TLJ was Forster's favourite novel, and now I've read it I can see why. If you've read the The Machine Stops collection of short stories and a biography of Forster, you can have endless fun in the Cambridge section playing 'spot the biographical detail'. Rickie comes so very, very close to being a self-insert. In fact, he probably started life as one, but as soon as he leaves Cambridge, his life takes a completely different turn and he ends up possibly representing the road not taken of the conve...

A neglected Forster, very effective, but also disconcerting. Forster (1879-1970), a teen during the Oscar Wilde scandal, is one of thousands of Brit males who never recovered from obscene UK laws, in "civilized Brit," that went on for 60+ years.... In this ambitious and, for EM, "personal" novel, the delicate, aspiring writer Rickie, falls automatically into marriage w a comely, but shallow woman who selfishly manipulates his life into one of convention and middle-class hypocrisy. Passively, he

This book depressed me slightly... the ending seemed to convey that life is alot of dead ends and perhaps a bit aimless. I agree that life is often this way, but I'm not sure I like it in literature. I absolutely loved Ansell's character, though, and wish he were in the book more. I think Ansell and Rickie's friendship was more interesting than anything with Agnes. The idea of reality I absolutely loved reading about. I believe someone said that Forster is the professor with the door always open...

Another wonderful book from EM Forster. This is the fourth of his books that I've read and I'm in love with them all! I grew quite attached to Rickie and felt the weight of the world he was bearing. This book delivered some genuine shocks. I don't remember the last time I gasped out loud this many times in the last few pages of The Longest Journey. Forster's witticisms slay me; his sarcastic narrators never fail to make me chuckle. His books just feel so comfortable! Highly recommended.

Failure would await him, but not disillusionment."Ansell was in his favourite haunt - the reading-room of the British Museum. In that book-encircled space he always could find peace. He loved the see the volumes rising tier above tier into the misty dome... There he knew that his life was not ignoble. It was worth while to grow old and dusty seeking for truth though truth is unattainable, restating questions that have been stated at the beginning of the world. Failure would await him, but not di...

I love Forster. This novel is not as tidy as his others, but I liked it nonetheless. The ideas seemed to have more passion behind them, even if they weren't brought together with the same clarity as in the other books.

Maybe 3.5. I enjoyed this, and Forster's writing was wonderful as always, but I didn't love it as much as the other Forster books I've read. It has some fascinating sections and some very interesting characters, but the plot didn't hang together as much for me as Forster's other books.

This is not an easy novel for me to review because I love E.M. Forster, but I didn’t love this book. The overall storyline I liked well enough: a young Cambridge man discusses philosophy with his fellow students, finishes life at university, which he has enjoyed immensely, and tries to establish himself as a writer, only to be lured away by a woman, by marriage, by the woman’s brother and his insistence on the main character making his way in the world by teaching instead of writing, thus markin...

As a limited but interesting point of comparison, this is a little like a novel version of The Education of Henry Adams. Unlike Adams, the protagonist here is educated on the cusp of the 20th century rather than on the pinnacle of 19th century thinking. However, the lapse of time in between has changed little. The protagonist here struggles to apply his Cambridge education to a changing world and to apply himself to meaningful work. The choices he faces as a teacher and something of an idealist

“Preserving Family Secrets—Honoring Family Dreams”This 1907 novel probes the gradual maturation of a young Cambridge student, Ricki Elliot—grappling with various life issues. It is in his favorite haunt, a delightful dell some distance from the ‘Varsity, that he recounts to his male peers the sad tale of his childhood and youth; for this fellow, smaller and lame, is now without parents. His very nickname was his father’s cruel jest re the boy’s rickety locomotion. Prone to daydreaming about bei

I like what this book says. This is why I am giving it four stars. Life is hard. Do not expect and easy journey. The journey referred to in the book’s title is the journey of life. The Longest Journey is a bildungsroman set in England at the beginning of the 1900s. The central character is Rickie Elliot. He is an orphan, and he limps. We meet him first at Cambridge. What should he do with his life? He enjoys writing stories—maybe he should become an author! We follow his journey through life--th...

Oh how I suck up these wordy early 20th Century tales of love and woe and irony.I truly enjoyed this book, I really yearned to read it and I could not really express why to someone who would say "What?!?!? Nothing happens! It is just a bunch of stuffy people worrying about manners!".Oh, but it is that and so much more. If you're like me and you could really go for some Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, or some other canonized British/European/American Ex-Patriot from those times, then you will like th...

Disappointing bildungsroman of a disabled man whose life ressembles 'Pip' from 'Great Expectations' with characters akin to Miss Haversham and Estella, in a setting reminiscent of 'Brideshead Revisited'. And, the title speaks of tedium, which this reader certainly experienced during most of the first 2/3 of the book, which was only slightly reduced by the latter third. However, the ensuing death was too contrived to be credible & reduced the rating from a 3* to 2.25*.Only recommended if you wish...

Impossible to rate. Often four, so I'm going with four. I actively hated the Stephen plot, but liked the friendship-versus-marriage story, which did friendship extremely well. Even if Forster seemed hesitant to advance its claims against the societal hegemony of marriage. He also seemed hesitant to trust his university set and back them against the schoolyard bullies they thought they had left behind, but whom they meet again in adult life. Rickie's a scribbler of Greek-mythology-inspired storie...

Forster's least-read novel for a reason, The Longest Journey is a seemingly plotless tale which follows an unlikable band of Cantabrigians. However, Forster doesn't seem to understand the ridiculousness of his own characters and thus expects us to care about these fools. Instead read Waugh's Decline and Fall in which similar characters are given the sending-up that they deserve.

It is described by Stephen Spender, I think, as Forster's "most accomplished work". It is flawed, the girl in the novel exceptionally tedious, the ideal "brute savage" too ideal. But there are memorable scenes-the awful opening speech for the new term, the depiction of bullying, the atmosphere of convention and restraint which closes in on Ricky. There is much to be said for the refining qualities of censorship when considering this novel. Whatever one thinks of it, it is a far finer novel than

As shocking as it may be, I'd never read anything by E.M. Forster. I happened upon my dusty, 1922 printed copy by luck as I browsed through one of the buildings in my favorite used book store, The Book Barn in Niantic, CT. What drew me to the book at the time was the following blurb printed among the opening pages: A New Directions Wartime Book This Complete Copyright Edition Is Produced In Full Compliance With The Government's Regulations For Conserving Paper And Other Essential Materials. I'd

This started off pretty good for me, then quickly turned into somewhat of a slog. However, I zoomed through the second half and ended up liking it. Boy, what a restrictive downer of a story!

The Longest Journey is, surprisingly, an unusual novel written by E.M. Forster. It is neither plot-driven, since the story is a product of some disjointed episodes, nor character-driven, since there's no character development. At most, it is a bildungsroman of sorts, but a poor effort at that. I was perplexed at first and couldn't fathom why Forster created such a story with its insufferable characters. Even the ones I liked were barely pleasant. We know Forster for his love of metaphor and symb...

After all the praise heaped on this book, I was disappointed. It's the story of a young man who discovers that his ideals and reality don't have much to do with each other. We meet lots of characters who seem to personify different social strata and different philosophical and social points of view, but not one of them seems to have any sense, much less be at all sympathetic. That doesn't mean that Forrester didn't let off some zingers of lines, but I didn't come away feeling that anyone had lea...