A Room With A View - E. M. Forster

My Rating - 4/10

It is a tough job for a reviewer when she comes across a book that does not evoke any emotions in her. When she likes a book she can write volumes in its accolades. When she dislikes a book, she can damn it to the fires of Hell. But what happens when she finds a book monotonous? She takes up a challenge, and makes the most of it. 

For the interested reader, I guess the opening paragraph says it all about A Room with a View. This book has received the status of a Classic. But when I took it up, I found nothing better than the mediocre telling of a commonplace romance.

The plot revolves around a woman and her experiments with love. She is wooed by two lovers and has to make her choice. That is the entirety of the story. It is a very plain and simple story with no plot twists to keep the reader interested. On top of that, the entire story is pretty predictable. But I think that since I have made it quite apparent that I was not very impressed with this book, I must also explain why.

The story is full of contradictions. The protagonist is shown to belong to a pretty orthodox society where a kiss is considered as a blasphemy; whereas in a later scene nobody minds walking onto naked men bathing in a pool. The characters are shown as pretty uptight; but are flippant at the next page. Such contradictions continue throughout the book.

The characters are not properly developed. They take the shape needed to carry the story forward, not the other way round; which is pretty disappointing. None of the characters are consistent. At one moment they support an event, and at the next they act with all their might to disrupt it. 

The author has tried to introduce some open-minded ideas that may not have been prevalent at the time the book was written. However, his cause has got blurred in the mediocrity of his literary abilities. It is true that I have not half his abilities as an author, but as a reader the book left me without any emotions. I cannot even say that I was disappointed. It was as if I started at a blank page and continued through some more to end at another.

You can take up the book, if you are looking for a way to pass your time, and none better are available. Or if, like me, you want to experiment it out with all books available to you. I definitely shall not recommend it for any serious reader.