A Room With a View [Paperback]

Much worse still Lucy is not permitted--nor does she permit herself--to explore the forbidden territories of her own heart. The examples of unrestrained natives and a bold kiss among the violet-covered hills of Fiesole result in their precipitous departure for Rome, but continue to haunt her memory for a year. The Emersons (father and son) prove new inpsiration in Lucy's circumscribed social milieu. Against her better judgment she is charmed by their disingenuous manners and the expression of frank feelings. Inspite of her inflexible upbringing, her mind is fascinated, even if her heart does not feel attached, by the father's unselfish kindness and the son's eager grasp of life. Their unusual philosophies and behavior throw fresh air into the drafty corridors of contstraint in which she has been reared.

It all starts with the Emersons' courteous offer to exchange their own rooms in the pensione, so that the ladies might enjoy a room with a View of glorious Florence. It takes Lucy one year to realize that her own life has needed a clear view, which she can only obtain through George Emerson. Even
back in England the Emersons inadvertantly displace two elderly ladies as tenants when they rent a villa near Lucy's home. How did poor Lucy ever come to be engaged to a boor like Cecil, with his limited world view of masculine control and maternal domination? Lucy can not imagine him unless he is inside a room, without a view, while he rightly considers her a living view of the world. Lucy is dishonest in denying her growing attraction to George; both of them individually plan to flee the anguish of frustred, forbidden proximity. Then there is the ubiquitous poor relation, Charlotte, meddling, bungling, misunderstanding and misdirecting Lucy's little life--Despite the best intentions. Will Lucy realize her error before it is too late? A quiet, insightful read which will charm students of Edwardian England and the human heart.

Learning to love a pair like the Emersons would seem to be easy for Lucy, but that is the struggle of this whole novel, how she creates such a muddle out of a simple thing and ends up, for the first time in her life, to begin to see clearly.

Forster finds a nice balance in this novel - engaging plot, unique and well-developed characters, and a fair dose of philosophy to lighten the burdens of your mind (all good philosophy should lighten your mind instead of weighing it down).

I would recommend this book on the simple fact that Mr. Emerson is, in many of his traits, the type of human being we should all strive to become(good-hearted, thought-provoking, devoted to expanding his mind instead of narrowing it, welcoming to all, poetic and deep). That alone recommends it. This may not be Forster's best, but it's one of them, and is more than worth the time (I finished it in three days, awfully fast, hungry for more when it was done).