pretty brave that he wrote it at all. "Maurice" is never sensationalized, nor is it cliched. Things I found as flaws revealed themselves as underscored points upon re-reading. I will go so far as to say that this book should be read by every single person on the face of this earth.

A Most Wonderful Novel!.......2004-06-27

"Maurice" was written by E.M. Forster in 1914, but as he instructed, the novel was not published until after his death in 1970 as he did not want to shock "society" (specifically, "England") due to the strong homosexual theme (which was unacceptable then).

To me, this is Forster's best and most readable novel. It is also easily his most romantic and sexual. I was completely absorbed in the story right from page 1 and couldn't put the book down! The scenes, situations and dialogue are so richly and beautifully written, while the love story is simply one of the most moving I've ever read.

Maurice is our hero here - young, rich, Cambridge-educated and quite a snob. He is not aware of his true sexuality until it is "brought out" by his Cambridge friend, Clive who loves Maurice first. Their coming together and love affair are simply delicious to read and when the words "Maurice, I love you" and "I you" are uttered, tears just came to my eyes because it was so romantically-written, and I said to myself, "At last Maurice is happy". However, after some years of happiness, comes despair when Maurice is rather cruelly rejected by Clive who claims that he (Clive) has "suddenly become normal" and cannot love Maurice anymore. This novel succeeds because Forster had created a most believable and lovable hero in Maurice. His hope becomes your (i.e. the reader's) hope, his love your love, and his despair your despair. You desperately want him to find love and happiness again. And then when Maurice has decided to give up on love and life, his saviour appears on the scene in the form of the attractive, working-class man, Alec. The ending is a great triumph on the power of love and hope. I know I should be depressed for days (if not weeks) if this novel were to have a sad ending...

Unlike Forster's other novels, this one is much "braver" and contains real sexual situations. The scenes are rather erotic (especially between our hero and Alec) without being too revealing and they are written in such a romantic, honest and passionate manner that will certainly melt your heart.

This novel was filmed to critical success in 1987 by the Merchant-Ivory team (who did "A Room with a View" in 1985) and starred James Wilby (as Maurice), Hugh Grant (as Clive) and Rupert Graves (as Alec). I've ordered the DVD and can't wait to watch it.

I love "Maurice" so much and will remember its beauty forever. The romantic scenes made me cry, the funny scenes at the hypnotist's made me laugh and the ending of the novel made me feel very-very happy. I know that anyone who picks up this book will be in for a wonderful time. It is a novel that could be read again and again. Now, if I were to be stranded on a desert island and could only have 1 book for company, "Maurice" will definitely be it!

A 9/10!

a novel not published for many years.......2003-11-01

MAURICE is a novel of homosexual love, the first one I have ever read, but more than that it is a very direct description, perhaps as honest as could be---without either sensationalism or trivialization---of the inner feelings of a homosexual man. It begins when the main character, Maurice Hall, is a school boy, traces his emotional life through Cambridge and into the world of work, and ends in an upbeat, if rather abrupt fashion. In the confusion of early years, Maurice does not realize his true nature, but loses himself in sports, hi-jinks and studies. He devotes himself to his mother and two sisters. In short, his is the life of a typical English public school boy at the time (pre-WW I) Only at university does he recognize his real nature, though he'd had intimations mostly ignored, and truly falls in love with Clive Durham, a fellow student. Forster traces the ups and downs of this affair, leading the reader through all the ups and downs of homosexual love affairs. Maurice joins a financial investment firm, leading a totally conventional life in Britain's rigid class society, except for his sexual orientation. Eventually events take an unplanned course, Maurice winds up with another man, of a different class and nature. He experiences hitherto unknown problems. The ending, given Forster's rather pessimistic outlook on life, is unexpected.

This novel may not be for everybody, but if you attempt it, you will admire the skillful writing of E.M. Forster and you will come away appreciating his honesty. The dialogues sound very alien to an American in the early 21st century---a whole different way of using the English language---but no doubt they add a special flavor to the book, a period piece after all. I would say that a person who does not try to understand all aspects of the human condition has not truly lived, has not truly understood himself/herself. This is to readers who may not see the point of reading a novel about homosexual love. If you can't appreciate it as the great literature it is, perhaps you will think about the courage it took to write such a novel in 1914. Even then, it was not published until 1971, a year after Forster's death. Perhaps you will imagine what it is to become a great writer and still not touch upon a subject so close to your heart.

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A Passage to India (Penguin Classics)
E.M. Forster
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A writer at the height of his powers

Maurice (Penguin Classics)
E.M. Forster
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
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A writer at the height of his powers.......2007-02-03

Like Howards End and The Longest Journey, Maurice belongs to the Novels of England, works which mourned the country's vanishing landscape and celebrated its unique people. Although undoubtedly not one of Forster's greatest novels, Maurice nonethelesss exudes a brilliance of style in every sentence whilst a biting intelligence permeates throughout, far outshining most contemporary works. Written swiftly and without a hitch during one of Forster's most intensely creative periods, the novel affords crucial insight into a writer at the height of his powers.

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Incredible Forum for Modern Issue [39][53]
Deeply reflective
More Than a House
A character driven novel where the characters don't deliver
A Serious Look at Class Distinctions

Howards End (Dover Thrift Editions)
E. M. Forster
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com

Margaret Schlegel, engaged to the much older, widowed Henry Wilcox, meets her intended the morning after accepting his proposal and realizes that he is a man who has lived without introspection or true self-knowledge. As she contemplates the state of Wilcox's soul, her remedy for what ails him has become one of the most oft-quoted passages in literature: <blockquote>Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.</blockquote> Like all of Forster's work, Howards End concerns itself with class, nationality, economic status, and how each of these affects personal relationships. It follows the intertwined fortunes of the Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, and the Wilcox family over the course of several years. The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes, on the other hand, can't be bothered with the life of the mind or the heart, leading, instead, outer lives of "telegrams and anger" that foster "such virtues as neatness, decision, and obedience, virtues of the second rank, no doubt, but they have formed our civilization." Helen, after a brief flirtation with one of the Wilcox sons, has developed an antipathy for the family; Margaret, however, forms a brief but intense friendship with Mrs. Wilcox, which is cut short by the older woman's death. When her family discovers a scrap of paper requesting that Henry give their home, Howards End, to Margaret, it precipitates a spiritual crisis among them that will take years to resolve.

Forster's 1910 novel begins as a collection of seemingly unrelated events--Helen's impulsive engagement to Paul Wilcox; a chance meeting between the Schlegel sisters and an impoverished clerk named Leonard Bast at a concert; a casual conversation between the sisters and Henry Wilcox in London one night. But as it moves along, these disparate threads gradually knit into a tightly woven fabric of tragic misunderstandings, impulsive actions, and irreparable consequences, and, eventually, connection. Though set in the early years of the 20th century, Howards End seems even more suited to our own fragmented era of e-mails and anger. For readers living in such an age, the exhortation to "only connect" resonates ever more profoundly. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

The disregard of a dying woman's bequest, a girl's attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage of an idealist and a materialist — all intersect at an estate called Howards End. The fate of this country home symbolizes the future of England in an exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends during the post-Victorian era.

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A chance acquaintance brings together the prosperous bourgeois Wilcox family and the clever, cultured, and idealistic Schlegel sisters. As clear-eyed Margaret develops a friendship with Mrs. Wilcox, the impetuous Helen brings into their midst a young bank clerk named Leonard Bast, who lives at the edge of poverty and ruin. When Mrs. Wilcox dies, her family discovers that she wants to leave her country home, Howards End, to Margaret. Thus Forster sets in motion a chain of events that will entangle three different families and brilliantly portrays their aspirations for personal and social harmony.

Customer Reviews:

Incredible Forum for Modern Issue [39][53].......2007-04-15

A man's thesis on women's suffrage against a Dickens-like turn-of-the-century poverty backdrop, and curling the ending into the tragic death of one young impoverished man which culminates with the criminal conviction of a wealthy young man, makes one think Russian novel - makes one think that this was an extremely brave and ambitious project for a British author in 1910.

The theme is basic: three children of wealth are led my the matronly eldest sister (Meg or Margaret) who monitors her younger-by-two years man-crazy sister (Helen), and their brother (Tibby) who is their junior by many more years.

Over the period of about 6 years, she befriends Helen's beau's mother after the tryst is called off by his father. After the untimely death of the boyfriend's mother, Meg attracts his father (Henry), weds his father, holds house for her brother, Tibby, through his Oxford years, and tries to comprehend the wild antics of Helen. The marriage to the elder husband involves great politicking - all in Edwardian civil obedience - with Henry's two daughters and two sons.

The adept ability of the Edwardian Meg to manipulate her senior and aristocratic husband displays how this "feeble" creature is in control in a seemingly "man's world." She is the thoroughly modern Brit who discusses issues like suffrage rights and sexual equality - two topics deplored by her husband and his cronies. But, this independance is what attracts him to her.

The civility breaks in the end when her character chides her husband - very legitimately - about how her husband's infidelity is not treated the same as her sister's adultery: " You have had a mistress - I forgave you. My sister has a lover - you drive her from the house. Do you see the connection? Stupid, hypocritical, cruel - oh, contemptible." Wow! A woman's place was not to stand behind her man in 1910! And, sure enough, her sister stays and her husband acknowledges her harsh statements, as difficult as they are to hear, to ring true and to deserve acceptance. In good gesture to his character, he swallows this very bitter pill.

The last 200 pages move much better than the first 150 pages. This novel improves as the character's personalities become more reflected in the rich and powerful dialogue presented by Forster - a master of dialogue.

This book has much more depth than "Room With a View" and discusses issues still pertinent in this day - not something "Room" can claim. I would recommend either book, but urge new readers to pick up and read this novel if one must choose between the two.

Deeply reflective.......2007-01-30

Young Helen Schlegel falls for Paul Wilcox on a visit to the Wilcox family's home at Howard's End. The Schlegel family alarm proves to be unfounded, and the Wilcox and Schlegel families are drawn together over time. A complex set of relationships ensues, with unforeseen consequences for both families.

What at first appears to be a gentle Edwardian novel about the social mores of the upper middle classes, turns out to be far deeper than that. Forster dissects the conflicting attitudes of his time - indeed some such attitudes prevail to this day: social conscience against materialism; the rights of women; the meaning of honesty and fidelity; the effects of cynicism and double standards. All are examined within a generally finely crafted piece of fiction. The characters are made to feel deeply, and the reader is attracted to them despite their flaws - surprises lie in store with and for these people (and they do, I suppose, in real life).

"Howard's End" is not without certain flaws in its plot, and of Forster's works I still prefer "A Passage to India", yet this is still a significant work.

G Rodgers

More Than a House.......2006-11-13

Through Forster's impressive command of the English language and advanced character development, the story of Helen & Margaret Schlegel unfolds. The sisters--who are highly educated, pensive, and artistic--become entangled with the Wilcox family--practical, unilateral capitalists--and the Basts--working class and unassuming. However, the initially subtle differences between the sisters (and how they approach love, misfortune, and personal relations) become more obvious as the novel progresses, climaxing in a scandalous ending that was unexpected from a high-brow English novel. (I think some of the 1 and 2 start reviewers never actually read the novel to its dramatic end) Human nature notwithstanding, the novel's refinement, gorgeous writing, and riveting story-telling prevail to the end. I loved it!

A character driven novel where the characters don't deliver.......2006-09-17

I picked this up because it's considered a classic and I knew it had been made into a movie. I tend to think that if a book is made into a movie, then the book must be pretty good. Not so with Howard's End. The plot in Howard's End doesn't progress much outside of an early death and later marraige. You have to have some interest in the characters, but they just weren't very believeable. None of characters convinced me that they could be people from the real world. I kept waiting for someone to say anything that might border on being interesting, but everyone babbles on and on about nothing of any substance. The story is clearly dated and doesn't hold up well so many years later. Living in today's world, it's hard to understand what attracted Margaret to Henry. There definately is an audience for this book. I'm just not a part of it.

A Serious Look at Class Distinctions.......2006-08-29

The world of HOWARD'S END is a study of polar opposites: reason versus passion, idealism versus pragmatism, and sentiment versus sense. In E. M. Forster's other novels, he expands on them as well, but in them he does so in a light and bantering tone such as in A ROOM WITH A VIEW or in culturally clashing context as in A PASSAGE TO INDIA. But in the English country-house world of HOWARD'S END, Forster takes a middle view. His focus is on a close up examination of the contrasting and clashing universes of two families: the Wilcox family of reason, practicality, money, and general conservatism; and the Schlegel family of idealism intellectualism, sentimentality, and general liberalism. In such a clash of cultural outlooks, Forster implies that any reconciliation between them can be achieved only at the cost of human tragedy.

The Schlegel sisters Margaret and Helen are vacationing in Germany where they meet the Wilcoxes. Rather inexplicably, Helen is invited to visit them in London. Helen accepts, and falls in love with Paul Wilcox, a match of which the Wilcoxes much disapprove due to class differences. Sadly, both Paul and Helen agree not to see each other. Forster here depicts how status can be used as a club to crush human love. Later, the Wilcoxes rent a house that is coincidentally near the Schlegel home. Ruth Wilcox, the matriarch, meets and develops a sincere liking for Margaret and they become fast friends. When Ruth dies, her family discover a letter in her effects that her final wish was to pass her ancestral home, Howard's End, to Margaret. The Wilcoxes disregard the letter and do not tell Margaret of its contents. Ruth's husband meets Margaret, and despite the differences in their ages, status, backgrounds, and political convictions, they fall in love and marry, much to the disgust of his family. Meanwhile Helen falls in love with a disreputable young man named Leonard Bast, who is married to a much older harridan who tricked him into marriage. This woman, again coincidentally, was once the mistress of Mr. Wilcox. Helen gets pregnant by Leonard. Mr. Wilcox writes a will that leaves Howard's End to Margaret just as Ruth would have wished.

There is very little of the levity that one finds in A ROOM WITH A VIEW. HOWARD'S END is a dead serious look at a society that prides itself on clean class distinctions, an abiding concern of Forster's, but here his focus is on presenting then unveiling the sources and consequences of those artificially erected barriers that Forster implies are built in to an entrenched and ossified caste system that has little chance to change. The conservative Wilcox family, though tarred with a broad brush of authorial disapproval are not seen as totally in the wrong, nor are the liberal Schlegels depicted as purely driven saints from heaven. Forster is careful to show families in contrast and clash but also families that intersect at critical points of common humanity. As both families emerge either cleansed or sullied, Forster seems to say that both are like everyone else, and that if even clashing cultures can find that point of intersection, then the tragic end of HOWARD'S END need not be replicated in those clashing cultures.

Where Angels Fear to Tread (Classic, 20th-Century, Audio)

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Italy Charms Everyone in the Worst of Times [98]
Somewhat dated but still a worthwhile read
So Much Drama
Good, short read
A passage to Italy

Where Angels Fear to Tread (Classic, 20th-Century, Audio)
E. M. Forster , and Stephen Fry
Manufacturer: Penguin Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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Book Description

"Let her go to Italy!" he cried. "Let her meddle with what she doesn't understand! Look at this letter! The man who wrote it will marry her, or murder her, or do for her somehow. He's a bounder, but he's not an English bounder. He's mysterious and terrible. He's got a country behind him that's upset people from the beginning of the world."

When a young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are not amused. That the marriage should fail and poor Lilia die tragically are only to be expected. But that Lilia should have had a baby -- and that the baby should be raised as an Italian! -- are matters requiring immediate correction by Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.

In his first novel, E. M. Forster anticipated the themes of cultural collision and the sterility of the English middle class that he would develop in A Room with a View and A Passage to India. Where Angels Fear to Tread is an accomplished, harrowing, and malevolently funny book, in which familiar notions of vice and virtue collapse underfoot and the best intentions go mortally awry.

Customer Reviews:

Italy Charms Everyone in the Worst of Times [98].......2007-05-09

If one wishes to learn how Britain's rich entertained, lived and acted during the turn of the century, E.M. Forster and Evelyn Waugh deliver depictions as well as anyone of their generation.

This book delves little with interpersonal thoughts. Instead, it deals with dialogue. Rich, gooey, luscious dialogue where the characters reveal their characters, their thoughts, their inner beings by what words they choose to deliver to others.

In the staid world of turn-of-the-century Britain, the dialogue must be masterfully written as the people did not directly say what they felt. They were polite, but in a cold British manner. And, Forster's ability to write that type of British dialogue is unrivaled.

Additionally, this book - which is amid the wonderfully warm Italy - delivers a great ethical question: what to do with a baby born of a British mother (who dies in child birth) related to very impudent and snobby persons residing in the outskirts of London. Who does he belong to? His wealthy British relatives where he will be brought up well but little loved? Or with his loving Italian stallion 23-year-old father who has little money, knows nothing of rearing children and probably would fail (at least in a British perspective) in raising the child?

Forster delivered a similar ethical issue in "Howards End" where the last wish of a dying wife to her husband of many years (through oral bequest and written - but unwitnessed note - which contradicts her written will) is not followed by her husband and family who wish to keep their inheritance in exchange for dishonoring the matriarch's last wishes.

But, each issue is not finished with the sudden first response. In each book, more events occur which gloss the issue.

Read this book soon in time to "A Room With A View." Italy obviously touched Forster - this book and "Room With A View" are its derivatives. Thank you Italy for being you to Forster, who wrote that Italy ". . . sent me going as novelist."

Somewhat dated but still a worthwhile read.......2007-02-03

This book suffers from dated style and tone. Also, its one of those book where nothing much happens until EVERYTHING happens. Still, the characters are drawn with universal qualities and weaknesses and so it was a book to which I could relate. Forester is a subtle master in developing the theme that everyone is different than what they initially appear to be. A cad really can be a gentleman in disguise. "Angels" is a worthwhile read.

So Much Drama.......2006-09-06

Forster's novel highlights the interracial marriage between an English woman (Lilia) and an Italian man (Gino). Much of the discussion surrounds their marriage and its various negative and positive aspects, which are few. The characters revere the wealthy, English society as better than lower-class, Italian lifestyle, but their ideals are challenged by the death of Lilia and her son.

Even with the constant derision of the Italian culture, the characters do think Italians are more honest with themselves and their passions than the English are, and the characters who mention this idea are in many ways jealous of Gino and his people. The idea is raised that living in light of your passions could lead to a more fulfilling life than living with the standards of high English society. At the theatre, the Italian people are thoroughly enjoying themselves with a very intrusive atmosphere of theatre viewing, and the English characters will not put up with it. They consistently refuse to live life as it comes to them, instead deciding that it must be processed through the socially acceptable constructs of English culture.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

Good, short read.......2005-10-03

Hovering somewhere around 100 pages, _Where Angels Fear to Tread_ is a good, short weekend read. The novela tells the story of an upperclass British family that travels to Italy to save the son of their late daughter-in-law from a savage upbringing by his Italian father, their daughter-in-laws second husband. There aren't a whole lot of happy moments in the novella - on the whole it's pretty depressing, but it was never boring, and the characters, some lovable, some completely aggravating, were at least interesting. Having never read any other works by E.M. Forster, I am not cut out to comment on style, but knowing that this was his first work makes me really want to read his later novels - this was great for a first effort, so I'm sure his more mature work is fantastic.

A passage to Italy.......2005-04-03

Troublesome family scenarios are E.M. Forster's forte. In his debut novel "Where Angels Fear to Tread," a relatively young English widow named Lilia Herriton goes to Italy at the advice of her deceased husband Charles's family, accompanied by her friend Caroline Abbott, and, in a quaint little town called Monteriano, falls in love with an even younger hustler named Gino Carella and plans to marry him. The news mortifies her former in-laws: How could our Lilia marry a man beneath her class, the idle son of a dentist (a profession not highly regarded by the snobs in those days), a Catholic?

Philip Herriton, Lilia's ex-brother-in-law, is immediately dispatched to Monteriano to put a stop to this fiasco, but it's too late; the wedding has already happened, and Philip returns to England with Caroline. Lilia, eager to adjust her life to this poor but picturesque provincial Italian town, finds the social environment completely alien to the one to which she is accustomed in England, and even worse is the fact that Gino, whose friends are impressed that he has been able to score a rich blond Englishwoman, is revealed to be lazy and adulterous. The worst is finally realized when Lilia dies in childbirth delivering a son to Gino.

Back in England, the Herritons' connection to Lilia is not so easily broken; a daughter named Irma from her first husband has been left in their care, even though Lilia had been treated with condescension by her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law Harriet while she was married to Charles. Concerned with scandal, the Herritons recoil in fear when, a few months after Lilia's death, Irma receives postcards from Monteriano signed by her "little brother." Philip, his sister Harriet, and Caroline, all convinced of Gino's unsuitableness as a father, especially of a child of English blood, return to Italy to try to retrieve the baby boy.

The obvious satire of cavalier Edwardian English attitudes toward Catholic Europe is only a backdrop to the more specific issue of whether the Herritons should assume custody of a baby with whom they have no legal familial relations. Caroline, who begins to sympathize with Gino, puts it to Philip most clearly: "Do you want the child to stop [stay] with his father, who loves him and will bring him up badly, or do you want him to come to Sawston [the English town where the Herritons live], where no one loves him, but where he will be brought up well?" Caroline means well, of course, but her presumption that Gino would necessarily bring the boy up "badly" is part of the satire.

Like Oscar Wilde with a social conscience, Forster writes admirable prose and devises witty barbs that are the soul of subtlety, but "Where Angels Fear to Tread" ultimately disappoints as its focus unravels. The dilemma that Forster has been so careful in constructing ends in an avoidable tragedy, the aftermath of which is treated rather sloppily in an unconvincing attempt to rectify the plot into a happy ending. It is frustrating that this sensitive and meticulous author, whose best novels ("Howards End" and "A Passage to India") are masterpieces, could be so frivolous in his early days, but perhaps he needed time to find his proper tone.

Average customer rating:

keyne readers admire untouchables
A very touching story
Universally vital subject matter from a creative author

Untouchable (Penguin Classics)
Mulk Raj Anand
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140183957

Customer Reviews:

keyne readers admire untouchables.......2004-07-05

Untouchable, by Mulk Raj Anand, 1933
We thought this was a valuable book because it was motivated by passionate political convictions to inform people about the plight of the `Untouchables' in Hindu society in the 1930s and was well written. We felt that, apart from the contrived ending, the novella worked very well in telling a believable story. We felt that Anand represented the main protagonist of the narrative - a young man called Bakha - as someone to identify with and feel for. He was not a `cardboard' hero but someone pitiable in his eagerness to please and his gratitude for the smallest crumbs of kindness from his superiors. Because there are no chapter headings the readers are drawn on and on to follow him in his path.
The characterisation was considered to be vivid with the story being told in a succession of short `set pieces' entailing dramatic encounters with the friends and the enemies of the Untouchables. The novella covers just one day from sunrise to sunset in the life of the eighteen year old Bakha. It seems to be a day when he `comes to consciousness' in many ways as to his position at the bottom of the social and spiritual hierarchy. We learn that he is imprisoned by an invisible wall of prejudice so that he cannot walk in the streets freely, nor buy food, nor worship or even visit someone's house normally. Through following his sister briefly we learn that Untouchables are even unable to collect water for themselves but must beg others to obtain it for them. Nor is he allowed an education or medical care. Nevertheless Anand portrays him as capable of some happiness. Even in his restricted position he takes some pleasure in his clothes, enjoys part of his hard work and a game of hockey.
Anand provided a contrived ending so as to offer the varied solutions to the problem of Untouchables as put forward by Ghandi, a Christian, a Muslim and a social reformer cum poet. Bakha is left at the end of the day only with the comfort of knowing that his situation has been noticed as something which needs to be addressed.
We thought that it was very much of its time in the sense that Anand cannot conceive of getting Bakha to perform his own liberation. He must be freed by someone else: whether by radicalising Hindus, or becoming a Christian or a Muslim, or by being given flush toilets by western industrialists.
We also felt that society in the UK had treated poorer classes which did dirty jobs - cleaning up after others often - in ways which had some parallels with the situation of Bakha.

A very touching story.......2001-08-09

I do not remember why I first bought this book, but when I was reading it, it sure fired up some long gone memories into my system of the times when I was a six year old boy use to visit my grandparents in a remote village in Punjab, India.

I have always heard of the Untouchables but did not remember how disrespectfully the Indians have been treating their own people known as the Untouchables.

To summarize the book in some sentences -

1 It is an excellent story, which may not be true, but 99.9% of the Untouchables and the rest in India will relate to it.

2 The story also describes very clearly the Context in which these people have/had to work for their Masters (Jats, Brahmins etc.) in the villages of India.

3 If you do not wish to do extensive research on this topic but you want to understand the meaning and get a handle on 'the Untouchablility' existing in India then this book is for you.

4 I have also read an excellent book by John D. Morley called "Pictures from the Water Trade" which describes how a very similar Caste system also flourishing in Japan. My point here is that India is not alone, guilty of subhuman practices. In India there exists, perhaps, a more established hierarchical Caste system structure than any other place, and you will get a clear picture of it after reading the book.

Universally vital subject matter from a creative author.......2000-03-31

Looking at the title some people might say: "Oh, well, it is another one of those stories about poor, suffering Indians...It is probably just another tearjerker, nothing more...and this and that..." They would be only half-right. Yes, it is another story about unimaginable suffering of out-cast Indians, The Untouchables. Yes, if you call yourself a HUMAN being and have a heart, you WILL empathize with them. However, this book doesn't ask you to pitty its characters and/or cry for them. Instead, it makes you think about them, not only in the context of Indian culture, but in a context of a much larger world. It also forces you to draw parallels to your own culture, whether you like it or not. Today, this book is especially potent, as we no longer live in our "little isolated cultures", separated by endless preconceptions and stupid prejudices about each other. In addition, this book is simply a piece of excellent writing, thanks to the wonderful writing skills and creative methods of its author. The story is narrated through the eyes of a main character, who directly addresses you as a reader, and yet sometimes seems to ignore you completely, while going about his own business (those are particularly interesting moments in the story). So, read this book, follow the lives (actually, try to live their lives with them) of its numerous and vivid characters, not one of whom is like the next one. I garantee that you will learn something new about India and also about yourselves, in the process of reading this book.

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