A Room with a View

With Franklyn-Robbins's narration, listeners can't help but catch Forster's subtle irony and playful humor. J.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Listening to Joanna David's performance of Forster's classic is as entertaining as watching a full-cast production. Forster's comedy, featuring tourists in Italy, romantic intrigue, class struggles, and a variety of other subplots, shines in audio. David's reading is simply marvelous. Her sweet British voice fits perfectly with the story, and her accent lends the perfect charm to every character, particularly to Lucy Honeychurch, who exchanges rooms with George Emerson to obtain a view of Florence. While Honeychurch's antics are at the heart of this classic, David's portrayals of every character are equally nuanced and superb. A ROOM WITH A VIEW has appeared on audio multiple times, garnering favorable reviews; it's hard to imagine a better performance than this. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Whether you read this classic long ago or have never read it, the advice remains the same. Listen to this audio version. Do it right now, without delay. You will be amply rewarded by Wanda McCaddon's performance of E.M. Forster's wickedly funny critique of his people--nineteenth-century middle- and upper-middle-class Britons who traveled abroad. (Listening, one is painfully reminded of twenty-first-century Americans traveling abroad.) McCaddon's nuanced reading makes clear the author's frustration with his blinkered countrymen and women, as well as his exasperated affection for them. She shades the characters' voices with accents that help the listener understand the issues of class, geography, and education. And she allows the characters to develop--our heroine sounds less high-pitched as she learns a thing or two, our hero less sure as he encounters difficulty. A masterful performance. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

BBC's dramatization of Forster's comedy of manners about English tourists in an Italian pensione boasts a superb cast directed in the "Masterpiece Theatre" manner by Glyn Dearman. The production's personality reflects house style more than Forster's, though dramatist Wade admirably uses radio's capacity to communicate the inner life of the characters. The producer, however, makes no use of radio's ability to suggest atmosphere and place; the soundscape is utilitarian and unconvincing. On the other hand, the acting is sheer music, especially the delicious impersonation of the eccentric novelist, Miss Lavish, by Barbara Jefford. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Forster's works are enjoying a revival. This title is well-suited to the audio format and should be enjoyed by listeners looking for classics on tape. The novel examines English social conventions and strictures during the early 1900's through the story of Lucy Honeychurch, a young woman who muddles her way to the discovery of her own passion and sexuality. Narrator Jill Masters succeeds in transporting the listener to the Italian pensione and English drawing room. As the voice of the narrator, Masters is particularly effective in portraying Forster's sympathetic humor and irony. T.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Forster's classic recounts the adventures of English tourists who meet in an Italian pensione and follows their intersecting lives when they return to England. While in Italy, Lucy Honeychurch falls in love with George Emerson, but when she returns to Edwardian England, her long-term friend, Cecil Vyse, proposes marriage. Juliet Stevenson reads this novel in soft, quietly enunciated tones. With a minimum of fuss and subtle differentiation of characters, Stevenson brings out the romance and tension of the story, as well as the society that Lucy inhabits. As Lucy struggles with appearances and the social mores of her time, she must decide whom she loves and how she will tell the other of her decision. Lucy's world comes to life through Stevenson's narration. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

E.M. Forster's 1908 romantic satire about Brits of the middling upper crust is famously sharp, funny, silly, and benevolent. L.A. Theatre Works' scripted adaptation honors all of the novel's best qualities, with a slight emphasis on the plot's silliness, which shrouds but does not obliterate Forster's social commentary. No matter how you listen--for madcap froth or to skewer bourgeois pretentions--there is much to relish in this production about Britons abroad and at home. Eleanor Tomlinson's Lucy is na�ve and sincere; Julian Sands, who played young George in the 1985 film, returns believably as George's bluff, kind father. Eugene Simon does a soulful turn as George. Rosalind Ayres's Aunt Charlotte is heartbreakingly snobbish. And Matthew Wolf's Cecil Vyse is perfectly pompous. Enjoy. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine