"Under Cosmopolitanism, If It Comes, We Shall Receive No Help From The Earth. Trees And Meadows And Mountains Will Only Be A Spectacle, And The Binding Force That They Once Exercised On Character Must Be Entrusted To Love Alone. May Love Be Equal To The Task!"

I bought Howard's End from a used book store here in Detroit (John King Books, which I've discussed previously) and the previous owner actually had the passage marked that makes up the title of today's post. I would have saved the page anyway because those words did strike me as a central theme/conflict of the book, but it was good to see that another reader of the same text however long ago had the same feeling about the words as I did, enough to mark them down.

I was absolutely not expecting to like Howard's End as much as I did, but I could not put it down. I know I've mentioned before that I have a love of books that take place in mansions so maybe that was part of the draw (although, while the title of the book is taken from the estate owned by the Wilcox family, very little of the novel actually takes place there). And I do have a strong fondness for Downton Abbey, which takes place in the same time period, in the same place, with many of the same themes, which also was likely a big draw. But even then, I guess through the process of reading the books on this list, I'm discovering that I seem to like period pieces set in England that tell stories of family histories, with maybe a little bit of romance thrown in there too. Go figure. 

Howard's End tells the story of the two Schlegel sisters, making their way through early 1900s London society. Both of their parents are deceased, but the girls (along with their brother) have still created remarkable lives for themselves filled with art, literature, intellect, and a fondness for reaching out to those less fortunate than themselves, making them somewhat unique amongst other women of their own set. They encounter the Wilcox family while travelling abroad and are invited to visit at Howard's End, which the one sister Helen, takes them up on. 

From there Helen has a thing for their son Paul which does not result in a good situation for either party (or for either family). After Paul disavows any feelings for Helen and ships off to his military posting, the families generally go their separate ways, but seem to constantly cross paths over the next few years. After becoming a widower, the patriarch of the family, Henry, proposes marriage to the other Schlegel sister, Margaret, much to the dismay of his children. Conflicts ensue, as Henry and Margaret have such very different views of and approaches to the world and even more scandal ensnares the families when it comes to money, property, and infidelity. 

The biggest theme that this book seemed to present was the changing tide of England at the turn of the century and reading the book now, over 100 years later, it's interesting to see how things have panned out in regards to things posited in the novel (for example, discussing whether the country would fully shift away from provincial living to cities, if impermanence/rebuilding would continue to occur, the increased use of automobiles, etc). All of the things that Forster seemed to not be a fan of have certainly come to fruition (and then some!), but I always find it fascinating when writers are keenly observant of societal  changes and build their novels around them (see Main Street by Sinclair Lewis as another example that I recently read). Who's to say whether it is good or bad, but either way, progress has moved on and obviously, things are not the same at all (there are even a couple passages arguing against giving women the right to vote, indicating that women should be skilled enough to convince their husbands who they should vote for <<insert eye roll emoji here>>). 

As mentioned, I quite enjoyed the book and I cannot WAIT to watch the movie...maybe sometime this week. I have 3 other EM Forster novels on my lists and I just got a lot more excited to read them if they're anything like Howard's End. 

Shifting gears, up next is Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I know this probably seems like a book that I should have read many many moons ago in school (middle school? When do kids actually read this?) but somehow it slipped my curriculum. I'm hoping it will be a quick, adventuresome read! 206 to go!