Monday, April 28, 2008

book clubbing in April

This month my book club tackled its first classic,
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

I don't think I'd ever read A Room with a View before (the only Forster I remember reading is A Passage to India). I knew we'd have a good discussion, though, especially after I saw the new film adaption that aired on PBS earlier this month.*

We did indeed have a nice discussion. We talked about the novel as well as the 1985 and 2007 films. We discussed Forster himself, the subtleties and class distinctions in the novel, our feelings about the various characters, the proper pronunciation of "Beebe", and the novel's possible connection to Howards End among other things.

Personally, I enjoyed A Room with a View and I'm thinking of reading more Forster in the relatively near future.


* They changed the ending?! I was shocked and horrified at what they'd do in the name of "modern audiences", but I knew it'd be good discussion fodder.

4 comments:

  1. It's always sad when they change the ending of books for the screen because they're afraid viewers somehow won't be able to handle the original.

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  2. My book club should probably tackle a few classics. Sounds like this is a good one.

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  3. How did they change the ending in the movie ?

    The novel's ending seemed quite perfect to me ...

    Btw, Forster is one of my faves. I find him to be one of the more modern authors compared to others of his generation.

    http://nishitak.wordpress.com

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  4. In the 2007 movie version George dies on a battlefield and Lucy returns to Italy alone and connects with an Italian man who'd been their driver earlier.

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