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Title: Howards End by E. M. Forster, David A. A. Lodge ISBN: 0-14-118213-X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (40 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Almost the best English novel ever
Comment: None of the characters is perfect, but you can't dislike any of them. I have read this book many times - I studied it at school, which has coloured all subsequet readings. Every time I gasp at what I missed all those years ago. Our teacher skated right over the philosophy and feminism and fashionable ideas about economics and so on that are the backbone of the book. However we studied closely the book's texture and atmosphere: the English countryside, London's railway stations, Christmas crowds in Oxford street on a winter's afternoon. We even (convent school girls as we were) understood more about the difficult "facts of life" portrayed than the references to Nietzsche.
I used to see it as a black and white morality. The Schlegels were spiritual, artistic and nature-loving. The Wilcoxes were obtuse, money-grubbing and morally dishonest - and upheld the British empire, something else our teacher never mentioned. Somewhere around the 25th reading I realised that the Schlegels weren't particularly clever (apart perhaps from Tibby, but his learning and intelligence are presented as sterile), and none of them is creative. Their discussions about politics with their arty friends are quite ineffective. No wonder, perhaps, that confronted by Leonard they see an opportunity to actually DO something at last.
Eventually, though, Margaret finds she has a job - as Henry's wife. She succeeds not by her attempts to change him, or her direct and clumsy attempts to get him to see the consequences of his actions, but by her warmth, gentleness, sympathy and affection: qualities the first Mrs Wilcox also had in spades.
Henry may represent Colonialism and Patriarchy, but he's also a human being and we can see why she is attracted to him.
The end of the story is left rather in confusion: after minutely detailing where everybody spent the night and how they got there, after the inquest this is left blank. Did Margaret and Helen stay on at Howards End (presumably required to stay in England as witnesses in Charles's trial)? Did Henry eventually join them there?
Like the best books, you want to know what happened to the characters next. Edward Petherbridge's audio version is wonderful, but he brings out the poetry rather than the comedy. As a completist I may have to listen to Emma Thompson's...
If you liked this book, try J B Priestley's Angel Pavement. For background (and the lowdown on Nietzsche) read John Carey's The Intellectuals and the Masses.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Question of Class
Comment: Howards End is a realistic picture of Edwardian England, blemishes and all. Forster successfully depicted the environment of his society few authors could. Forster raises moral questions about what the upper class' social and economic responsibilities are to the lower classes. The method of showing opposing viewpoints (help the less fortunate vs. leave them be) between the Schlegel and the Wilcox families works well. He also questions the double standard at that time in England for infidelity. The upper class males were faultless in affairs, while the lower class females were scarred negatively for life. For the males, the affair was the satisfaction of desires and meant parting of some money. For females, the affairs were a way of life, nothing more, and they couldn't even improve their station in society. They were marked as prostitutes, while Mr. Wilcox actually suffered no real personal damage, other than a deservedly begrudging wife for the short term.
I can't help but ask how much has society really changed? The book is still relevant today, not only that, it's a good read. The dialogue is even realistic and touching. Forster's prose flows smoothly, and the reader immediately starts to appreciate it after a few pages. Human nature, snobbery, the struggle of the classes, and family affairs really haven't changed that much since 1910. Forster clearly didn't know what to do about these problems anymore than we do today. Asking his country to face their problems, rather than ignore them, which was what was being done, was a start.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Classic Book
Comment: Howards End is a wonderfully written book. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is a very compelling novel that deals with the conflicts between the wealthy upper class and the less affluent working class of England. The novel is set in the close of the Edwardian Era of England, a time in which these conflicts were flourishing. The Schlegel sisters represent the cultured and sophisticated side of the upper class of England, while the Wilcox family represents the more materialistic and stuffy side of England's upper class. The conflict between these families, which governs most of the book, arises from the dilemma of which family will obtain ownership of Howards End, the estate, after Mrs. Wilcox passes away. The two families are joined by the marriage of Margaret Schlegel and Henry Wilcox. The ownership of Howards End is awarded to the same person for whom it was destined in the beginning of the novel. E.M. Forster crafted a masterpiece in Howards End, and it is a classic that will last throughout time.
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Title: A Room with a View by E.M. Forster ISBN: 0553213237 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1988 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: A Passage to India by E. M. Forster ISBN: 0156711427 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: December, 1984 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf ISBN: 0156628708 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 24 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty (Introduction) ISBN: 0156907399 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro ISBN: 0679731725 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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