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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
3.5
I am in a classics mood, but after my recent completion of [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1222897284s/656.jpg|4912783] I decided to try something a little lighter and less than one tenth of the size. This is how I found my way towards [a:E. M. Forster|5797214|E. M. Forster|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s 130 page novel about a woman who is forced to make a decision between marrying a wealthy man she will never love and a man of lower class who she knows she can be happy with. Funnily enough, I think it was this story's length that slightly let it down for me, had it been a longer book I'm sure I would have fallen in love with George as everyone else seems to.
This book was published in 1908 - a time somewhat between eras for British society. Women could own property and were becoming increasingly free, authors like [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1282032472p2/1265.jpg], [a:George Eliot|173|George Eliot|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1190493613p2/173.jpg], [a:Charlotte Brontë|1036615|Charlotte Brontë|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1335001351p2/1036615.jpg](&Co.) had taken the nineteenth century by storm, and yet women still did not have the vote and they would be expected to get married young, stay at home, and have babies for decades to come. Into this world strolls Lucy Honeychurch, at first a very naive and typical young woman of the time period. But a woman who, as the book progresses, eventually challenges societal conventions and limitations.
[a:E. M. Forster|5797214|E. M. Forster|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] is famous for his stories about British society and class and hypocrisy. He was a gay man who spent his entire life hiding his sexuality from an unforgiving world made up of expectations and a very black and white view of what was right and wrong. Though his personal struggles weren't made clear until after his death with the publication of [b:Maurice|3103|Maurice|E.M. Forster|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1313796276s/3103.jpg|2394184], it is obvious (to me) that [b:A Room with a View|3087|A Room with a View|E.M. Forster|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1218672045s/3087.jpg|4574872] is just one of his various attempts to poke fun at the rigidity of class, gender and sexual boundaries.
Lucy longs for independence, freedom from the constrictions of being a woman in 1908, being upper middle class, being a label with a set of rules that she is expected to follow. She wants to live as she goes and define herself in that way, not in a predetermined fashion that stems from centuries of inequalities and the desire for "appropriateness". I cannot tell you just how much I loved this idea, I only wanted a longer story to make it perfect. Lucy is such a charming and interesting character that she could have easily held my attention for double the amount of pages in this incredibly short book. Also, I wasn't quite sold on George and I think I was supposed to be, that the point was that the reader would come to love the man who wasn't as wealthy, who wasn't as well-educated. A little more time to get to know George would have made me happy.
I am in a classics mood, but after my recent completion of [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1222897284s/656.jpg|4912783] I decided to try something a little lighter and less than one tenth of the size. This is how I found my way towards [a:E. M. Forster|5797214|E. M. Forster|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s 130 page novel about a woman who is forced to make a decision between marrying a wealthy man she will never love and a man of lower class who she knows she can be happy with. Funnily enough, I think it was this story's length that slightly let it down for me, had it been a longer book I'm sure I would have fallen in love with George as everyone else seems to.
This book was published in 1908 - a time somewhat between eras for British society. Women could own property and were becoming increasingly free, authors like [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1282032472p2/1265.jpg], [a:George Eliot|173|George Eliot|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1190493613p2/173.jpg], [a:Charlotte Brontë|1036615|Charlotte Brontë|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1335001351p2/1036615.jpg](&Co.) had taken the nineteenth century by storm, and yet women still did not have the vote and they would be expected to get married young, stay at home, and have babies for decades to come. Into this world strolls Lucy Honeychurch, at first a very naive and typical young woman of the time period. But a woman who, as the book progresses, eventually challenges societal conventions and limitations.
[a:E. M. Forster|5797214|E. M. Forster|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] is famous for his stories about British society and class and hypocrisy. He was a gay man who spent his entire life hiding his sexuality from an unforgiving world made up of expectations and a very black and white view of what was right and wrong. Though his personal struggles weren't made clear until after his death with the publication of [b:Maurice|3103|Maurice|E.M. Forster|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1313796276s/3103.jpg|2394184], it is obvious (to me) that [b:A Room with a View|3087|A Room with a View|E.M. Forster|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1218672045s/3087.jpg|4574872] is just one of his various attempts to poke fun at the rigidity of class, gender and sexual boundaries.
Lucy longs for independence, freedom from the constrictions of being a woman in 1908, being upper middle class, being a label with a set of rules that she is expected to follow. She wants to live as she goes and define herself in that way, not in a predetermined fashion that stems from centuries of inequalities and the desire for "appropriateness". I cannot tell you just how much I loved this idea, I only wanted a longer story to make it perfect. Lucy is such a charming and interesting character that she could have easily held my attention for double the amount of pages in this incredibly short book. Also, I wasn't quite sold on George and I think I was supposed to be, that the point was that the reader would come to love the man who wasn't as wealthy, who wasn't as well-educated. A little more time to get to know George would have made me happy.