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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best!,
By Lleu Christopher (Hudson Valley, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Howards End (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)
I have read Howard's End two or three times and listened to it once on tape and it remains one of my favorite novels. Many people were introduced to it by the film, which, good though it was, does not begin to capture the subtle wisdom Forster put into this book. Howard's End can be seen as a quaint period piece about British culture in the early Twentieth Century. On another level, however, it's a brilliant exploration of the human soul. In the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes, Forster has created the perfect embodiment of the eternal conflict between reason and passion. These two families, destined to be united by the marriage of Margaret Schlegel to Henry Wilcox, represent two seemingly irreconcilable aspects of humanity. The Schlegels are artistic, intellectual and impractical; the Wilcoxes materialistic and unapologetically bourgeois. Margaret and Henry have their differences, but it is their relatives who display the more extreme family traits. Margaret's sister Helen is a classic bohemian; Henry's son Charles is a humorless and intolerant banker. As the novel unfolds, the two families are forced to confront each other and decide whether to ultimately part company or compromise. What is most impressive to me about the novel is the naturalness and grace with which the story unfolds. When an author uses characters to embody universal qualities, it is quite a challenge to make the people and story real and not merely symbols. Howard's End succeeds brilliantly as both a thoroughly engaging novel and a rather profound metaphysical inquiry.
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only connect!,
By
This review is from: Howards End (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)
I first read Howards End during the final year of my Undergraduate degree, and it quickly became my favourite book (displacing Wuthering Heights). There is something within it that really speaks to some people --- I say 'some,' because I have recommended it to many friends, and their responses have run the gamut from a fascination similar to my own, to outright boredom and frustration with the book. Personally, I felt I connected with Forster's lament regarding the loss of a sense of place and permanence in the modern world.I must disagree with some of the reviewers here, when they say that the issues Forster tackles have little relevance today. I think what attracted me to this book was Forster's examination of those very issues --- most specifically, the quandry that still plagues us today: how can we live an examined, meaningful life in the entropic modern world? I would argue that Howards End is still very relevant. Forster depicts a society in change, but also a society that is a direct relative of our own. He shows the conflicts of modern VS rural, city VS nature, business/sport VS intellect/art, and smug patriarchy VS proto-feminism. If you identified with the second choice in those four sets, then it is likely that you will very much appreciate the social commentary woven into Howards End, and you will find its sermon of "Only Connect!" something of a mission statement --- I certainly did. Really, Howards End almost reads like an allegory. The different families (Schlegel, Wilcox, and Bast) each represent aspects of a society in transition, each one lacking some vital component to make it viable. The Schlegels are intellectual but ineffectual (declining "old money") and are generally feminine, while the aggressive Wilcoxes live in a shallow world of "telegrams and anger" (ascendent business class) and are generally masculine. The Basts are impoverished, kept from achieving their desires for both wealth and intellectual stimulation by their social and economic situation. Finally, there is Ruth Wilcox, who represents a lost patriarchal rural idyll, which Forster seems to both mourn and criticize at the same time. A large portion of the charm and interest I found in Howards End came in watching these three 'sets' of characters bounce off each other, just as the larger groups theya re meant to represent interact within a society. Whether their intentions are good or bad, they usually end up doing each other harm. The results of these complex interactions are certainly interesting to read. By the end of the book, Forster has cleverly found a way "end" the conflict and graft what he sees as worthy about each family into one unit, offering an improbable, almost dream-like solution to the problems presented by the novel. Finally, there is this: when it comes to the actual technical aspects of writing, Forster is a master. Whether or not you agree with his social agenda or his philosophies regarding the examined life, you will have no troubles reading Howards End. The prose is clean, clear, and flowing --- just like a mountain stream.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A clash between idealism and practicality.,
By
This review is from: Howards End (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) (Paperback)
The Schlegel sisters are interested in the arts and in the more idealistic liberal social movements of their early 20th century world. The Wilcoxes are practical and materialistic. There seems to be little in common between the two families, but not even a highly embarrassing early amorous encounter can keep them apart. Poor Leonard Bast is as idealistic as the Schlegels, but encumbered by an unloved wife with a shady past, he has not their financial means to avoid dealing with the practicalities of life. Caught between the two factions, he eventually is crushed. Only Margaret Schlegel is finally strong enough to bridge the gap between the practical and the ideal by exerting her benevolent humanity, her passionate and yet controlled determination that people must "connect."HOWARDS END is a minor masterpiece, capturing perfectly the conflict between rigid Victorian values and the more free and open changes in the turbulent years before World War I. Forster handles his characters with great sensitivity and sympathy, yet with a subtle and skillful irony. The novel is not intended for rapid reading, but there is a felicity of expression that is an ample reward for careful perusal. Less fastidious than Henry James, not quite the equal of Trollope in characterization, a more subtle stylist than William Dean Howells, Forster combines some of the best elements of all three of these social chroniclers in an important work that is both highly personal and universal in scope.
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