Books : A Room with a View (Penguin Classics)

Rating: - beautiful, romantic, funny
and full of references (which I love). The metamorphosis of the main character is subtle against the background of classic and Florence and Victorian England. I've read it twice and I am planning to read it again soon. See the movie as well!

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Rating: - Everyone knows the film but read the book too!
Forster's classic easy read....a love story divided between Tuscany & Florence and the English countryside. The humour is very Forsterian but the novel is such a happy "feel good book" that it will lift anyone. Especially recommended for those new to Forster and for love struck teenagers!

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Rating: - GREAT READ
"A Room With A View" is the epitome of Victorian England. All the characters are fascinating - from the eccentric novelist Eleanor Lavish to one of the book's main characters Lucy Honeychurch - as they are so archaic, in that such people are not found today. Forster beautifully describes the countryside of southern England, which provides an excellent contrast to his account of Italy in earlier chapters. From the first page the novel becomes more and more interesting as the plot and subplots become increasingly complex. Written 50 years after the book's original publication, Forster's epilogue tells of what became of Lucy et al. This is useful as at the end of the book you are sad that you have to leave what have become friends behind- you just have to know what happened. A brilliant read.

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Rating: - A tale of two cities and a country house
I'm not sure what prompted me to read this, but whatever it was, I'm very glad it did. Both the opening chapters set in Italy and the latter ones at Windy Corner depict a beautiful scene with a bond between Lucy and George to match, and you can immediately sense that this is one which is not going to be broken by some stuffy pseudo-aristocrat. Lucy's troubles are excellently captured by a surprisingly intuitive Forster, as is George's down-to-earth sensitivity, but the most intriguing part has to be your view of Charlotte after the last page has been read: who is the real Charlotte? Whatever your view of this, the book proves delightful and in many ways provocative: a joy to read.

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Rating: - Dreary in Stretches
Paradoxically disappointing book, full of good authorial spirits, great comic wit and so on, but still rather dreary, particularly the second half where everybody returns from Italy. There are some excellent scenes, including a strange and very comic one set in Santa Croce in Florence, and the entire chapter 17...