Howards End

By: E. M. Forster

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Considered by many to be E. M. Forster's greatest novel, Howards End is a beautifully subtle tale of two very different families brought together by an unusual event. The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes are practical and materialistic, leading lives of "telegrams and anger". When the elder Mrs. Wilcox dies and her family discovers she has left their country home - Howards End - to one of the Schlegel sisters, a crisis between the two families is precipitated that takes years to resolve.

Written in 1910, Howards End is a symbolic exploration of the social, economic, and intellectual forces at work in England in the years preceding World War I, a time when vast social changes were occurring. In the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes, Forster perfectly embodies the competing idealism and materialism of the upper classes, while the conflict over the ownership of Howards End represents the struggle for possession of the country's future.

Forster refuses to take sides in this conflict. Instead he poses one of the book's central questions: In a changing modern society, what should be the relation between the inner and outer life, between the world of the intellect and the world of business? Can they ever, as Forster urges, "only connect"?

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor Media

Beautiful writing, master narration

I read A Passage to India oh, so many years ago. I don’t remember much other than I enjoyed it a lot. I recently saw the mini-series Howards End and was intrigued enough to get this audiobook. The writing is beautiful, and the story overall lovely with excellent character development. I do have a big quibble with Margaret’s relationship with Henry, how she, such an independent woman could choose to subjugate herself that way, but in some ways sh didn’t. I suppose one can find excuses for her, but she did have enough of an income (not from hard work, mind you) that she didn’t have to marry. But I let the story take over (I knew it from the mini-series, which was quite true to the book, for a TV production), and enjoyed it a lot, and the narration was masterly. Excellent voices, women’s voices, too, were done well. Here and there, his voice dropped off too much at the end of a sentence, but that is a really minor point. The story also has some rather modern ideas, considering that it was written over 100 years ago. Margaret does an excellent job of pointing out the double-standards for men and women that exist still.

Terrible narration

The narrator’s voice would constantly shift between very loud and very soft, requiring me to turn my volume WAY up to be able to hear the quiet parts, thus hurting my ears during the loud parts. This should be part of book reading 101: relatively even volume. Made for a terrible listening experience.

Good story. Poor production.

Where does Howards End rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top half.

Any additional comments?

The reader has a tendency to trail off at the end of a sentence. I had to raise the volume on many occasions to understand what he was saying. I thought maybe my earphones were going but I am listening to another book now and it is fine. It is a good novel. I recommend another recording. Audible has several.

Completely MEH

I honestly don’t understand how this is considered a classic. The story is fairly unimaginative and none of the characters, save Helen, are not very likable. I read it back to back with Brideshead Revisted and found the latter far more engaging. This was not a favorite.

Definitely worth listening to again... And again!

Big ideas and truths falling into your lap with ease. Loved every moment of it.

Problems with volume

Volume is too varied either too loud or too soft; disturbing to what would be otherwise a totally enjoyable audio book.

Well read

I don’t think I’ll ever love EM Forster, but this book was well read and I appreciated the themes portrayed by the characters.

A Tough, But Stately "Read" With Bad Narrator

Unfortunately, my first Forster book on Audible was a struggle to finish.

Henry Wilcox was my favorite character full of characters that, in my opinion, were not fleshed out enough in personality or given much to do. Henry at least had some nice words.

My favorite part was when Henry proposed to Margaret/Meg. Nicely paced with perfect pitch.

I think as nice as Crossley's voice sounds, his bad performance sunk this book for me. A book written by men with females as the main protagonists requires a male narrator who is excellent in creating different female voices. Crossley is worst than any narrator I have yet to hear on audible. All the female voices sound the same. With so many back and forth conversations between Margaret and Ellen without personal identification of who is speaking, the narrator needs to make voices distinctive since I dont have the book in front of me to know which character is speaking. Consequently, things got confusing thus making this talk-driven story hard to follow thus trying my patience and interest.

I would highly recommend another version of this classic book. I am getting my money back for this one.

I am sure I will be listening to it again!

Have seen two film versions and finally listened to it! It is now one of my favorite novels. I understand so much more than when exposed to the Emma Thompson Anthony Hopkins film version when I was young. Brilliant writer and lively narrator. Also, the newest mini series film version lovely to as the mini series format allows for these compression of the story.

Good but Dated

A view of social tensions in the Edwardian era. There is not a lot of story, and virtually no action, instead there are characterizations illustrating the various ideals permeating Edwardian English upper classes. The prose are very good, but not exceptional. The power of the book is the subtle unfoldings of each point of view with equal judgement upon all. The narrator is not nonjudgmental, but very mildly judgmental of all.

Of course this does not make for a gripping and enjoyable read. It was interesting in its way, but I did not find this a Great Book. I sure it was an important book for its time.

I did not notice issues with the sound quality and I found the narration more than adequate and not annoying.