Mostly unreadable except for his little discussion of flat vs. round characters and his many literary allusions and interesting observations. But it was really stuffy. ( )

A side read to Anna Karenina... some interesting transcribed lectures. ( )

If you've been working your way through academic papers, college textbooks, etc, then you will truly love reading this clearly written book on how the inner technical aspects of how novels are created. For anyone curious as to how writers go about their work, or if you're just looking for inspiration from a seasoned author, I highly recommend reading Aspects of the Novel. You may not agree with all of the statements but I'm sure they will be illuminating and help you formulate your own opinion on how stories reach us.

The first few pages are rather annoying and quite unlike the rest of the book which was created from a number of lectures by E.M. Forster. Usually people use the excuse that complicated things can't be made understood with simple language. Forster demonstrates this can in fact be done and does so gloriously. In this slim little book he gives us his perspective of why stories work and why they touch us.

Forster discusses such logical constructs as plot and narrative shape, but he manages to interweave that with a wonderful explanation on how fictional characters live in these strict models. What you take away from reading this is not a deeper understanding of how narrative works or how to create a masterpiece of fiction. Neither will it help you to pick apart a book such as War and Peace but it will form an excellent foundation and guideline to find further readings and understanding.

Most importantly Forster leaves every reader of his lectures the choice on what parts of his explanations to accept or reject and he does so himself of aspects of many famous novels. If anything this book provides clarity and a way to start thinking of why we like stories so much. ( )

I've been wanting to listen to something educational about the novel, but not often such things are on audiobook, so I was excited when this popped up.

Written by a novelist with impeccable authority to teach me something.

And I was surprised it was chatty with personal opinion.

The narrator, Jonathan Keeble, says, on behalf of the author, that he is delivering the book in a lecturing style, however, and he is. But Keeble is reading not lecturing. He is speaking much faster - he is absolutely racing through the words - than he would if he were lecturing. Annoyingly so. I cannot take it all in and must listen several times to get what I want from this book. ( )

Occasionally interesting.(25) ( )