3.00

5

April 29, 2014

One of Forster's finest

In what may appear to be a simple story of British society, Forster finds room for a great many pithy observations about human relations, family, and society. Some of his reflections will give you food for thought for years. For the serious reader, Howard's End is simply not to be missed.

5

March 21, 2013

Excellent book

More than anything I like the way the book fits into my hands. The story is an old one, as is the book. I was delighted to see it was from the London University.It is small and fits into my hand perfectly

2

May 7, 2014

Couldn't get through it.

I wanted very much to like this book but found it dry and confusing. I was very disappointed. So sorry.

1

January 1, 2014

DON'T BUY THIS VERSION -- Great book but Missing 2nd CD

The 2nd CD in this collection is a duplicate of the 3rd CD, labeled wrongly. I kept hoping the content from CD 2 would show up on one of the other CDs but it didn't. I LOVE this book, and the audio cd is well done in all other respects, well read, enjoyable, can't really go wrong with Forster... unless somebody messes up in the production of the CDs. I actually had to pull out the book to read the missing chapters, I really missed them! I've contacted Blackstone Audio to request a fix, but we'll see if there's one coming. I'll update this review if so.

****** UPDATE ******
I've received replacement CD's from Blackstone Audio, am very pleased with their customer service and with the new CD's. Listening to the book now. :)

3

October 30, 2013

Important as a mirror of society, but dull as a novel.

Howards End is regarded as a classic, but I did not find it deserved to be classified as such.
There are two main aspects of the book: one is the insight it gives to the reader about English society round the turn of the nineteenth century; the other is the story itself. On the first count it is commendable, but on the second count it is a disappointment.

Great insight can be obtained from the book especially in relation to gender roles and relations, class distinctions and the upper class belief in doing good for the lower class, as well as their snobbery. For instance men believed that men were for war, and while they might give the impression to the women that they could fight, in a real battle women could not win as they had no muscles, only nerves. Another example is the attitude that when someone ( a poor person)'s cat is killed, the solution is just to pay the owner of the cat.

There are many comic episodes in the book. For instance , the reference to people at Stettin, and whether there is such a thing as Stettininity. The book is well written, and characterisation is interesting- Tibby is a delightful young man, who is only concerned about what immediately affects him.

The main drawback of the book is the actual story. Quite often it was dull and you had to force yourself to carry on reading it. There were also many aspects which seemed unreal. Not to give the story away, Margaret's attitude when she found out what was in mrs Wilcox's letter about Howards End seems incredible. So does the decision at some stage for Margaret to leave her husband, to go away with her sister.

Finally, not sure why the book is called Howards End.