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A Room with a View
E.M. Forster Book Review

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Plot Summary of A Room with a View
"Lucy Honeychurch, a naive English girl, and her fussy chaperon, Charlotte Bartlett, are visiting Florence for the first time. They are annoyed when their pension rooms have no view of the Arno, so an "ill-bred" and unpopular fellow guest, Mr Emerson, offers to swap with them. Mr Beebe, a clergyman, reassures them that Emerson, though a Socialist, has no ulterior motive, and they accept his offer.

Lucy meets Mr Emerson and his son George when she is lost while sight-seeing. She finds the father kind and the son interesting despite their unconventionality. Later Lucy witnesses a fatal stabbing in the street and faints; George helps her back to the pension. Lucy tries to avoid George as the other guests gossip uncharitably about the Emersons, but is aware of a subtle change in her feelings. During an expedition, on a hillside covered in violets, George kisses her impulsively. Charlotte, witnessing this, decides they should leave Florence.

Back in England, several months later, Lucy becomes engaged to supercilious aristocrat Cecil Vyse, with whom she has little in common. When the Emersons move nearby, Lucy's brother Freddy befriends George, inviting him to a tennis party. Cecil refuses to play, instead reading aloud from a new novel he despises. As he reads a passage concerning a stolen kiss, Lucy realises that Charlotte has betrayed her confidence to the lady novelist they met in Italy. George kisses her again and, when she tries to discourage him, tells her Cecil is stifling her. Her feelings are in turmoil. Should she break off the engagement?

Lucy has to decide between propriety and passion, between social acceptance and independence, between England and Italy. Not merely a typical romance, this is also a story of personal growth and the challenging of convention, told with a lightly humorous touch."
Maureen Evans, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of A Room with a View
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story - 1900-1920's
Difficult/unusual lover? Yes
How difficult? - very shy/inexperienced
Love Triangles/Polygons Yes
What kind: - one woman-two men
If one lover chases another... - he chases after her
Matchbreaker Yes
Matchbreaker is - cousin

Main Male Character
Profession/status: - clerk
Age/status: - 20's-30's
How sexual is this person? - squeaky clean virgin
How romantic is this person? - very romantic
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Female Character
Age/status: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - wealthy
How sexual is this person? - naive virgin
How romantic is this person? - somewhat romantic
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK - Italy
Misc setting - resort/hotel

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
What % of story is romance related? - 50%
Focus of story - Her
How much dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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E.M. Forster Resident Scholar Profiles

 TOP SCHOLAR:
  Maureen Evans  

SCHOLARS:


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