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A review by chrissie_whitley
Howards End by E.M. Forster
5.0
Howards Ends is a classic book from which I still manage to glean new details and ideas. Between a couple of reads of the actual book and innumerable (seriously) viewings of both recent/popular adaptations (both of which I heartily recommend — the feature film version from 1992 and the television miniseries from 2017), my love continues to grow because of the intricately nuanced themes presented by Forster.
Howards End is a wonderful exploration of class division and how the constant movement of progress expands and contracts the boundaries between these divisions. Written in 1910, Forster lays out his ideas through three distinct families: the Wilcoxes, the Schlegels, and the Basts.
The Wilcoxes, they the owners of the house called Howards End, represents the solid upper class of trade, stocks, and business. They are hardworking but also materialistic and business-minded, unaware of what does not directly concern them. A large and extended family, various members play important roles by degrees throughout the book.
The Schlegels are the intellectual, bookish, cultured, and idealistic upper class. Consisting of two young adult sisters and a college-going brother, having lost their parents years earlier and been raised by the oldest sister, they are largely representative of the leisure class. They attend concerts, lectures, and are members of various societies and clubs. They represent the ideas of rising feminism and rights for women along with the expansion of knowledge and personal growth.
And lastly, the Basts, who are varyingly the lower middle class and upper lower class. They live in an impoverished state, depending heavily on each paycheck, economizing, and the awareness it can all be yanked out from under them. They have the smallest family being only a husband and wife.
There are so many forces at play over the course of Howards End, and Forster begins bringing the three families together gradually and in parts. Forster writes carefully, but with the air of a casual tone. He plays with his characters and situations, making all the coincidences seem both natural and surprising. The connections drawn between and around these three families and their various spots in their social ranking is the pivot on which the entire story centers. The meddling, the relationships, the yearning, the resentments, and the understandings or misunderstandings are all jumbled up so successfully and so subtly that there's such a timeless quality to the people in this book. Conversely, the whole of it manages to feel completely of its time.
It is somehow so beautiful and so simple a story, that it's a marvel how it manages to be so complex.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Colleen Prendergast|2147513|Colleen Prendergast|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Prendergast did a wonderful job. She melted completely into the story and the characters, allowing them to shine through her performance. I'd not hesitate to listen to another book performed by Prendergast.
"To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it."
Howards End is a wonderful exploration of class division and how the constant movement of progress expands and contracts the boundaries between these divisions. Written in 1910, Forster lays out his ideas through three distinct families: the Wilcoxes, the Schlegels, and the Basts.
The Wilcoxes, they the owners of the house called Howards End, represents the solid upper class of trade, stocks, and business. They are hardworking but also materialistic and business-minded, unaware of what does not directly concern them. A large and extended family, various members play important roles by degrees throughout the book.
The Schlegels are the intellectual, bookish, cultured, and idealistic upper class. Consisting of two young adult sisters and a college-going brother, having lost their parents years earlier and been raised by the oldest sister, they are largely representative of the leisure class. They attend concerts, lectures, and are members of various societies and clubs. They represent the ideas of rising feminism and rights for women along with the expansion of knowledge and personal growth.
And lastly, the Basts, who are varyingly the lower middle class and upper lower class. They live in an impoverished state, depending heavily on each paycheck, economizing, and the awareness it can all be yanked out from under them. They have the smallest family being only a husband and wife.
There are so many forces at play over the course of Howards End, and Forster begins bringing the three families together gradually and in parts. Forster writes carefully, but with the air of a casual tone. He plays with his characters and situations, making all the coincidences seem both natural and surprising. The connections drawn between and around these three families and their various spots in their social ranking is the pivot on which the entire story centers. The meddling, the relationships, the yearning, the resentments, and the understandings or misunderstandings are all jumbled up so successfully and so subtly that there's such a timeless quality to the people in this book. Conversely, the whole of it manages to feel completely of its time.
It is somehow so beautiful and so simple a story, that it's a marvel how it manages to be so complex.
"'We want to show him how he may get upsides with life. As I said, either friends or the country, some . . . either some very dear person or some very dear place seems necessary to relieve life's daily grey, and to show that it is grey. If possible, one should have both.'
'Your mistake is this, and it is a very common mistake. This young [man] has a life of his own. What right have you to conclude it is an unsuccessful life, or, as you call it, 'grey'?'"
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Colleen Prendergast|2147513|Colleen Prendergast|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Prendergast did a wonderful job. She melted completely into the story and the characters, allowing them to shine through her performance. I'd not hesitate to listen to another book performed by Prendergast.