Howards End
Regarded by numerous critics as Forster's masterpiece, Howards End is a novel that explores the many intricacies of class relations in English society during the turn of the century. Centering around three families representing England's working class and wealthy elite, the novel weaves a complicated tapestry of misunderstandings, careless impulses, and, ultimately, tragedy. Like many of Foster's works, Howards End concerns the nature of class and social status and how they affect one's relationships and well-being, for better or for worse.
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Community Reviews
Re-read for an upcoming book club. I think this is my 3rd time - maybe 4th.
This has been one of my favorite novels pretty much since I first read it. It is amazing. I see flaws a little more now than the first time around, but they don't detract from what I love about the novel.
The story is essentially an allegory about the changes going on in early 20th Century England - about the need of a nation to have different types of people. To make use of both idealistic and practical attitudes. It is about the power of Home, the healing power of Nature, and the need for open minded connection between different people who must perforce share the same spaces. It worries about the spiritual decline of the nation, especially under urbanization. It advocates for maintaining an awareness of one's economic privileges and charity across class boundaries. It is unfailingly generous to all its characters, preaching tolerance, charitable thinking. And it advocates for leaving aside the moralistic attitudes of the victorians towards sex as well as the blinkered thinking about women.
Because it is Forster, it never does these things with total abandon or unrestrained advocacy. There is always an authorial irony that questions, mediates, and ameliorates. It is this authorial voice which I fell in love with when I first encountered it. He is in some ways the origin of the well meaning liberal optimist. He carries the flaws that sometimes come with that ideology - a naivete about class and economics, a desire for everyone to get along that will sometimes undermine the rightness of a cause, a preference for the gradual, the consensual, and the moderate approach to issues that will as a result leave many vulnerable people in the lurch. But when you consider what ideological extremism and political purity have wrought from the Nazis, the Soviets, and the Trumpists, maybe there's something to be said for the gradual. But this lack of conviction also undermines its philosophy when you see where people like Leonard end up, when the abyss of poverty gets pushed into the background without a satisfactory answer to the problems acknowledged.
Ultimately you always need to wonder about the realistic characters in an allegory. For the most part, Forster pulls it off quite well. The only wrong note he strikes is in Margaret's decision halfway through the book to marry Henry Wilcox . It can seem a little baffling and requires more explanation than we're given.
But despite these oversights, the rest of the novel just pulses with life and love. It follows in the tradition of the Victorian realist novel but transforms all the typically boring bits into lively explorations of ideas and symbols. It is simply a joy to read - not just a joy to have read.
This has been one of my favorite novels pretty much since I first read it. It is amazing. I see flaws a little more now than the first time around, but they don't detract from what I love about the novel.
The story is essentially an allegory about the changes going on in early 20th Century England - about the need of a nation to have different types of people. To make use of both idealistic and practical attitudes. It is about the power of Home, the healing power of Nature, and the need for open minded connection between different people who must perforce share the same spaces. It worries about the spiritual decline of the nation, especially under urbanization. It advocates for maintaining an awareness of one's economic privileges and charity across class boundaries. It is unfailingly generous to all its characters, preaching tolerance, charitable thinking. And it advocates for leaving aside the moralistic attitudes of the victorians towards sex as well as the blinkered thinking about women.
Because it is Forster, it never does these things with total abandon or unrestrained advocacy. There is always an authorial irony that questions, mediates, and ameliorates. It is this authorial voice which I fell in love with when I first encountered it. He is in some ways the origin of the well meaning liberal optimist. He carries the flaws that sometimes come with that ideology - a naivete about class and economics, a desire for everyone to get along that will sometimes undermine the rightness of a cause, a preference for the gradual, the consensual, and the moderate approach to issues that will as a result leave many vulnerable people in the lurch. But when you consider what ideological extremism and political purity have wrought from the Nazis, the Soviets, and the Trumpists, maybe there's something to be said for the gradual. But this lack of conviction also undermines its philosophy when you see where people like Leonard end up, when the abyss of poverty gets pushed into the background without a satisfactory answer to the problems acknowledged.
Ultimately you always need to wonder about the realistic characters in an allegory. For the most part, Forster pulls it off quite well. The only wrong note he strikes is in Margaret's decision halfway through the book to marry Henry Wilcox . It can seem a little baffling and requires more explanation than we're given.
But despite these oversights, the rest of the novel just pulses with life and love. It follows in the tradition of the Victorian realist novel but transforms all the typically boring bits into lively explorations of ideas and symbols. It is simply a joy to read - not just a joy to have read.
Usually a fan of early 1900s British lit, I find the first 80 pages of this dreadfully dull. The Schlegel sisters are tiresome. I will carry on, for now.
Ugh, I gave up. Perhaps I will return at some time in the future. I fear that I abandoned it too early, but I just could not get interested enough to continue. My expectations for this book were quite high, which is why it disappointed me more than a silly chick lit book, for which my expectations are almost always low.
Ugh, I gave up. Perhaps I will return at some time in the future. I fear that I abandoned it too early, but I just could not get interested enough to continue. My expectations for this book were quite high, which is why it disappointed me more than a silly chick lit book, for which my expectations are almost always low.
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