243. A Room With A View

A Room With A View
E.M. Forster
1908
Around 250 pages

E.M. Forster sure has a lot of opinions to share about women, doesn't he? He's not hateful, but he's one of those writers that makes his female characters (at least the young ones) into nubile nymphs frolicking around fields of violets. When they inevitably show their humanity, the male characters are all fairly disappointed. I prefer when my female characters are treated as, well, people, but I guess Forster kept an intentional distance from women all his life, which might explain his confusion. We are more alike than we are different, Forster, trust me. I hope you can hear me from my pedestal.

But that's okay, there is plenty of other things to enjoy here. Lucy Honeychurch is the name of the main character, which kind of tells you everything you need to know about this plot. But I'll continue anyway. Lucy is touring Italy with her spinster aunt. I guess if you don't get married when you are nymph you transition right into spinster aunt, even if you are an only child. They encounter Mr. Emerson and his dashing son George, after Mr. Emerson gallantly offers to swap rooms with them, so they can have a nice view. Lucy finds herself drawn to George and must choose between him and the snobbish Cecil who also desires her hand.

This is the second of four Forster novels on the List. I'm always entertained by his plots, but his characters never seem real to me. Cecil, for example, behaved one way for most of the novel, then did a complete 180 at the end. I am not saying people can't change, and I would certainly hope characters evolve throughout a novel. But Cecil's shift felt very insincere to me.

I feel like Forster just wanted a sweet, innocent novel so he was afraid to cross certain lines. So the results aren't terribly original but manage to be enjoyable just the same. I am still looking forward to A Passage to India.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

First novel that Forster worked on, although he put it aside to work on other projects before returning to it several years later.

Forster described this as not the best of his novels, but certainly the nicest.

UP NEXT: Strait is the Gate by Andre Gide

242. Tono-Bungay

Tono-Bungay
H.G. Wells
1909
Around 350 pages

This is the final H.G. Wells novel on the List, and while the man spins a good tale, he has perhaps overstayed his welcome here. It's hard to justify giving the white British male writers five (or more) novels apiece at the expense of so many other great books and authors.

Tono-Bungay is narrated by George Ponderevo, who is basically a stand in for Wells.  George is persuaded by his uncle to sell Tono-Bungay, a patent medicine that apparently helps with liver issues. George also narrates his various romantic misadventures, including when he cheats on his wife and feels absolutely no remorse or responsibility about it. Autobiographical indeed.

I feel like writers can't resist putting themselves into their work, and the results are generally pretty interesting/delusional. Here it falls more on the interesting side, and I enjoyed some of his commentary on consumerism and the class shifts going on in England at the time. On the other hand, this is a quote from one of Wells' female characters: "Women are such things of mood... We say ‘No’ when we mean ‘Yes’—and fly into crises." Oh, kindly fuck off already.

Speaking of Wells fucking off, it's time for our official Wells' novels ranking, since we are packing it in.

1. The Time Machine
2. The Island of Dr. Moreau
3. The War of the Worlds
4. Tono-Bungay
5. The Invisible Man

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

H.G. Wells considered this his finest novel.

Wells hooked up with Maxim Gorky's mistress. I know that is not particularly relevant to the novel, but it was tea I felt compelled to spill.

UP NEXT: A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

241. The Inferno

The Inferno
Henri Barbusse
1908
Around 100 pages

This is a good novel to read in quarantine times, as we all cooped up in our houses/apartments, unable to leave. Hopefully, you will not be motivated by this creeper to drill a hole in your wall and spy on all your neighbors. But if you do choose that course of action and see anything juicy, please let me know.

Our unnamed narrator discovers that he can spy on the next room in a Paris boarding house through a peephole. He sees all sorts of things, including adultery, incest, death, parties, and Catholic priests being terrible.

I liked the setup for this novel, as it is very Rear Window-y, though obviously this came first. I was just as intrigued as the narrator by the characters he saw on the other side of the wall, although I was slightly disappointed by which ones he fixated on. It wasn't hard to view this as an analogy for the life of the writer. Always watching, breathlessly recording, able to see the flaws and weaknesses of everybody around him but powerless to forge a meaningful existence for himself.

Overall, a worthwhile read and short to boot, even if Barbusse did not reach the most cheerful conclusions by the end of the novel.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Popular in France and sold more than 100,000 copies in 1917.

Barbusse was a lifelong friend of Albert Einstein.

UP NEXT: Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells

240. The Iron Heel

Iron Heel
Jack London
1908
Around 350 pages

I decided to read the two Jack London novels on this List when the pandemic hit, thinking they would awaken the rugged survivalist in me. Well, it turns out that my perception of what Jack London novels are about was really off and the rugged survivalist in me unfortunately remains dormant.

The novel is structured as a manuscript written by Avis Everhard, and edited by a scholar from 2600 C.E. The story begins with Avis falling in love with Ernest, a socialist who is capable of striking his detractors dumb with his rhetoric. I always hate it when authors do this; I think you make a much more compelling case when you don't paint everybody that disagrees with you as an idiot. Anyway, the story then follows the fall of the US and Avis and Ernest's involvement in the Rebellion.

So this is a slight twist on the socialism novel that is so seemingly so popular in this era. London takes a more dystopian, sci fi approach with the story, which I guess is meant to serve as a warning about the direction socialism was headed in 1908. It's a pretty fascinating perspective at times, and the point of view was refreshing and different, even if London doesn't make the most convincing woman.

More an interesting product of its time than a riveting read, but I'm still glad I experienced it.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Cited as an influence behind George Orwell's 1984.

UP NEXT: The Inferno by Henri Barbusse. This one sounds juicy.

239. The Old Wives' Tale

The Old Wives' Tale
Arnold Bennett
1908
Around 600 pages

I asked a male friend of mine how much I would have to pay him to read a book like this, and the demanded price was unfortunately out of my range. Oh well, at least the Listmakers seem to enjoy narratives like this as much as I do.

The novel recounts the lives of Constance and Sophia Baines, two sisters of very different temperaments. Sophia is seduced by a scoundrel who has no intention of marrying her, while Constance copes with her son being an enormous brat/terrible human being (he stole cake out of somebody's hands at a party; there can be no redemption for such a villain). The story spans about 80 years.

I like stories like this, that really dive into the characters' psyches and motivations. Of course, there is that natural author tendency, particularly with male writers, to place women in one of two categories: the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene. Bennet plays with this trope a little bit, but there were still those awkward moments where he succumbs to that cliche.

But I still was delighted by many phrases, even if 600 pages was a bit on the long side.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Bennett was heavily influenced by Maupassant's book, Une Vie.

Original copy is held in Lilly Library, Indiana. I finally have a reason to visit Indiana!

UP NEXT: The Iron Heel by Jack London.