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A Room With a View Paperback – January 1, 2005
- Print length120 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDigireads.Com
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2005
- Dimensions6.25 x 0.5 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101420925431
- ISBN-13978-1420925432
- Lexile measure760L
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A Room with a View
By E. M. ForsterDigireads.com
Copyright © 2005 E. M. ForsterAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9781420925432
Part 1
Chapter 1
The Bertolini
"The Signora had no business to do it," said Miss Bartlett, "no business at all. She promised us south rooms with a view close together, instead of which here are north rooms, looking into a courtyard, and a long way apart. Oh, Lucy!"
"And a Cockney, besides!" said Lucy, who had been further saddened by the Signora's unexpected accent. "It might be London." She looked at the two rows of English people who were sitting at the table; at the row of white bottles of water and red bottles of wine that ran between the English people; at the portraits of the late Queen and the late Poet Laureate that hung behind the English people, heavily framed; at the notice of the English church (Rev. Cuthbert Eager, M.A. Oxon.), that was the only other decoration of the wall.
"Charlotte, don't you feel, too, that we might be in London? I can hardly believe that all kinds of other things are just outside. I suppose it is one's being so tired."
"This meat has surely been used for soup," said Miss Bartlett, laying down her fork."I want so to see the Arno. The rooms the Signora promised us in her letter would have looked over the Arno. The. Signora had no business to do it at all. Oh, it is a shame!"
"Any nook does for me," Miss Bartlett continued; "but it does seem hard that you shouldn't have a view."
Lucy felt that she had been selfish. "Charlotte, you mustn't spoil me: of course, you must look over the Arno, too. I meant that. The first vacant room in the front'"
"You must have it," said Miss Bartlett, part of whose travelling expenses were paid by Lucy's mother'a piece of generosity to which she made many a tactful allusion.
"No, no. You must have it."
"I insist on it. Your mother would never forgive me, Lucy.""She would never forgive me."
The ladies' voices grew animated, and if the sad truth be owned a little peevish. They were tired, and under the guise of unselfishness they wrangled. Some of their neighbours interchanged glances, and one of them'one of the ill-bred people whom one does meet abroad'leant forward over the table and actually intruded into their argument. He said:"I have a view, I have a view."
Miss Bartlett was startled. Generally at a pension people looked them over for a day or two before speaking, and often did not find out that they would "do" till they had gone. She knew that the intruder was ill-bred, even before she glanced at him. He was an old man, of heavy build, with a fair, shaven face and large eyes. There was something childish in those eyes, though it was not the childishness of senility. What exactly it was Miss Bartlett did not stop to consider, for her glance passed on to his clothes. These did not attract her. He was probably trying to become acquainted with them before they got into the swim. So she assumed a dazed expression when he spoke to her, and then said: "A view? Oh, a view! How delightful a view is!"
"This is my son," said the old man; "his name's George. He has a view too.""Ah," said Miss Bartlett, repressing Lucy, who was about to speak."What I mean," he continued, "is that you can have our rooms, and we'll have yours. We'll change."The better class of tourist was shocked at this, and sympathized with the newcomers. Miss Bartlett, in reply, opened her mouth as little as possible, and said:
"Thank you very much indeed; that is out of the question.""Why?" said the old man, with both fists on the table."Because it is quite out of the question, thank you.""You see, we don't like to take'" began Lucy.Her cousin again repressed her.
"But why?" he persisted. "Women like looking at a view; men don't." And he thumped with his fists like a naughty child, and turned to his son, saying, "George, persuade them!"
"It's so obvious they should have the rooms, " said the son. "There's nothing else to say."
He did not look at the ladies as he spoke, but his voice was perplexed and sorrowful. Lucy, too, was perplexed; but she saw that they were in for what is known as "quite a scene," and she had an odd feeling that whenever these ill-bred tourists spoke the contest widened and deepened till it dealt, not with rooms and views, but with well, with something quite different, whose existence she had not realized before. Now the old man attacked Miss Bartlett almost violently: Why should she not change? What possible objection had she? They would clear out in half an hour.
Miss Bartlett, though skilled in the delicacies of conversation, was powerless in the presence of brutality. It was impossible to snub any one so gross. Her face reddened with displeasure. She looked around as much as to say, "Are you all like this?" And two little old ladies, who were sitting further up the table, with shawls hanging over the backs of the chairs, looked back, clearly indicating "We are not; we are genteel."
"Eat your dinner, dear," she said to Lucy, and began to toy again with the meat that she had once censured.
Lucy mumbled that those seemed very odd people opposite."Eat your dinner, dear. This pension is a failure. Tomorrow we will make a change."
Hardly had she announced this fell decision when she reversed it. The curtains at the end of the room parted, and revealed a clergyman, stout but attractive, who hurried forward to take his place at the table, cheerfully apologizing for his lateness. Lucy, who had not yet acquired decency, at once rose to her feet, exclaiming: "Oh, oh! Why, it's Mr. Beebe! Oh, how perfectly lovely! Oh, Charlotte, we must stop now, however bad the rooms are. Oh!"Miss Bartlett said, with more restraint:
"How do you do, Mr. Beebe? I expect that you have forgotten us: Miss Bartlett and Miss Honeychurch, who were at Tunbridge Wells when you helped the Vicar of St. Peter's that very cold Easter."
Continues...
Excerpted from A Room with a Viewby E. M. Forster Copyright © 2005 by E. M. Forster. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : Digireads.Com (January 1, 2005)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 120 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1420925431
- ISBN-13 : 978-1420925432
- Lexile measure : 760L
- Item Weight : 6.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 0.5 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #6,414,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #109,412 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
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Now this is not to say that it will be on every readers most favored list - no, far from it, and this is how it should be. For me thought it is an excellent read and if I last longer I will most likely read it again on down the road.
This is one of those tales that touches on a wide range of the general overall human condition. It should also ne noted here that the time element covered by this novel is 1908 which is pre WWI and it IS NOT taking place during the `Victorian era' of which several reviewers have stated. No, we are talking the Edwardian era in England and while some of the morals and morays of Victorian times still linger, it is never the less a different age completely. This must be understood to understand the story.
Anyway, back to the subjects covered in this work: Love, prejudices, betrayal, strong but understated humor, a snapshot of a previous era, sociological observation of the English upper middle class and of course the clashes of culture; of the rather painful differences between the perceived social classes in England at that time. It also investigates the dilemma of `self' v/s the expectations of society and family. All in all, if you look at it a certain way, not much has changed over the years and the issues addressed in this classical work are still strongly among us even to this day. It takes a long, long time for attitudes in society to fade. I know in my own case that I was raised very closely to grandparents who were as about as Edwardian as you can get and there is no doubt that their influence had a great deal in molding my personality and attitudes...for better or for worse. (Hey, I am old and yes, I can remember people of that generation quite well).
We have a young lady; a young lady with brains, even though she does not realize it at the time, who is motivated and pulled apart by her true feelings and those feelings that she is either suppose to have or not suppose to have in a number of situations.
Yes, the author has used a number of what we could consider stereotypes of the time but he has used them to good effect and used them to tell his story quite well. While this may bother some folks, I found it to make the overall story more understandable and easier to `go down.'
This work starts in Italy and drifts back to England and again, to understand the story, you have to have some understanding of the cultural gap between England and the continent in those days. Good or bad, it was what it was.
Few will deny that this is a well written work...it may not be to every ones taste, as I have stated, but good is good by most standards. I can get quite lost in the author's narrative prose and descriptive writing.
I was delighted to see that this work is now free via your reading machines...it was about time.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
A Room with a View is E.M. Forster’s third novel, and is described as his lightest and most optimistic. He started writing it and 1901 and it was published in 1908. E.M Forster wrote five other novels, his most successful being A Passage To India, published in 1924.
A Room With A View jumps right into the story and starts with Lucy and her cousin already in Florence. I enjoyed that Forster started it this way and didn’t crowd the beginning of the novel with backstory. I found the novel to be fast paced at the beginning but then it slowed down quite a bit. It was a fairly easy read. Since is was written in the very early 1900s, the language is a bit different then the books I am used to reading, but it was fairly easy to understand. This book is over a hundred years old but still manages to captivate readers, including myself. A Room with a View is written in a third person omniscient narration. The narrator was in the heads of all the character but stayed out of the action. I really enjoyed being able to know what all the characters were feeling throughout the novel.
A Room with a View is similar to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. Beautiful Ruins is partially set on the coast of Italy, in Cinque Terre, and has humor and romance.
This book was assigned to me in my intro to literature class while studying abroad in Florence. It was really cool being able to imagine the places the characters went in Florence, since I have been to those places. Knowing that I have seen the Arno river and Santa Croce, just like all the main characters did was exciting. I most likely would never have picked up this book if it wasn't required for my class. It's not exactly the kind of book I usually enjoy but reading A Room With A View wasn't as torturous as I thought it would be. I was entertained by the cute love story and the slight humor throughout the novel. Overall I think it is a good read and encourage others to give it a try.
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