Book for July - A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

When Lucy Honeychurch visits Italy with her prim

and proper cousin Charlotte, she is on the verge of an experience

that will throw her neatly ordered life quite off balance.

She is torn between lingering Victorian proprieties, social and sexual,

and the spontaneous promptings of her heart.

In this brilliant piece of social comedy, Forster is concerned with

one of his favourite themes, the undeveloped heart

of the English middle-classes.

The English abroad are observed with a sharp, ironic eye ...

thus there are hidden depths of meaning

in this sunniest and most readable of Forster's novels.

This is our Club's first classic for the year and it certainly was well received. Although a little slow for some of us, overall we commented that it was well written, with great characters and an accurate portrait of the times. We discussed E.M. Forster, as most of us had read some of his other works, namely Passage to India and Howards End, but Mary recommended his biography Maurice which she says throws a little more light on the author and his world.

A Room With a View, we all agreed, did not provide a complex or original story line, but it did give us plenty of fodder for discussion; English society and propriety (one of our favourites), religion, love, life experience. It was all there! We even touched on the meaning of the title and asked, 'Was Lucy, (our heroine), searching for a "life with a view"?

Anne made the very relevant point that we all seem to have perceived the story in much the same way and that nothing in our opinions varied in extremes. We would be the first to say that this is not always a good thing, we like nothing more than a good discussion with differing views.

Then again, the 'classics' are considered as such for good reason, and it could well be this appeal that gives them ... and continues to hold them to this status.

What do other readers think?

Book for June - A Lesson Before Dying

In a small Cajun community in the late 1940s, Jefferson, a young black man is an unwitting party to a hold up in which three men are killed. The only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation school teacher is persuaded by his aunt to visit Jefferson in his cell and impart his learning and his pride to Jefferson before his death.

In the end, the two men forge a bond as they both come to understand the simple heroism of resisting, and defying, the expected.

A novel rich with sense of place and a deep understanding of the human psyche.

This short but powerful book was popular with our group last month. A few of us thought it started off a little slow, but once established the story moved along well. From the comments made, all the characters had a strong presence with the time and place clearly and honestly portrayed. This sort of story ... hard times with racial undertones and personal struggle, always leads us to interesting and stimulating discussion. This book provided us with plenty of avenues on that front and the author himself, Ernest J. Gaines, is a more than interesting enough character to research. A highly educated man, he was plantation born in Louisiana and experienced great adversity during his young life, picking cotton from the time he was nine years old.

If you like a book with plenty of depth and emotional turmoil, A Lesson Before Dying would be a good choice. Wollongong Library has two copies available for loan, so give it a go and let us know what you think. We'd love to hear your view on this thought provoking book.