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Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Modern Classics / Penguin Books Ltd (1967), Paperback, 288 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: The Longest Journey (1907) follows the young Rickie Elliot's journey to maturity. Orphaned and lame as a child, Rickie was teased at boarding school and finds Cambridge to be a kind of paradise. He is not an intellectual, but is deeply affected by art and poetry, and is accepted within a philosophical circle of students. His new sense of belonging is challenged when he is visited by old friends from home..
User reviews
LibraryThing member patrickgarson
This is definitely not Forster's strongest book. Some of the character's are quite cliched, in addition to being unlikable, and the book suffers from some pacing and narrative issues as well. By the end, the title was all too true for this reader!
It was difficult for me to say what the book was
It was difficult for me to say what the book was
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about, both during and after. Not just the idea of the book, but even which character I really should have been following closest. I would certainly recommend Howard's End, for example, over The Longest Journey. Show Less
LibraryThing member wordygirl39
Not my favorite of Forster's works, but I liked it. Said to be his most autobiographical, the POV feels a little thin between narrator and author which gives the work a journal feel. I found it very sad and a little pointless overall, but as with all Forster's writing, some of the individual lines
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stun. The book's atmosphere lingered, too, which always tells me there's more to the writing than I first believe. I'll read this again someday. Show Less
LibraryThing member janeajones
The Longest Journey is E.M. Forster's second novel published in 1922. I found it somewhat amusing, if a bit quaint. The book jacket blurb claims "as a novel of ideas it is one of Forster's most brilliant and provocative performances." I found the ideas neither brilliant or provocative, in
The protagonist is Ricky Elliot, an orphaned and lame young Cambridge graduate. He unfortunately falls in love with and marries the unimaginative, practical and conservative Agnes. While visiting his aunt, family secrets begin to be revealed that will lead both to liberation and tragedy. The novel is an interesting mirror into the class conflicts in Britain in the period between WWI and WWII.
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comparison with say, Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice". It has more in common with some of D.H. Lawrence's disquisitions on the conflict of the life of the mind vs. the life of the body -- spirituality vs. nature -- without the sexual frisson of DHL.The protagonist is Ricky Elliot, an orphaned and lame young Cambridge graduate. He unfortunately falls in love with and marries the unimaginative, practical and conservative Agnes. While visiting his aunt, family secrets begin to be revealed that will lead both to liberation and tragedy. The novel is an interesting mirror into the class conflicts in Britain in the period between WWI and WWII.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
Rickie Elliott is a Cambridge student and a struggling writer. After becoming infatuated with an engaged young woman, Agnes Pembroke, his quiet life is changed forever. The two end up married and Rickie takes a position as a schoolmaster. Soon Rickie learns Agnes' true nature, which is drastically
The Longest Journey feels like an author's early work, full of idealistic young men and good concepts, but characters that sometimes fall flat. It was the second book Forster published and though his talent is still plainly obvious, it certainly improved with time. The characters feel more like ideas of people than individuals with complex interests and flaws. Forster also has a tendency to kill characters with little fanfare. If someone is going to die in one of his books there is never much warning or fuss about it.
I love the writing style, but I wouldn't recommend it for those new to Forster. If you're already a fan, pick it up, but Howard's End and A Room With a View are both better introductions to the author.
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different from his own. The Longest Journey feels like an author's early work, full of idealistic young men and good concepts, but characters that sometimes fall flat. It was the second book Forster published and though his talent is still plainly obvious, it certainly improved with time. The characters feel more like ideas of people than individuals with complex interests and flaws. Forster also has a tendency to kill characters with little fanfare. If someone is going to die in one of his books there is never much warning or fuss about it.
I love the writing style, but I wouldn't recommend it for those new to Forster. If you're already a fan, pick it up, but Howard's End and A Room With a View are both better introductions to the author.
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LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
This novel starts off in Cambridge, where the main character, Rickie, is an undergraduate. Philosophical discussions are held, and nature is appreciated. The main character is sensitive, with literary inclinations, and a partially crippled foot. After Cambridge, Rickie is followed through life and
The emphases of the novel are nature, human nature, emotions, class, poetry, art, philosophy, and family. Though the dramatic plot and characterisation were pretty good, it is the literary style and the ideas in this book that I most enjoyed. Some novels feel like they take ages to read, but this one seemed to be gone before I knew it, and felt far shorter than its 300 odd pages. This is usually a good sign.
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unto his death, with marriage, employment, and family goings-on filling the interval.The emphases of the novel are nature, human nature, emotions, class, poetry, art, philosophy, and family. Though the dramatic plot and characterisation were pretty good, it is the literary style and the ideas in this book that I most enjoyed. Some novels feel like they take ages to read, but this one seemed to be gone before I knew it, and felt far shorter than its 300 odd pages. This is usually a good sign.
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LibraryThing member branful
Description of Agnes is quite convincing; materialistic, assertive and tricky. You should avoid this kind of nagging woman. Forster should be praised for the creation of such distinct character. Ricky appears quite comfortable when he is surrounded by trustable gentlemen. Heroes of Soseki Natsume
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acted similarly. Show Less
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
Forster is best known for such classics as 'A Passage to India' and 'Howards End'; his other work does not get the exposure it deserves, and so 'The Longest Journey' has fallen out of its natural readership. This is a terrible shame; Forster wrote this book before he turned thirty, and yet it
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contains such wisdom and tact that you would expect it rather to have been the product of an older mind. But then Forster was always ahead, of himself, of his times, and of the literary world in general. I felt like I was soaking myself in culture with this novel, and adored every sentence. Remarkable. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tom.Wilson
I had wanted to read this novel when I heard that it was Forster's favourite among his books, amounting to a roman a cle, or veiled spiritual autobiography. It starts by capturing a time when some young men went to university and found it to be a gigantic gentleman's club of bonhomie, intellectual
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conversation and comfortable ease - a far cry from today's universities of distracted late teenagers, commuting in only when they have to to a physical campus, most of the time working in a job, and treating their degrees like instrumental periods leading to more money, while circling above are well paid executives with little interest in academic tradition and their eye on the international ranking boards in a quest for more fee paying kiddies. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason read: BAC, LT
This is the second of 7 novels by the author. I've read 5 of his novels counting this one. It is a story of a young man who has a deformed foot and he is picked on by other boys in the private school. He attends college and studies philosophy and would like to be a writer. His
This is the second of 7 novels by the author. I've read 5 of his novels counting this one. It is a story of a young man who has a deformed foot and he is picked on by other boys in the private school. He attends college and studies philosophy and would like to be a writer. His
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parents divorce and die and he becomes an orphan at 15. Things are good until he marries and then his life is ruined compared to his life before with his male friends. This is not the best novel by the author and therefore it is less known. Rating 2.4 Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1907
ISBN
none