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Where Angels Fear to Tread
"Let her go to Italy!" he cried. "Let her meddle with what she doesn't understand! Look at this letter! The man who wrote it will marry her, or murder her, or do for her somehow. He's a bounder, but he's not an English bounder. He's mysterious and terrible. He's got a country behind him that's upset people from the beginning of the world."
When a young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are not amused. That the marriage should fail and poor Lilia die tragically are only to be expected. But that Lilia should have had a baby -- and that the baby should be raised as an Italian! -- are matters requiring immediate correction by Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.
In his first novel, E. M. Forster anticipated the themes of cultural collision and the sterility of the English middle class that he would develop in A Room with a View and A Passage to India. Where Angels Fear to Tread is an accomplished, harrowing, and malevolently funny book, in which familiar notions of vice and virtue collapse underfoot and the best intentions go mortally awry.
When a young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are not amused. That the marriage should fail and poor Lilia die tragically are only to be expected. But that Lilia should have had a baby -- and that the baby should be raised as an Italian! -- are matters requiring immediate correction by Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.
In his first novel, E. M. Forster anticipated the themes of cultural collision and the sterility of the English middle class that he would develop in A Room with a View and A Passage to India. Where Angels Fear to Tread is an accomplished, harrowing, and malevolently funny book, in which familiar notions of vice and virtue collapse underfoot and the best intentions go mortally awry.
181 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
1113 people are currently reading
16842 people want to read
About the author
E.M. Forster
697 books4,282 followersEdward Morgan Forster, generally published as E.M. Forster, was an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. His humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: "Only connect".
He had five novels published in his lifetime, achieving his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj.
Forster's views as a secular humanist are at the heart of his work, which often depicts the pursuit of personal connections in spite of the restrictions of contemporary society. He is noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels, and he has been criticised for his attachment to mysticism. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908) and Maurice (1971), his posthumously published novel which tells of the coming of age of an explicitly gay male character.
He had five novels published in his lifetime, achieving his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj.
Forster's views as a secular humanist are at the heart of his work, which often depicts the pursuit of personal connections in spite of the restrictions of contemporary society. He is noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels, and he has been criticised for his attachment to mysticism. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908) and Maurice (1971), his posthumously published novel which tells of the coming of age of an explicitly gay male character.
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March 2, 2025
Written in 1905, this was Forster's first novel. It is a comedy of manners, and does show signs of his great talent. Out of his four best-known novels though, this seems by far the weakest. I personally think it would have worked better as a novella or even a short story; later he did write very good short story collections.
The balance of this short novel feels wrong. The early descriptions of upper-class characters enmeshed in their own culture are really rather dull, and would have benefited from a lighter touch and more wit. One character in particular, Mrs. Herriton, is a very dislikeable matriarch figure, outraged by anything she feels is not correct, and manipulating all around her. Surely there is ample scope here for a more evident sense of the ridiculous?
The lengthy descriptions are tedious, and needed judicious editing. Additionally the first scenes at the station introduce nearly all the characters at once, which is confusing. The plethora of overbearing and unsympathetic female characters, plus rather passive male ones, can probably be attributed to the fact that Forster's early childhood was mostly spent in the company of women. He clearly tried to write about what he had observed. He set most of the action in Italy, where he had spent a year travelling. The fictitious town of "Monteriano" is apparently very similar to Monterrigioni, in Tuscany. But Forster has been criticised for portraying the Italians in a stereotypical way.
After many pages of build-up, the reader feels that inevitably something traumatic has to happen, and is not disappointed. Even then though, the important events in the story happen off-stage. The impression gained is that Forster was more concerned to contrast the social mores than to tell the story itself. This reminded me strongly of D.H. Lawrence; in fact much of this novel has the feel of Lawrence's writing.
By halfway the novel is much improved, and another very satisfying twist comes at the end. It is worth sticking with, I feel, as it does redeem itself.
The balance of this short novel feels wrong. The early descriptions of upper-class characters enmeshed in their own culture are really rather dull, and would have benefited from a lighter touch and more wit. One character in particular, Mrs. Herriton, is a very dislikeable matriarch figure, outraged by anything she feels is not correct, and manipulating all around her. Surely there is ample scope here for a more evident sense of the ridiculous?
The lengthy descriptions are tedious, and needed judicious editing. Additionally the first scenes at the station introduce nearly all the characters at once, which is confusing. The plethora of overbearing and unsympathetic female characters, plus rather passive male ones, can probably be attributed to the fact that Forster's early childhood was mostly spent in the company of women. He clearly tried to write about what he had observed. He set most of the action in Italy, where he had spent a year travelling. The fictitious town of "Monteriano" is apparently very similar to Monterrigioni, in Tuscany. But Forster has been criticised for portraying the Italians in a stereotypical way.
After many pages of build-up, the reader feels that inevitably something traumatic has to happen, and is not disappointed. Even then though, the important events in the story happen off-stage. The impression gained is that Forster was more concerned to contrast the social mores than to tell the story itself. This reminded me strongly of D.H. Lawrence; in fact much of this novel has the feel of Lawrence's writing.
By halfway the novel is much improved, and another very satisfying twist comes at the end. It is worth sticking with, I feel, as it does redeem itself.
July 12, 2025
Despicable people doing despicable things.
July 6, 2022
DOVE GLI ANGELI NON OSANO METTERE PIEDE
Monteriano
Ecco come Wikipedia sintetizza la trama di questo esordio letterario di Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970; aveva ventiquattro anni quando lo scrisse):
Durante un viaggio attraverso le colline della Toscana con la sua giovane amica e compagna di viaggio Caroline, la vedova Lilia Herriton si innamora, oltre che del paesaggio, anche di Gino, un bell'italiano aitante nonché molto più giovane di lei; questo la fa decidere a rimanere rimandando la partenza.
Furibonda, la famiglia del marito morto, venuta a conoscenza del fatto, invia il parente Philip in Italia nel tentativo di sventare lo scandalo: egli giunge però troppo tardi. Lilia è subito convolata a nozze col ragazzo ed anzi si trova già incinta; al momento del parto purtroppo, per colpa di una grave complicazione accaduta improvvisamente, muore.
Ed ecco Philip cerca di salvare questa volta il neonato da una vita sicuramente immersa nella miseria e nell'inciviltà caratteristiche della penisola; ma così facendo cerca anche di salvare la buona reputazione della famiglia. I suoceri di Lilia fanno chiaramente capire che è un loro diritto, ma anche un proprio preciso dovere, quello di ottenere l'affidamento del bambino di modo che possa essere cresciuto ed allevato come un inglese.
Nel frattempo anche la giovane Caroline ha scelto di trattenersi in Italia. La morte accidentale del piccolo figlio di Lilia produce tutta una serie di drastici cambiamenti all'interno della vicenda: il violento sfogo del padre Gino contro Philip appena saputa la notizia della morte del bambino, il forte senso di colpa provato dall'unica sorella di Lilia, Harriet, che le provoca un'insanabile crisi nervosa, infine lo stesso Philip che si rende conto d'essersi innamorato di Caroline ma anche che non potrà mai arrivare ad averla in quanto lei stessa ammette drammaticamente d'amare Gino.
Il film è del 1991 diretto da Charles Sturridge, di cui ricordo un ben miglior adattamento, “Il matrimonio di Lady Brenda” dal romanzo di Evelyn Waugh “A Handful of Dust”, questo del 1988. E la miniserie “Ritorno a Brideshead”, sempre da Waugh.
Ed eccola invece raccontata da Alberto Arbasino:
L'idillio malinteso di una vedovella del Surrey ("la sua mente debole la rendeva fredda") e un ragazzo chiantigiano attraente e fatuo e che sputa per terra. Si sposano; e dopo un campionario di incomprensioni e raffronti 'razziali' , lei muore di parto.
E incomincia la commedia maggiore. L' "altruismo meschino" del villaggio britannico si risveglia per strappare l'infante allo scandaloso giovane papà latino, con la moralità della convinzione per cui "da tutto questo male non può venire che del bene".
E parte la spedizione dei celibi - un cognato, una cognata, un'amica della morta, sorvegliati a distanza dalla mamma dragona - soltanto per soggiacere, non appena a Monteriano, a diverse forme femminee del mal d'Italia. Morrà qui l'infante, rapito goffamente, ma qualche barlume della seduzione italiana intravvista sopravvivrà probabilmente in quelle anime già senili, trattate con esattezze preoccupanti da quel romanziere giovanissimo.
L’inglese rapita dal fascino del giovane italiano è Helen Mirren, lui Giovanni Guidelli.
Io mi sono avvicinato a Forster proprio grazie ad Arbasino. È stata una delle mie guide letterarie: all’inizio coglievo un centesimo dei riferimenti di cui sono infarciti i suoi scritti, ma impossibile non trovarli comunque brillanti e divertenti, spasso e interesse garantito.
Anche se con stile ancora acerbo, non all’altezza della sua breve produzione a seguire (solo altri cinque romanzi!) c’è qui già presente un tema caro a Forster: Nord–Sud. Che poi diventerà Ovest–Est, o meglio Occidente-Oriente (Passaggio in India).
Può sembrare un contrasto ingenuo e cliché tardo-romantico, ma non bisogna dimenticare che si era ancora all’epoca del Grand Tour.
E quindi, un Nord zitellesco e facilmente imbarazzabile contrapposto alla spontaneità conturbante e carnale degli italiani.
Helena Bonham Carter e Rupert Graves. Da ricordare anche la magnifica Judy Davis.
L'Italia fa girare la testa agli stranieri. Questo Sud cattolico e pagano sembra esprimere soprattutto latin lovers dionisiaci - mentre il Settentrione produce solo scapoli inibiti e nubili inquiete, nonché quelle 'dragone' temibili che trionfano nel teatro di Oscar Wilde e nei misteri di Agatha Christie...
Sì, certo, è ancora il grande Alberto che si esprime così.
E ancora, sempre parole di Arbasino:
Nella luce spossante e suadente di meriggi continui, eccessivi come un soggiorno in India, ecco paesaggi chiantigiani selvatici, benché coltivati da duemila anni; e il sospetto che una libertà abbastanza pànica e bàcchica degli istinti si appiatti dietro le convenzioni piccolo-borghesi e contadine della provincia italiana dei viaggi in treno e in carrozza.
Ancora Mirren e Guidelli. Tra gli altri interpreti italiani ricordo Luca Lazzareschi, Anna Lelio.
Forster, che per qualcuno è il più grande romanziere inglese della prima metà del Novecento, scrisse solo sei romanzi: questo pubblicato nel 1905, Il viaggio più lungo nel 1907, Camera con vista l’anno dopo, Casa Howard nel 1910, e infine Passaggio in India dopo lungo break, nel 1924.
Poi, il silenzio, fino alla morte, per quasi cinquant’anni.
Anche se con silenzio intendo che abbandonò la narrativa per dedicarsi alla critica, saggistica, alla biografia, al teatro, ai racconti, eccetera.
Il perché sembra essere contenuto nel sesto romanzo che non ho ancora nominato: Maurice, pubblicato postumo (1971), ma scritto tra il 1913-14, dutrante la lunga pausa tra due opere colossali come Casa Howard e Passaggio in India. La fatica di nascondersi, di parlare solo di amori eterosessuali, di dover tacere la sua omosessualità.
Per tornare a Monteriano, romanzo che Arbasino consiglia di leggere, o rileggere, preferibilmente in campagna, lo si può leggere anche quale deliziosa commedia di osservazione e conversazione e costumi, secondo la scuola di Jane Austen e di altre Grandi Signorine insigni nella tradizione narrativa britannica.
Monteriano
Ecco come Wikipedia sintetizza la trama di questo esordio letterario di Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970; aveva ventiquattro anni quando lo scrisse):
Durante un viaggio attraverso le colline della Toscana con la sua giovane amica e compagna di viaggio Caroline, la vedova Lilia Herriton si innamora, oltre che del paesaggio, anche di Gino, un bell'italiano aitante nonché molto più giovane di lei; questo la fa decidere a rimanere rimandando la partenza.
Furibonda, la famiglia del marito morto, venuta a conoscenza del fatto, invia il parente Philip in Italia nel tentativo di sventare lo scandalo: egli giunge però troppo tardi. Lilia è subito convolata a nozze col ragazzo ed anzi si trova già incinta; al momento del parto purtroppo, per colpa di una grave complicazione accaduta improvvisamente, muore.
Ed ecco Philip cerca di salvare questa volta il neonato da una vita sicuramente immersa nella miseria e nell'inciviltà caratteristiche della penisola; ma così facendo cerca anche di salvare la buona reputazione della famiglia. I suoceri di Lilia fanno chiaramente capire che è un loro diritto, ma anche un proprio preciso dovere, quello di ottenere l'affidamento del bambino di modo che possa essere cresciuto ed allevato come un inglese.
Nel frattempo anche la giovane Caroline ha scelto di trattenersi in Italia. La morte accidentale del piccolo figlio di Lilia produce tutta una serie di drastici cambiamenti all'interno della vicenda: il violento sfogo del padre Gino contro Philip appena saputa la notizia della morte del bambino, il forte senso di colpa provato dall'unica sorella di Lilia, Harriet, che le provoca un'insanabile crisi nervosa, infine lo stesso Philip che si rende conto d'essersi innamorato di Caroline ma anche che non potrà mai arrivare ad averla in quanto lei stessa ammette drammaticamente d'amare Gino.
Il film è del 1991 diretto da Charles Sturridge, di cui ricordo un ben miglior adattamento, “Il matrimonio di Lady Brenda” dal romanzo di Evelyn Waugh “A Handful of Dust”, questo del 1988. E la miniserie “Ritorno a Brideshead”, sempre da Waugh.
Ed eccola invece raccontata da Alberto Arbasino:
L'idillio malinteso di una vedovella del Surrey ("la sua mente debole la rendeva fredda") e un ragazzo chiantigiano attraente e fatuo e che sputa per terra. Si sposano; e dopo un campionario di incomprensioni e raffronti 'razziali' , lei muore di parto.
E incomincia la commedia maggiore. L' "altruismo meschino" del villaggio britannico si risveglia per strappare l'infante allo scandaloso giovane papà latino, con la moralità della convinzione per cui "da tutto questo male non può venire che del bene".
E parte la spedizione dei celibi - un cognato, una cognata, un'amica della morta, sorvegliati a distanza dalla mamma dragona - soltanto per soggiacere, non appena a Monteriano, a diverse forme femminee del mal d'Italia. Morrà qui l'infante, rapito goffamente, ma qualche barlume della seduzione italiana intravvista sopravvivrà probabilmente in quelle anime già senili, trattate con esattezze preoccupanti da quel romanziere giovanissimo.
L’inglese rapita dal fascino del giovane italiano è Helen Mirren, lui Giovanni Guidelli.
Io mi sono avvicinato a Forster proprio grazie ad Arbasino. È stata una delle mie guide letterarie: all’inizio coglievo un centesimo dei riferimenti di cui sono infarciti i suoi scritti, ma impossibile non trovarli comunque brillanti e divertenti, spasso e interesse garantito.
Anche se con stile ancora acerbo, non all’altezza della sua breve produzione a seguire (solo altri cinque romanzi!) c’è qui già presente un tema caro a Forster: Nord–Sud. Che poi diventerà Ovest–Est, o meglio Occidente-Oriente (Passaggio in India).
Può sembrare un contrasto ingenuo e cliché tardo-romantico, ma non bisogna dimenticare che si era ancora all’epoca del Grand Tour.
E quindi, un Nord zitellesco e facilmente imbarazzabile contrapposto alla spontaneità conturbante e carnale degli italiani.
Helena Bonham Carter e Rupert Graves. Da ricordare anche la magnifica Judy Davis.
L'Italia fa girare la testa agli stranieri. Questo Sud cattolico e pagano sembra esprimere soprattutto latin lovers dionisiaci - mentre il Settentrione produce solo scapoli inibiti e nubili inquiete, nonché quelle 'dragone' temibili che trionfano nel teatro di Oscar Wilde e nei misteri di Agatha Christie...
Sì, certo, è ancora il grande Alberto che si esprime così.
E ancora, sempre parole di Arbasino:
Nella luce spossante e suadente di meriggi continui, eccessivi come un soggiorno in India, ecco paesaggi chiantigiani selvatici, benché coltivati da duemila anni; e il sospetto che una libertà abbastanza pànica e bàcchica degli istinti si appiatti dietro le convenzioni piccolo-borghesi e contadine della provincia italiana dei viaggi in treno e in carrozza.
Ancora Mirren e Guidelli. Tra gli altri interpreti italiani ricordo Luca Lazzareschi, Anna Lelio.
Forster, che per qualcuno è il più grande romanziere inglese della prima metà del Novecento, scrisse solo sei romanzi: questo pubblicato nel 1905, Il viaggio più lungo nel 1907, Camera con vista l’anno dopo, Casa Howard nel 1910, e infine Passaggio in India dopo lungo break, nel 1924.
Poi, il silenzio, fino alla morte, per quasi cinquant’anni.
Anche se con silenzio intendo che abbandonò la narrativa per dedicarsi alla critica, saggistica, alla biografia, al teatro, ai racconti, eccetera.
Il perché sembra essere contenuto nel sesto romanzo che non ho ancora nominato: Maurice, pubblicato postumo (1971), ma scritto tra il 1913-14, dutrante la lunga pausa tra due opere colossali come Casa Howard e Passaggio in India. La fatica di nascondersi, di parlare solo di amori eterosessuali, di dover tacere la sua omosessualità.
Per tornare a Monteriano, romanzo che Arbasino consiglia di leggere, o rileggere, preferibilmente in campagna, lo si può leggere anche quale deliziosa commedia di osservazione e conversazione e costumi, secondo la scuola di Jane Austen e di altre Grandi Signorine insigni nella tradizione narrativa britannica.
June 24, 2019
"Romance only dies with life."
I spent some delicious summer hours rereading Forster's first novel, thinking of Europe and its contrasting, yet matching characters, its various climates and cultural reference points. The eternal question of how to cope with social environment and human nature remains unhappily unsolved but beautifully illustrated in front of an Italian artistic landscape backdrop, with a cast of English characters struggling with suppressed emotions.
What is important in life? Sensuality and natural instincts, as Lilia seems to think when engaging with an Italian dentist's handsome but uncultured son, Gino? Sophistication and belief in art as a means to find purpose and satisfaction? Friendship? Passion?
Where angels fear to tread - that is life without the gloss of romance to make it look prettier than it is. Seen in close-up, sexual tension is not glamorous or even particularly exciting, and a mésalliance is a marriage too, just like a conventional one, and it comes with the same issues, once the romance has worn off.
Sacrifice oneself to convention to satisfy other people? Is that the path for angels to tread more securely?
Hardly. What for? To engage in "petty unselfishness", as Forster eloquently sums up a life lived for appearances?
As the sad novel of unfulfilled dreams, unspent passions, unseen art and unlived life comes to a close, I believe I know what to take from it. We can't ever rely on somebody or something else to give us meaning. If we look for purpose and satisfaction in other people, rather than within ourselves, we will always, always be disappointed. For other people don't pursue our happiness, not even when they claim to "love" us. They pursue their own goals, and if we happen to cross their path we may be used as a vehicle on their quest, that's all.
If we want to be brave angels, walking joyously on the path that leads to an interesting and fulfilling future, we have to look for our own meaning.
Where angels like to walk...
I spent some delicious summer hours rereading Forster's first novel, thinking of Europe and its contrasting, yet matching characters, its various climates and cultural reference points. The eternal question of how to cope with social environment and human nature remains unhappily unsolved but beautifully illustrated in front of an Italian artistic landscape backdrop, with a cast of English characters struggling with suppressed emotions.
What is important in life? Sensuality and natural instincts, as Lilia seems to think when engaging with an Italian dentist's handsome but uncultured son, Gino? Sophistication and belief in art as a means to find purpose and satisfaction? Friendship? Passion?
Where angels fear to tread - that is life without the gloss of romance to make it look prettier than it is. Seen in close-up, sexual tension is not glamorous or even particularly exciting, and a mésalliance is a marriage too, just like a conventional one, and it comes with the same issues, once the romance has worn off.
Sacrifice oneself to convention to satisfy other people? Is that the path for angels to tread more securely?
Hardly. What for? To engage in "petty unselfishness", as Forster eloquently sums up a life lived for appearances?
As the sad novel of unfulfilled dreams, unspent passions, unseen art and unlived life comes to a close, I believe I know what to take from it. We can't ever rely on somebody or something else to give us meaning. If we look for purpose and satisfaction in other people, rather than within ourselves, we will always, always be disappointed. For other people don't pursue our happiness, not even when they claim to "love" us. They pursue their own goals, and if we happen to cross their path we may be used as a vehicle on their quest, that's all.
If we want to be brave angels, walking joyously on the path that leads to an interesting and fulfilling future, we have to look for our own meaning.
Where angels like to walk...
May 5, 2023
Another friend mentioned this recently. It reminded me that I had read it and that it’s one of my favourite Forster’s novels. If my memory serves me correctly, we studied it at school, or I sought it out after enjoying another of his books at school. Either way, this is a bit if a catch-up rating/review.
November 28, 2023
Some, but not all writers, can suffer with teething troubles on that first novel, E. M. Forster's 1905 'Where Angels Fear to Tread' is a prime example. It's a valiant effort for a writer in his early days before what would follow, and I can't help but compare this to the delightful novel he wrote only three years later, 'A Room with a View', which pleasantly surprised me as to just how good it was. This, just wasn't in the same league. Our Mr. Forster pretty much corners the literary market on English tourists being overwhelmed by the dream of another country, and what happens when that dream clashes against reality. Here, that clash ain't pretty. What it is, however, is sharp-witted, emotional, and sometimes uncomfortable, about what it means to be a tourist, and what it means to put stock in the dream of another place.
Bon voyage Lilia!, a young unsophisticated widow, is being dropped off at the train station by her in-laws - the domineering Mommy Dearest Mrs. Herriton and her children, Philip and Harriet. They are sending her on a trip to serene Italy with the young but trustworthy Caroline Abbott, to escape the droll life in Sawston, England, and prevent her from making a bad love match up. Yep, we're back in those days of frilly hats, turned up moustaches and fine porcelain skin with not a blemish in sight. Hello, Edwardian-era repression. You do look awfully uncomfortable in that corset my dear.
In Monteriano, Lilia marries the handsome but selfish Italian, Gino Carella but soon finds herself in an unhappy marriage with little personal freedom, and the cultural struggle between England and Italy becomes more heated. The set-up swiftly changes when Lilia's newborn comes into the picture, and the novel turns into what one could describe as an old fashioned custody battle. Philip and his sister Harriet set off to Italy to try and save the child from a poor upbringing. And the pleasant nature than went prior is gone, turning the novel into a more weighty affair. The characters have more gusto, and appear pained with panic, one in particular is forced into drastic measures that will effect the outcome. It doesn't help when Caroline confesses her love for Gino, but there is no walking off into the sunset hand in hand, Forster's horizon is filled with a storm rather than blue skies.
E.M. Forster is a terrific immersive writer, and it doesn't take much to be drawn into his stories. This short novel does contain some gorgeous prose, and it's quick to fall in with his social / political commentary, and the well-rounded dynamic characters are easy to love or hate. Just don't get down on yourself if you end up buying a one-way ticket to Tuscany, cancelling the ticket, buying the ticket again, and then cancelling it again. After all, you're only human. And there's no one that understands fickle, flawed humanity like E.M. Forster. So why not a better rating? - simple, I felt this was more of a writing exercise, where he was wearing trainers and not shiny shoes, the whole novel seemed it was written by a man still trying to figure himself out as a writer. Even the best have to start somewhere, right?. The ending also felt limp, casting a shadow over what when before. The idea's were there for sure, and he would only improve, writing eventually in nice polished shoes.
Worth reading, but lacking certain ingredients that would eventually turn him into one of Britain's finest. By the time my morning coffee and croissant comes around, this isn't likely to be lingering in my mind. Whereas 'A Room with View', which was read some time ago, still floats about occasionally.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2014
I only realized half way through that E M Forster was 26 when he wrote this which is his first. If I’d known that I wouldn’t have read it, I have a violent prejudice against novelists under 30. It’s too early to start. In other art forms it’s essential to be under 30 – the Beatles were in their mid-20s when they did Sgt Pepper, Brian Wilson was 23 and 24 when he created Pet Sounds and Smile, Picasso was churning out brilliant realist works in his mid-teens, and not to mention Mozart’s unpleasant precocity, sitting up in his pram and scribbling oratorios onto every available surface; but the art of the novel lays bare the author’s mind too eloquently, it’s far more intimate and therefore cruelly revealing than music or painting, your under 30 crassness and callowness will be exposed, you’re caught in the fierce headlights forever.
Perhaps I am harsh – let us see what Forster himself said about this novel. The story takes place mostly in a small town in Italy called San Gimignano (retitled Monteriano here) which is a medieval version of Manhattan, very remarkable. I went there once. It looks like this.
An English widow falls in love with a local guy called Gino who probably looked like this
Forster said later :
The tourist may be intelligent, warm-hearted and alert, and I think I was that much, but he has to go back every evening to his hotel and he can know very little of the class structure of the country he is visiting. My limitations were very grave. Fortunately I was unaware of them, and plunged ahead….
What’s so remarkable here is my own temerity. For I placed Gino firmly in his society although I knew nothing about it. I guessed at his relatives, his daily life, his habits, his house, and his sketchy conception of housekeeping…
Young novelists have to make up a lot of stuff, for sure. That said, Where Angels Fear to Tread (the lurid title was foisted on Foister by the publishers) is pretty good. Forster has a patented style – you think you’re reading light frothy social satire but he keeps upsetting his own applecart with acidulous barbs and then the whole thing suddenly swerves into stark horror and goes all to hell. It’s a very good style.
This book literally fell apart while I was reading it (1985 paperback, spinal glue dried to powder) and it would be far too glib to say as did the story itself so I won’t! What you have here is a strange case history. The MacGuffin in the story is a baby, and I’m not sure you should turn a baby into a MacGuffin. But it does put under the spotlight the strange ideas humans – especially upper-class English Edwardian humans – had about children. The sheer unsentimentality – as soon as they’re born, turn them over to a nanny. When they reach school age, off they go to a boarding school. You hardly ever had to bother with your children if you were rich enough. It spared you of all those tiresome aspects of child-rearing and gave you time for cruising down the Grand Canal and attending fabulous balls and eating ptarmigans' brains.
What Forster seems to want to delineate (according to him) is the spiritual awakening of his protagonist Philip. As in so many novels, I think what he thought he was doing and what he was actually doing were two different things. This is a surprisingly bitter tirade about ugly English upper class morality. A really good start.
Perhaps I am harsh – let us see what Forster himself said about this novel. The story takes place mostly in a small town in Italy called San Gimignano (retitled Monteriano here) which is a medieval version of Manhattan, very remarkable. I went there once. It looks like this.
An English widow falls in love with a local guy called Gino who probably looked like this
Forster said later :
The tourist may be intelligent, warm-hearted and alert, and I think I was that much, but he has to go back every evening to his hotel and he can know very little of the class structure of the country he is visiting. My limitations were very grave. Fortunately I was unaware of them, and plunged ahead….
What’s so remarkable here is my own temerity. For I placed Gino firmly in his society although I knew nothing about it. I guessed at his relatives, his daily life, his habits, his house, and his sketchy conception of housekeeping…
Young novelists have to make up a lot of stuff, for sure. That said, Where Angels Fear to Tread (the lurid title was foisted on Foister by the publishers) is pretty good. Forster has a patented style – you think you’re reading light frothy social satire but he keeps upsetting his own applecart with acidulous barbs and then the whole thing suddenly swerves into stark horror and goes all to hell. It’s a very good style.
This book literally fell apart while I was reading it (1985 paperback, spinal glue dried to powder) and it would be far too glib to say as did the story itself so I won’t! What you have here is a strange case history. The MacGuffin in the story is a baby, and I’m not sure you should turn a baby into a MacGuffin. But it does put under the spotlight the strange ideas humans – especially upper-class English Edwardian humans – had about children. The sheer unsentimentality – as soon as they’re born, turn them over to a nanny. When they reach school age, off they go to a boarding school. You hardly ever had to bother with your children if you were rich enough. It spared you of all those tiresome aspects of child-rearing and gave you time for cruising down the Grand Canal and attending fabulous balls and eating ptarmigans' brains.
What Forster seems to want to delineate (according to him) is the spiritual awakening of his protagonist Philip. As in so many novels, I think what he thought he was doing and what he was actually doing were two different things. This is a surprisingly bitter tirade about ugly English upper class morality. A really good start.
July 29, 2018
I can't be objective regarding E. M. Forster. Simply love his novels...
July 13, 2018
Called a comedy by some reviewers, I don't see that at all. It is tragic all the way round. There are comic aspects, especially at the beginning and I was as ready to laugh as anyone at the shallow, ignorant British tourist Lilia, falling in love with an Italian who is out of her class and social level. The novel is uneven in its mood and I can tell that it is Forster's first. He attains greatness in his later works, but here glimmers appear.
February 9, 2017
I'm always amused at the distain the haughty English aristocrat feels toward the average Italian and their incomprehensible ways and their attitude toward life. I've noticed it in several works of English literature and, not being English myself, I don't know if it really exists. I hope it is true, I won't have to change my perception of the 19th and early 20th century English. I like them that way, their style, their arrogance, if that's the right word, their belief that their way is the right way and everything else be dammed. That's the case in this novel when an upper class English family sees their widowed daughter-in-law fall for and marry an Italian of unacceptable status. Things turn tragic and complicated when she dies in childbirth. The English family does not want this child, their blood relative, to be raised Italian, and so the struggle begins. This is Forster's first novel but the genius is there, you can feel it in the reading, and it remains one of my favorites of his work.
January 7, 2021
This is my favorite by E.M. Forster. I gave A Room with a View three stars and A Passage to India four, but this is even better than that!
A love story that I love, and it is extremely short! I don't usually enjoy short novels. It is a classic worth being called a classic.
Forster captures different sorts of people and their respective ways of being. We have Harriet who is logical and straight thinking and Miss Caroline Abbott who wavers but recognizes the value of passion…..as well as its dangers. There is Gino Carella, an Italian that will throw you off your feet and charm you so you only see the stars sparkling in the heaven. There is Philip - British, class oriented but drawn to the charms of Italy too. Forster's characters are tempted and pulled and swayed and at the same time true to themselves. I had to marvel how Forster pulled this off in so few pages! One reads this for character portrayal and to find out how the love knots will be resolved. Who will end up with whom? Where and how? England or Tuscany, Italy. The time setting is the end of the 19th Century.
Forster captures different cultural tendencies beautifully, accurately, with a light touch and with humor. First he made me laugh at British, end of the 19th Century social mores peppered with clever observations. Then the characters caught me up and pulled me in. Finally Forster impressed me with his perception of human character. Relationships are not drawn in neat and simple lines, but in knots and tangles…..as in, I think, real life! It is this tangled mess and how the book concludes that I particularly like.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Edward Petherbridge. The beginning was almost impossible to decipher. If not stubborn you may just throw in the the towel. I'll say politely that he didn't destroy what IS a marvelous classic! The narration I have given two stars; it’s OK and not impossible to follow. I managed. I didn't give up, but it could have been LOTS better! I only want accents, exclamations and varied intonations if the author’s words remain clear. Just my personal point of view though, which may of course differ from others’.
I really enjoyed this book. It is close to amazing in its perceptiveness, in its ability to catch a snap-shot of how people do sometimes behave and in its humor.
A love story that I love, and it is extremely short! I don't usually enjoy short novels. It is a classic worth being called a classic.
Forster captures different sorts of people and their respective ways of being. We have Harriet who is logical and straight thinking and Miss Caroline Abbott who wavers but recognizes the value of passion…..as well as its dangers. There is Gino Carella, an Italian that will throw you off your feet and charm you so you only see the stars sparkling in the heaven. There is Philip - British, class oriented but drawn to the charms of Italy too. Forster's characters are tempted and pulled and swayed and at the same time true to themselves. I had to marvel how Forster pulled this off in so few pages! One reads this for character portrayal and to find out how the love knots will be resolved. Who will end up with whom? Where and how? England or Tuscany, Italy. The time setting is the end of the 19th Century.
Forster captures different cultural tendencies beautifully, accurately, with a light touch and with humor. First he made me laugh at British, end of the 19th Century social mores peppered with clever observations. Then the characters caught me up and pulled me in. Finally Forster impressed me with his perception of human character. Relationships are not drawn in neat and simple lines, but in knots and tangles…..as in, I think, real life! It is this tangled mess and how the book concludes that I particularly like.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Edward Petherbridge. The beginning was almost impossible to decipher. If not stubborn you may just throw in the the towel. I'll say politely that he didn't destroy what IS a marvelous classic! The narration I have given two stars; it’s OK and not impossible to follow. I managed. I didn't give up, but it could have been LOTS better! I only want accents, exclamations and varied intonations if the author’s words remain clear. Just my personal point of view though, which may of course differ from others’.
I really enjoyed this book. It is close to amazing in its perceptiveness, in its ability to catch a snap-shot of how people do sometimes behave and in its humor.
March 28, 2022
Her eyes were open, full of infinite pity and full of majesty, as if they discerned the boundaries of sorrow, and saw unimaginable tracts beyond. Such eyes he had seen in great pictures but never in a mortal. Her hands were folded round the sufferer, stroking him lightly, for even a goddess can do no more than that.
To interfere in the intentions of others; who dictates what is right? That is the central theme of Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Much more melancholic than the sunlit decadence of A Room With a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread is a tragic expedition into the audacity of humanity and its willingness to override the will of others. Both books follow characters that meet a shift in perspective within the history-charged architecture of Italy, but what a delightful, disarming, and twisted change of tone from one book to the other.
Forster makes it clear that life ceases without the presence of passion. Truth, Beauty, or Love; it does not matter unless you give a damn.
To interfere in the intentions of others; who dictates what is right? That is the central theme of Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Much more melancholic than the sunlit decadence of A Room With a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread is a tragic expedition into the audacity of humanity and its willingness to override the will of others. Both books follow characters that meet a shift in perspective within the history-charged architecture of Italy, but what a delightful, disarming, and twisted change of tone from one book to the other.
Forster makes it clear that life ceases without the presence of passion. Truth, Beauty, or Love; it does not matter unless you give a damn.
May 12, 2021
Forster's Howard's End is one of my favorite novels ever, and I have yet to read Room With A View or Passage to India, but this was on my shelf so I picked it up. This is his first novel and it's good, but not great. The settings are the village of Sawston in England and Monteriano in Italy, both fictional. There's the inevitable culture clashes between the staid and proper English characters and the friendly and exuberant Italians. If I had read this one first my love for Forster would not be as great, but as a sample of what was to come from his pen, it's an interesting read.
August 13, 2023
"Just think of the shock value. Killing off the leading lady halfway through. I mean you are intrigued, are you not, my dear? Come on, admit it." (Hitchcock, 2012)
Fine, Lilia isn't truly the leading lady, but initially that seems to be the case. I'll keep it short and sweet by saying that the indifference shown by most of the characters at the end of this book is actually revolting. Maybe that's the point? Suffice it to say, I'd much rather spend a few hundred pages with serial killer Tom Ripley than with any of the remorseless and self-indulgent monsters in this book. And I'm usually the one who rolls his eyes when I read a I didn't like this book because I didn't like the characters review. I did like some of the characters, until the end. Can't we at least pretend that something terrible has taken place?
March 31, 2019
I absolutely loved this. E.M. Forster is such a wonderful writer, with such fantastic creation of atmosphere, and just clever subtle characterisation. I love that his plots never go the way you expect them to, that characters never fall in love with the people whom the narrative seems to require them to fall in love with. A really great read - one I would highly recommend.
March 17, 2022
32nd book of 2022
E. M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread has some themes in common with his later work A Room with a View which I reviewed a while back, in that both revolve around the English in Italy. However, unlike A Room with a View this novel is much bleaker and has very little by way of character redemption.
As for the story, the novel opens with a wealthy English Widow named Lilia Herriton taking a trip to Italy with her friend and traveling companion Caroline Abbott. Upon making it to Italy, Lilia meets and falls in love with a much younger and poorer man named Gino. Gino is not of noble or high society birth, and so Lilia's immediate family feels she should have nothing to do with him, and what's more, he is Italian, which is a major problem for the Herriton family. When the time comes to return to Sawston, the family home, Lilia declares to Caroline that she will be staying behind, rather than returning home, in order to be with Gino. Caroline returns to Sawston alone, much bothered by Lilia's actions.
Upon her arrival at the family home, the Herritons are horrified to hear of the newest developments between Lilia and Gino. Almost immediately after Caroline's return home, the Herritons send Lilia's brother-in-law, Philip to Italy in order for him to speak some sense into Lilia and bring her home before she does something disastrous for herself and her family name by marrying a man far younger than herself, and much below her social status. However, by the time Philip arrives on the scene in Italy, Lilia has already married Gino. The family is furious. Soon after her marriage, Lilia becomes pregnant with a child. This news sends shockwaves through the Herriton family, as they bring it upon themselves to figure out the fate of the child. Lilia dies during her labor, however, and so leaves Gino with a son. When the news reaches Sawston of the birth of Lilia's child, and the news of Lilia's death, Caroline decides to return to Italy in order to save the child from what she can only imagine will be a horrible childhood. The Herritons decide to send Philip back as well, and this time his sister, Harriet comes along with him. Together, the two of them try to rescue the name of Herriton, as they are very much afraid that much damage has already been cast upon them by Lilia's reckless behavior.
However, once the Herritons arrive in Italy, they soon fall under the magic of the small Italian town Monteriano and start to lose their original passion for ridding their family of any association with the country. During their time in Italy, Philip and Harriet learn that Gino has formed a very deep love for his child, even though he showed many signs of aggression, he seemed to be a man who was truly capable of love. The Herritons decide to drop their mission and return home, feeling both a strong love for Italy and not wishing anymore to deal with Lilia's past. Harriet is not so sure if this is truly the best thing to do, however, and so she kidnaps the baby from Gino in order to smuggle him safely back to Sawston, but disaster strikes when the carriage the baby is put in crashes and the child is killed. The death of Lilia's baby at the hands of Harriet sends her into a mental breakdown, one she never recovers from. Upon delivering the news of the child's death, Gino lashes out and attacks Philip, however, Caroline is able to calm Gino down and mediate peace between the two men. Philip, until this confrontation with Gino, had often been accused of not truly living, but rather treating life as a game that must simply be played out, but changed, into someone who found his capacity for depth of emotion.
The novel ends with a final declaration of love that can never be uttered. Philip, upon his return home to Sawston with Caroline, realizes his deep love for her, however, Caroline delivers a passionate declaration of love as well, however, one not for Philip, but for Gino. Philip is left heartbroken.
Where Angels Fear to Tread is quite a bleak story. But it is also one of immense depth and brevity. It is one that I know I will come back to again and again throughout the years. Five stars.
Video review live on my youtube channel. Link https://youtu.be/Lk0QZf9dOFQ
E. M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread has some themes in common with his later work A Room with a View which I reviewed a while back, in that both revolve around the English in Italy. However, unlike A Room with a View this novel is much bleaker and has very little by way of character redemption.
As for the story, the novel opens with a wealthy English Widow named Lilia Herriton taking a trip to Italy with her friend and traveling companion Caroline Abbott. Upon making it to Italy, Lilia meets and falls in love with a much younger and poorer man named Gino. Gino is not of noble or high society birth, and so Lilia's immediate family feels she should have nothing to do with him, and what's more, he is Italian, which is a major problem for the Herriton family. When the time comes to return to Sawston, the family home, Lilia declares to Caroline that she will be staying behind, rather than returning home, in order to be with Gino. Caroline returns to Sawston alone, much bothered by Lilia's actions.
Upon her arrival at the family home, the Herritons are horrified to hear of the newest developments between Lilia and Gino. Almost immediately after Caroline's return home, the Herritons send Lilia's brother-in-law, Philip to Italy in order for him to speak some sense into Lilia and bring her home before she does something disastrous for herself and her family name by marrying a man far younger than herself, and much below her social status. However, by the time Philip arrives on the scene in Italy, Lilia has already married Gino. The family is furious. Soon after her marriage, Lilia becomes pregnant with a child. This news sends shockwaves through the Herriton family, as they bring it upon themselves to figure out the fate of the child. Lilia dies during her labor, however, and so leaves Gino with a son. When the news reaches Sawston of the birth of Lilia's child, and the news of Lilia's death, Caroline decides to return to Italy in order to save the child from what she can only imagine will be a horrible childhood. The Herritons decide to send Philip back as well, and this time his sister, Harriet comes along with him. Together, the two of them try to rescue the name of Herriton, as they are very much afraid that much damage has already been cast upon them by Lilia's reckless behavior.
However, once the Herritons arrive in Italy, they soon fall under the magic of the small Italian town Monteriano and start to lose their original passion for ridding their family of any association with the country. During their time in Italy, Philip and Harriet learn that Gino has formed a very deep love for his child, even though he showed many signs of aggression, he seemed to be a man who was truly capable of love. The Herritons decide to drop their mission and return home, feeling both a strong love for Italy and not wishing anymore to deal with Lilia's past. Harriet is not so sure if this is truly the best thing to do, however, and so she kidnaps the baby from Gino in order to smuggle him safely back to Sawston, but disaster strikes when the carriage the baby is put in crashes and the child is killed. The death of Lilia's baby at the hands of Harriet sends her into a mental breakdown, one she never recovers from. Upon delivering the news of the child's death, Gino lashes out and attacks Philip, however, Caroline is able to calm Gino down and mediate peace between the two men. Philip, until this confrontation with Gino, had often been accused of not truly living, but rather treating life as a game that must simply be played out, but changed, into someone who found his capacity for depth of emotion.
The novel ends with a final declaration of love that can never be uttered. Philip, upon his return home to Sawston with Caroline, realizes his deep love for her, however, Caroline delivers a passionate declaration of love as well, however, one not for Philip, but for Gino. Philip is left heartbroken.
Where Angels Fear to Tread is quite a bleak story. But it is also one of immense depth and brevity. It is one that I know I will come back to again and again throughout the years. Five stars.
Video review live on my youtube channel. Link https://youtu.be/Lk0QZf9dOFQ
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2018
I've decided to revisit Forster. I've never really had a high opinion of his work, but I feel like that may be my problem, not his. I first read Where Angels Fear to Tread about four years ago and my original review is presented below (god I was so shit at 'reviews' back then why did none of you tell me!?)
What I can glean from my second reading of Where Angels Fear to Tread is that I enjoyed it more this time. I recall being quite bored with it the first time around but this time my boredom was replaced by amusement. I also appreciated the more farcical nature of the novel too. It brilliantly captures the fin de siècle folly of going on the Grand Tour and the type of people who took such a journey. However while I think that Where Angels Fear to Tread is a fun send-up of the upper-classes and their strive to keep up appearances, I do not think it is anything more than that.
What confuses me about the novel is its tone. What exactly was Forster going for? There are many moments of light comedy and it could also be called something of a comedy of manners but there are also some truly horrific moments of tragedy. To call the book comic would be crass but to call it tragic would be disingenuous.
There is also the problem of Forster introducing a cast of interesting characters in the first chapter, only to slowly shed them all as the narrative progresses.
I don't think I'm going to change my rating on this one. Last time I gave it two stars because I was bored, this time I am giving it two stars because it just isn't that great of a novel. I get what Forster was doing here. It's a valiant first attempt. But there's a reason why we still discuss Howards End and A Room With A View but not Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Original review from July 2014
I expected more from Forster. Well, to be honest, this was his first novel and isn't one that is talked about all that much. There's obviously a reason for that. Even though this novel is less than 150 pages long, it feels much longer and that's not a good thing. It's kinda boring at parts which really doesn't help. Eh this novel is just meh as a whole. Meh.
What I can glean from my second reading of Where Angels Fear to Tread is that I enjoyed it more this time. I recall being quite bored with it the first time around but this time my boredom was replaced by amusement. I also appreciated the more farcical nature of the novel too. It brilliantly captures the fin de siècle folly of going on the Grand Tour and the type of people who took such a journey. However while I think that Where Angels Fear to Tread is a fun send-up of the upper-classes and their strive to keep up appearances, I do not think it is anything more than that.
What confuses me about the novel is its tone. What exactly was Forster going for? There are many moments of light comedy and it could also be called something of a comedy of manners but there are also some truly horrific moments of tragedy. To call the book comic would be crass but to call it tragic would be disingenuous.
There is also the problem of Forster introducing a cast of interesting characters in the first chapter, only to slowly shed them all as the narrative progresses.
I don't think I'm going to change my rating on this one. Last time I gave it two stars because I was bored, this time I am giving it two stars because it just isn't that great of a novel. I get what Forster was doing here. It's a valiant first attempt. But there's a reason why we still discuss Howards End and A Room With A View but not Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Original review from July 2014
I expected more from Forster. Well, to be honest, this was his first novel and isn't one that is talked about all that much. There's obviously a reason for that. Even though this novel is less than 150 pages long, it feels much longer and that's not a good thing. It's kinda boring at parts which really doesn't help. Eh this novel is just meh as a whole. Meh.
September 20, 2020
"Fools rush in ..."
I guess I'm a fool. I thought E. M. Forster was easy to read, almost too easy sometimes. Delighted with his nearly faultless prose, I read his thin first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), all in one afternoon. Forster tells the story of a young English widow who is seduced by her romantic vision of Italy and Italians and yearns to escape her controlling and snobbish in-laws in England. Her hasty marriage to a member of "Italian nobility" sets her English relations aflutter, leading to all sorts of sadness, disappointment, and eventual tragedy.
Line by line, the novel is very well written and a pleasure to read, but the tale's superficial chauvinism, scant humor, and rough ending left me with a nasty case of indigestion. I couldn't believe a book by one of my favorite authors really could be as nauseating as a quick first read made it out to be. So, after dinner, I started slowly reading the book again. Not surprisingly, with a careful second reading, I found the book to be much more palatable – still prickly in parts – but more palatable.
In the afternoon, all of Forster's obvious foreshadowing was lost on me, and I missed much of his dry, understated wit and self-deprecating irony. The characters seemed sketchy and melodramatic, and the plot seemed to ramble. But with a second reading, I found that I really liked Philip, whose disillusionment with false romance and gradual understanding of love and real humanity are at the heart of the story. Gino, Lilia, and Miss Abbot were each much more deftly drawn than I at first realized (even Mrs. Herriton and Harriet aren't so bad once you get used to them). The humor popped out when I took the time to clearly imagine the scenes I was reading. And what I had mistaken for a loosely organized, muddled first novel, was really very carefully balanced and symmetrical.
So, what did I learn from this book? When it comes to E. M. Forster (and I suspect many other authors, too), it really pays to re-read and to read slowly. Maybe requiring this much attention from the reader is the flaw of a first novel or an overly self-conscious novel. I've never before felt compelled to immediately re-read any of Forster's other books. But it was a rewarding undertaking, and I suppose that from now on, once I finish a book, I'll re-read the first chapters, which typically are teeming with important and telling details, before I pass judgment on a book.
I guess I'm a fool. I thought E. M. Forster was easy to read, almost too easy sometimes. Delighted with his nearly faultless prose, I read his thin first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), all in one afternoon. Forster tells the story of a young English widow who is seduced by her romantic vision of Italy and Italians and yearns to escape her controlling and snobbish in-laws in England. Her hasty marriage to a member of "Italian nobility" sets her English relations aflutter, leading to all sorts of sadness, disappointment, and eventual tragedy.
Line by line, the novel is very well written and a pleasure to read, but the tale's superficial chauvinism, scant humor, and rough ending left me with a nasty case of indigestion. I couldn't believe a book by one of my favorite authors really could be as nauseating as a quick first read made it out to be. So, after dinner, I started slowly reading the book again. Not surprisingly, with a careful second reading, I found the book to be much more palatable – still prickly in parts – but more palatable.
In the afternoon, all of Forster's obvious foreshadowing was lost on me, and I missed much of his dry, understated wit and self-deprecating irony. The characters seemed sketchy and melodramatic, and the plot seemed to ramble. But with a second reading, I found that I really liked Philip, whose disillusionment with false romance and gradual understanding of love and real humanity are at the heart of the story. Gino, Lilia, and Miss Abbot were each much more deftly drawn than I at first realized (even Mrs. Herriton and Harriet aren't so bad once you get used to them). The humor popped out when I took the time to clearly imagine the scenes I was reading. And what I had mistaken for a loosely organized, muddled first novel, was really very carefully balanced and symmetrical.
So, what did I learn from this book? When it comes to E. M. Forster (and I suspect many other authors, too), it really pays to re-read and to read slowly. Maybe requiring this much attention from the reader is the flaw of a first novel or an overly self-conscious novel. I've never before felt compelled to immediately re-read any of Forster's other books. But it was a rewarding undertaking, and I suppose that from now on, once I finish a book, I'll re-read the first chapters, which typically are teeming with important and telling details, before I pass judgment on a book.
July 13, 2023
This is the author’s first novel, published in 1905. The action is split between England and Italy, and raises questions about national character – the possibility of personal connection across social differences.
This is something that occupied the author throughout his writing career.
The action of the novel begins at a train station, as Lilia says her goodbyes before embarking on a trip to Italy.
She is a rather frivolous woman, a widow, who since her husband Charles death, has been living with his family. Her mother-in-law, Mrs. Herriton, and her two children, Philip and Harriet, have supervised Lilia closely to assure that she does not do anything to disgrace the family. However, they have allowed her this Italian journey in the hope that this experience will “civilize” her.
They expect her to be supervised by Caroline, a 23-year-old woman who is “good quiet, dull, and amiable,” and trustworthy. At 33, Lilia is midway on life’s journey, so what could possibly go wrong?
Lots… (no spoilers from me)
Forster makes it clear that this is a place where hypocrisy and repression rule, and where people are more concerned with maintaining appearances than anything else.
This novel explores themes of cultural differences, prejudice and the tension between family and romantic ties.
This novel also established Forster’s reputation as a new voice in British fiction.
In 1991, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Rupert Graves and Helen Mirren. Did you see the movie?
And of course, the question always is…
If you did see the movie, which did you like best…
The book or the movie?
This is something that occupied the author throughout his writing career.
The action of the novel begins at a train station, as Lilia says her goodbyes before embarking on a trip to Italy.
She is a rather frivolous woman, a widow, who since her husband Charles death, has been living with his family. Her mother-in-law, Mrs. Herriton, and her two children, Philip and Harriet, have supervised Lilia closely to assure that she does not do anything to disgrace the family. However, they have allowed her this Italian journey in the hope that this experience will “civilize” her.
They expect her to be supervised by Caroline, a 23-year-old woman who is “good quiet, dull, and amiable,” and trustworthy. At 33, Lilia is midway on life’s journey, so what could possibly go wrong?
Lots… (no spoilers from me)
Forster makes it clear that this is a place where hypocrisy and repression rule, and where people are more concerned with maintaining appearances than anything else.
This novel explores themes of cultural differences, prejudice and the tension between family and romantic ties.
This novel also established Forster’s reputation as a new voice in British fiction.
In 1991, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Rupert Graves and Helen Mirren. Did you see the movie?
And of course, the question always is…
If you did see the movie, which did you like best…
The book or the movie?
November 30, 2023
boyfie’s fav book let’s see if i shld drop da fella
September 15, 2022
101st book of 2022.
2.5. I mean, it's okay. Forster was only 26 when this was published so this really is an early work. The plot is a bit melodramatic and dialogue heavy for my liking. I recently bought a bundle of Forster's novels (having only before this read A Room With a View) so I thought I'd start from the top, as I'm often wont to do. I've been unwell today and Thursday is my day off work anyway, so this entertained me enough to read it all today (not that it's long); but I won't remember it with much fondness.
2.5. I mean, it's okay. Forster was only 26 when this was published so this really is an early work. The plot is a bit melodramatic and dialogue heavy for my liking. I recently bought a bundle of Forster's novels (having only before this read A Room With a View) so I thought I'd start from the top, as I'm often wont to do. I've been unwell today and Thursday is my day off work anyway, so this entertained me enough to read it all today (not that it's long); but I won't remember it with much fondness.
February 29, 2008
My absolute favorite of the E.M. Forster novels I read. This one blew me away. When I turned the last page, I felt like I'd been catapulted out of the novel's world to find myself surprisingly in my own house with my own children around me. It absolutely sucked me in and had me crying and caring and wondering what would happen to each of the characters.
One of my favorite novels of all time.
One of my favorite novels of all time.
March 4, 2018
Sorry guys... I really didn't like this book. Borderline 1.5/2 stars!
Honestly, out of the four books I read, this one was the one I found the most disappointing. It was very info-dumpy, most of the characters were very unlikeable and the storyline surrounding the attempt of trying to kidnap a baby from its father after the mother dies in childbirth was one at times, I didn’t feel comfortable reading about. I liked the length and the geographical settings but that was all. My penguin edition however will definitely look nice on a bookshelf with other penguin classics.
Honestly, out of the four books I read, this one was the one I found the most disappointing. It was very info-dumpy, most of the characters were very unlikeable and the storyline surrounding the attempt of trying to kidnap a baby from its father after the mother dies in childbirth was one at times, I didn’t feel comfortable reading about. I liked the length and the geographical settings but that was all. My penguin edition however will definitely look nice on a bookshelf with other penguin classics.
May 17, 2018
For the dead, who seem to take away so much, really take with them nothing that is ours. The passion they have aroused lives after them, easy to transmute or to transfer, but well-nigh impossible to destroy.
I love Forster's writing. So, much so that to celebrate it I got myself a whole new set of lovely, matching editions of his novels recently.
Where Angels Fear to Tread was his first novel (published in 1905), and re-reading it this time I can see how this is very much a first novel, and why it has never impressed me on previous reads. You see, I came to Forster by way of Howards End, his fourth novel (published in 1910), and that reading experience set the bar vary, VERY high for any other book that was to follow, especially any other book by Forster.
This time, I read the book from a much altered perspective on life, but I still found the plot rather stilted and the characters simply unbearable - apart from Miss Abbott. Forster's message - which is quite daring for its time! - gets a little lost in the characters' bickering. Sure, there are some signs of great character study and an underlying satire of English and Italian society, but the characters are also really annoying. A satire is something I want to enjoy reading, the people in this story I just wanted to shove off the train.
There was one scene, however that I absolutely adore:
“You are wonderful!” he said gravely.
“Oh, you appreciate me!” she burst out again. “I wish you didn’t. You appreciate us all—see good in all of us. And all the time you are dead—dead—dead. Look, why aren’t you angry?” She came up to him, and then her mood suddenly changed, and she took hold of both his hands. “You are so splendid, Mr Herriton, that I can’t bear to see you wasted. I can’t bear—she has not been good to you—your mother.”
“Miss Abbott, don’t worry over me. Some people are born not to do things. I’m one of them; I never did anything at school or at the Bar. I came out to stop Lilia’s marriage, and it was too late. I came out intending to get the baby, and I shall return an ‘honourable failure’. I never expect anything to happen now, and so I am never disappointed. You would be surprised to know what my great events are. Going to the theatre yesterday, talking to you now—I don’t suppose I shall ever meet anything greater. I seem fated to pass through the world without colliding with it or moving it—and I’m sure I can’t tell you whether the fate’s good or evil. I don’t die—I don’t fall in love. And if other people die or fall in love they always do it when I’m not there. You are quite right: life to me is just a spectacle, which—thank God, and thank Italy, and thank you—is now more beautiful and heartening than it has ever been before.”
She said solemnly, “I wish something would happen to you, my dear friend; I wish something would happen to you.”
“But why?” he asked, smiling. “Prove to me why I don’t do as I am.”
She also smiled, very gravely. She could not prove it. No argument existed. Their discourse, splendid as it had been, resulted in nothing, and their respective opinions and policies were exactly the same when they left the church as when they had entered it.
There is an understatement in that scene that makes it lovely, sad, and very critical at the same time. And the fact that it is Miss Abbott, the woman who is expected to fall in line with expectations of her more qualified peers, who is - without having to shout it from the rooftops - the wiser and more worldly of the characters, just puts Forster way ahead of his time. Those aspects I really love about the book, but they just do not come to the fore in Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Instead, we get to meet a lot of fools.
For the barrier of language is sometimes a blessed barrier, which only lets pass what is good. Or—to put the thing less cynically—we may be better in new clean words, which have never been tainted by our pettiness or vice.
I love Forster's writing. So, much so that to celebrate it I got myself a whole new set of lovely, matching editions of his novels recently.
Where Angels Fear to Tread was his first novel (published in 1905), and re-reading it this time I can see how this is very much a first novel, and why it has never impressed me on previous reads. You see, I came to Forster by way of Howards End, his fourth novel (published in 1910), and that reading experience set the bar vary, VERY high for any other book that was to follow, especially any other book by Forster.
This time, I read the book from a much altered perspective on life, but I still found the plot rather stilted and the characters simply unbearable - apart from Miss Abbott. Forster's message - which is quite daring for its time! - gets a little lost in the characters' bickering. Sure, there are some signs of great character study and an underlying satire of English and Italian society, but the characters are also really annoying. A satire is something I want to enjoy reading, the people in this story I just wanted to shove off the train.
There was one scene, however that I absolutely adore:
“You are wonderful!” he said gravely.
“Oh, you appreciate me!” she burst out again. “I wish you didn’t. You appreciate us all—see good in all of us. And all the time you are dead—dead—dead. Look, why aren’t you angry?” She came up to him, and then her mood suddenly changed, and she took hold of both his hands. “You are so splendid, Mr Herriton, that I can’t bear to see you wasted. I can’t bear—she has not been good to you—your mother.”
“Miss Abbott, don’t worry over me. Some people are born not to do things. I’m one of them; I never did anything at school or at the Bar. I came out to stop Lilia’s marriage, and it was too late. I came out intending to get the baby, and I shall return an ‘honourable failure’. I never expect anything to happen now, and so I am never disappointed. You would be surprised to know what my great events are. Going to the theatre yesterday, talking to you now—I don’t suppose I shall ever meet anything greater. I seem fated to pass through the world without colliding with it or moving it—and I’m sure I can’t tell you whether the fate’s good or evil. I don’t die—I don’t fall in love. And if other people die or fall in love they always do it when I’m not there. You are quite right: life to me is just a spectacle, which—thank God, and thank Italy, and thank you—is now more beautiful and heartening than it has ever been before.”
She said solemnly, “I wish something would happen to you, my dear friend; I wish something would happen to you.”
“But why?” he asked, smiling. “Prove to me why I don’t do as I am.”
She also smiled, very gravely. She could not prove it. No argument existed. Their discourse, splendid as it had been, resulted in nothing, and their respective opinions and policies were exactly the same when they left the church as when they had entered it.
There is an understatement in that scene that makes it lovely, sad, and very critical at the same time. And the fact that it is Miss Abbott, the woman who is expected to fall in line with expectations of her more qualified peers, who is - without having to shout it from the rooftops - the wiser and more worldly of the characters, just puts Forster way ahead of his time. Those aspects I really love about the book, but they just do not come to the fore in Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Instead, we get to meet a lot of fools.
For the barrier of language is sometimes a blessed barrier, which only lets pass what is good. Or—to put the thing less cynically—we may be better in new clean words, which have never been tainted by our pettiness or vice.
November 11, 2021
I went to see the film with somebody who is seriously Anglo-Saxon. So when we came out, we fell on each other. He was appalled at the way Italians respond to grief. I was appalled at the way the Anglo-Saxons do it.
Not that I am a whole-hearted supporter of that Italian way of being emotional. Part of the reason I took up knitting was to learn to control my Italian 'fly off the handle and get it over and done with'. That isn't necessarily the wrong way to deal with things, but it certainly isn't always the best either.
Yeah, well. I've just gotten my Italian citizenship and passport. With that and my Australian citizenship/passport, I hope to have the best of all worlds. Slow to anger and quick to forgive. That'd be perfect.
Not that I am a whole-hearted supporter of that Italian way of being emotional. Part of the reason I took up knitting was to learn to control my Italian 'fly off the handle and get it over and done with'. That isn't necessarily the wrong way to deal with things, but it certainly isn't always the best either.
Yeah, well. I've just gotten my Italian citizenship and passport. With that and my Australian citizenship/passport, I hope to have the best of all worlds. Slow to anger and quick to forgive. That'd be perfect.
July 15, 2008
Upper middle class family go to "rescue" the offspring of their son's widow (fathered by her new Italian husband; she died in childbirth). Evocative Italian setting and surprisingly "modern" idioms and turns of phrase ("Dinner was a nightmare.") and attitudes of some of the characters. Unexpected ending.
May 9, 2024
I would categorize this novel as an over-dramatic comedy that rests upon the characteristics of those who are extensively wealthy. Not that I will ever personify this condition, but I have noticed others that walk among us under such circumstances. It’s a condition where decisions focus on instant gratification and subsequent decisions have no need for consistency with previous ones. The inconsistency that ensues is essentially the source of the comedic irony used by Forster to drive his plot.
The story is adequately entertaining and thankfully short. It would seem that there was not a lot of effort by Forster to write something great. The characters are thinly sketched and adhere to their parts. At times, their words and acts border on literary slapstick. The best aspects of this novel are the descriptions of the Tuscany region of Italy and its inhabitants. However, the characteristics of the Italians were overexaggerated so that they could brightly contrast with the wealthy gentry from England.
Overall, Where Angels Fear to Tread seems like a quick attempt by Forster at generating something for publication rather than a serious effort at writing something that’s worth reading.
The story is adequately entertaining and thankfully short. It would seem that there was not a lot of effort by Forster to write something great. The characters are thinly sketched and adhere to their parts. At times, their words and acts border on literary slapstick. The best aspects of this novel are the descriptions of the Tuscany region of Italy and its inhabitants. However, the characteristics of the Italians were overexaggerated so that they could brightly contrast with the wealthy gentry from England.
Overall, Where Angels Fear to Tread seems like a quick attempt by Forster at generating something for publication rather than a serious effort at writing something that’s worth reading.
Read
September 27, 20196.0/10
After a good night's sleep, I'm downgrading this one. As it simmered in my mind overnight, I thought, yes, my first instincts were correct: this is Forster at his vulgar best/worst -- a word in which he overindulges in this novel. Lots of vulgarity, in life in Italy, in his opinion. Lots of vulgarity in life, period. He threw around that word, and that phrase, like Italians throw pizza dough. Sigh. Not that I disagree with his conclusion, only that the manner of his delivery was ... well, quite vulgar. The language, the tone, did not agree with the story, and it jarred and jangled the nerves. I kept thinking I was reading a pantomime. Maybe it was. Maybe that was the whole point?
I found the novel riddled with cheap sentimentality; overwrought with mawkishness. This redefines the meaning of "throwing the baby out with the bath water" -- and only those of you who have read this will understand, so it's not technically a spoiler.
A bit of "bleh" from Forster -- who has fallen a peg or two, in my estimation. I'd better hurry back to one of his other novels, before I forget completely how much I like him.
After a good night's sleep, I'm downgrading this one. As it simmered in my mind overnight, I thought, yes, my first instincts were correct: this is Forster at his vulgar best/worst -- a word in which he overindulges in this novel. Lots of vulgarity, in life in Italy, in his opinion. Lots of vulgarity in life, period. He threw around that word, and that phrase, like Italians throw pizza dough. Sigh. Not that I disagree with his conclusion, only that the manner of his delivery was ... well, quite vulgar. The language, the tone, did not agree with the story, and it jarred and jangled the nerves. I kept thinking I was reading a pantomime. Maybe it was. Maybe that was the whole point?
I found the novel riddled with cheap sentimentality; overwrought with mawkishness. This redefines the meaning of "throwing the baby out with the bath water" -- and only those of you who have read this will understand, so it's not technically a spoiler.
A bit of "bleh" from Forster -- who has fallen a peg or two, in my estimation. I'd better hurry back to one of his other novels, before I forget completely how much I like him.
May 17, 2021
"The advance of regret can be so gradual that it is impossible to say "yesterday I was happy, today I am not."
This is another fast-paced, funny, tragic, and dramatic little novel by E.M. Forster. Being his first novel, it isn't as refined or mature as A Room with a View but Where Angels Fear to Tread stands its ground as a classic with its riveting plot, complex characters, and simple message. This book is anything but predictable and I highly recommend it as a vacation or weekend read.
For more bookish photos, reviews and updates follow me on instagram @concerningnovels.
This is another fast-paced, funny, tragic, and dramatic little novel by E.M. Forster. Being his first novel, it isn't as refined or mature as A Room with a View but Where Angels Fear to Tread stands its ground as a classic with its riveting plot, complex characters, and simple message. This book is anything but predictable and I highly recommend it as a vacation or weekend read.
For more bookish photos, reviews and updates follow me on instagram @concerningnovels.
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