return to worldwidereview.com,
the home of critical reviews
From: Nitwitbrit Category: Books Date: 11 October 2008 Time: 03:51 PM Review: Having read A Room with a View for my GCSE's and being introduced to the phallic symbolism of the "throbbing tower", the broken maidenhead of the bloody tissue as it was swept away by the rushing river (F.E or sperm?), my teacher managed to totally obscure the humour. I have since never been a fan of EM Forster, and until now didn't bother to pick up another book, I only read this because I'd just finished my book and it was the only one available in the second hand book shop in Battersea where I had nothing better to do than sit around. He's funny, and observant about people. I still find his judgements crude - this person is bad, a rejecter of "Life" i.e. reserved unItalian Victorian and this person is a good i.e. embracer of life, free, happy etc. It is especially tedious when he holds up Italians and Italy as some kind of bench mark of what it is to be a healthy human (lets forget Catholicism, fascism, etc. and a load of other things that I as a prejudiced Brit might associate with Italians).