the longest journey book review

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As ‘The Longest Journey’ Makes Clear, a Good Story Is Not Timeless

Storytelling isn’t static. The stories we tell, and more importantly how we tell them, evolve over the years. Times change, and audiences change, and storytellers change. The stories we tell must also change or be left behind. A good story is not timeless.

I was recently talking with a 70-something-year-old coworker who noted that older television shows were very simple compared to what’s on today. A drama from the ’50s would be a half hour with a small cast and a single storyline. Now most dramas are an hour long with ever-expanding casts and three or more storylines per episode that may or may not intersect. The basics of television storytelling have evolved, have iterated upon themselves, adding so many more layers of plot and character that those older, simpler stories seem rather poor by today’s standards.

“Poor” is, of course, just a matter of perception, but perception matters. Audiences of every era become accustomed to stories being told in a particular way, and stories that break from that formula naturally feel more alien — too simple, boring, too complex, too fast, too short, too long — a complex combination of expectations that are often reductively summarized as “it sucks”.

You don’t even have to go as far back as the ’50s to see this evolution at work. There’s a joke in the 2000 X-Men movie in which Wolverine complains about his modern X-Men uniform of black leather, and Cyclops responds, “What would you prefer, yellow spandex?” It’s a joke made at the comic book’s expense, where Wolverine does wear yellow spandex, and it was funny at the time because yellow spandex is pretty goofy and because black leather is clearly so much more badass and so much more befitting a character like Wolverine. Jump to 2011, when X-Men: First Class dressed its heroes in bright yellow jumpsuits for the climactic battle. Superhero movies now embrace their colorful comic book origins rather than mock them, and an audience raised on The Avengers is likely to reject that first X-Men ‘s attitude.

Audience expectations change, and so storytellers change how they tell stories. Audiences then become so used to these changes that to go back to an earlier time feels like going backwards through evolution. Now we’re moving from the complex to the simple, from large casts in a serialized story to a small cast in standalone story, and our culture, especially gaming culture, has often equated “simple” with “poor”, so these stories, through no fault of their own, become lesser in quality as time passes.

This has often been obvious with games on a mechanical level, since it’s easy to see how systems are iterated on and improved upon. You couldn’t look up or down in Doom , and now a player would reject any shooter with that kind of absurd limitation on vision. Older point-and-click adventure games are infamous for their absurd, obtuse, illogical puzzles that encourage you to use a teacup on a doorknob because, hey, it might work. Now puzzles have been streamlined into sensible types of obstacles or ignored altogether in favor of the “adventure” part of “point-and-click adventure”.

I assumed The Longest Journey would be a difficult game to play for these very reasons. I assumed that the puzzles would be awful. I had heard of “The Fucking Duck Puzzle”, so I decided early on to play with a walkthrough open beside me at all times. This wouldn’t hurt the experience because I wasn’t playing for the puzzles, I was playing for the story, the thing that has cemented The Longest Journey into gaming history as a game worth playing and an integral point-and-click adventure. The story, I assumed, was a thing that transcended time and old game design.

Except that it’s not. The story sold to me in reviews and hype is not the story that I actually got. What those old reviews praised as mature, I see as frustratingly childlike, simple in its morality, themes, and presentation. It’s disappointing, but also enlightening in how it reveals narrative to be just as singular to a time period as mechanics and graphics. The Longest Journey isn’t just dated because it has obtuse puzzles and blocky graphics. It’s dated because it tells a serious story that it doesn’t know how to take seriously.

Many people praise the “wry and sly” commentary of The Longest Journey ‘s heroine April Ryan, but her dry and sarcastic humor now comes across as whiny and embarrassing. It’s “funny” in the same way that X-Men joke was funny, and just as in that example, what felt like clever self-mockery back then now feels like a joke stemming from insecurity. It’s as if the game is afraid of its own high concept sci-fi/fantasy mash up and constantly makes jokes about itself in order to better sell the idea to audiences, like the developer is saying, “We know this is all ridiculous, but just bear with us.”

Such a tactic might have been necessary (or even just helpful) back in 2000 when The Longest Journey came out, but in a modern gaming age filled with the likes of Assassin’s Creed , Bioshock , and Mass Effect — big budget games with outlandish stories that still take themselves and their themes very seriously — audiences are more than willing to accept the ridiculous, and so that kind of insecure humor only serves to undercut the drama.

She Starts an Idiot and Ends a Moron

The biggest victim of this undercutting is April herself.

The game wants April to go on a traditional hero’s journey, and grow from inexperienced child to responsible adult, but she never actually gets the chance to mature because the game’s insistence on self-deprecating humor means she can’t ever take a situation seriously. She must joke and complain about everything, which undercuts the drama of the moment and also undercuts her character arc.

In Chapter 9, after seeing two of her friends shot and seemingly killed, she runs to her room, opens her window, and as she readies to jump out into the canal below, she comments, “Oh, this isn’t going to be fun,” because the water looks disgusting. In Chapter 10, after a friend talks about making a last stand and taking some enemy soldiers down with him, April literally laughs and says, “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Near the end of the game, in Chapter 12, April crosses a vast desert to get to a magical tower. Along the way she faces a vision of her father in the emotional climax of the game, the moment when she applies her newfound maturity to her old life in order to repair a broken relationship. It’s a fine scene and is actually relatively successful, all things considered. But afterwards, on the very next screen, when she reaches the base of the tower, when she has just established her newfound maturity, she shouts, “I thought I’d never get here,” in a tone of voice usually reserved for petulant teenagers at the end of an unwanted family vacation. The climax meant to firmly establish her maturity is immediately followed by a line that betrays her childishness. And for what? A momentary smile from a player who agrees that it’s been a damn long time getting to the end?

Situations like this happen throughout the game. Scenes that are seconds apart feel entirely disconnected. Important events or revelations are followed by poor readings of poor jokes, working together to make April feel disconnected from the events around her because nothing seems to affect her in any meaningful way. Not only does this kill any potential growth for her character, but it also makes her cruelly indifferent towards her friends and comrades.

At the end of Chapter 7, April tries to break open a treasure chest with a hammer. She misses and instead puts a hole in her ship and sinks it. This occurs after she’s purposefully mucked with the navigation to steer the ship into a storm, and the captain has locked her things away to protect the safety of the crew. This also comes about halfway through the game, after she’s come to terms with the shocking true nature of her world, broken into a police station and hacked their database, killed a cannibalistic witch, gone through a spirit journey and faced her inner demons, defeated an evil wizard, and ridden a flying castle. Instead of growing from these ordeals, instead of becoming a more competent and empathetic adventurer, she remains an idiot who accidentally sinks a ship with a hammer.

April never grows or changes. She veers from (unfunny) wisecracking adventurer to petulant teenager, based on the whims of the scene. Every time that she’s about to mature the game takes away that growth for the sake of a joke. She’s never able to become the hero the game wants her to be. She starts an idiot, and ends a moron.

World Building

April is the audience’s surrogate, so her persistent childishness affects our perception of the entire world and prevents the game from delving into the deeper themes inherent in its premise.

The world of The Longest Journey has been split into two. There’s the sci-fi world of Stark and the magical fantasy world of Arcadia. Long ago they were one, but when magic and science existed together, people could wield a dangerous amount of power that threatened The Balance — the equilibrium between Chaos and Order. To protect the world from itself, some powerful dragons (er, “Draic Kins”) created The Divide, splitting the world, separating magic and science, and de-powering the populace. Now, a chosen Guardian watches over these worlds and maintains The Balance.

The game is very clearly pro-separation. The villains want to reunite the worlds, and the good guys warn that this will only bring disaster. This stance raises many questionable but intriguing themes, of course. Magic and science both emphasize knowledge, so by keeping them apart, the game promotes anti-intellectualism. Many characters talk about The Balance in a religious context, as if it’s a sentient thing that governs the worlds, so the game encourages us to trust in this higher power. It has a very clear faith-based message… except that it doesn’t. The game never actually demonizes the pursuit of magical or scientific knowledge, just the combination of the two, so is that still anti-intellectualism?

In the end, after we prevent unification, we’re told in the epilogue that the worlds get reunited anyway, so was our blind faith in The Balance betrayed? What is the game trying to say about knowledge and faith?

These are questions that April, as the audience’s surrogate, should be asking in order to better flesh out the themes, but she doesn’t. Whenever she does question her actions, they’re not serious inquires. Instead, they’re meta-jokes at the game’s expense, look-at-how-ridiculous-this-situation-is-and-laugh jokes.

As a result, we never get a clear understanding of the sides or the stakes in this conflict. The Balance is talked about in contradictory terms, both as something that can be influenced by the fickle whims of society and as something that influences society. Only the Guardian can control The Balance, yet the bad guys are throwing it off by introducing doubt and skepticism into the world. These ideas cannot coexist. It seems like the rules for The Balance change depending on who you talk to and what kind of drama the game wants to evoke at any given time, yet April never probes deeper into this inconsistency. She accepts everything at face value, and her naiveté allows the game to reduce its morally complex world into a fairy tale of good versus evil.

How Far We’ve Come

It’s hard not to compare The Longest Journey to other more recent games that have the benefit of a decade-plus of design and storytelling innovation and iteration.

Where The Longest Journey struggles to fit puzzles into its narrative — often destroying the pace of the game and tension of its story with an obtuse gameplay roadblock in order to artificially inflate its length — the episodic adventures of Telltale have nearly removed puzzles altogether in order to let the story flow as naturally as possible.

Where the world of The Longest Journey struggles for internal consistency, striving for a serious-minded story while also mocking that very seriousness, the worlds of Bioware, Bethesda, and CD Projekt, do a tremendous job incorporating your personal hero quest into the politics of the world, thus providing a better means of delivering exposition and justifying your travels and incursions into other cultures. And they do it without losing the humor.

The Longest Journey may have been a good story in its time, told in the weird language of the era of the 00’s style of adventure games, but that design language looks, sounds, and feels old today. In a time less concerned with game length, the puzzles here feel forced and unnecessary. In a time more accepting of the weird, the game’s self-mocking feels sad and self-defeating. Even in a time that still lacks strong female protagonists, April Ryan feels like a step in the wrong direction. There’s a good story within The Longest Journey , but The Longest Journey is incapable of telling it.

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E.M. Forster: His Longest Journey review – casting light on both his literature and life

★★★ by ifan llewelyn.

There has been a recent surge of interest in the work of E M Forster, especially here in the capital. Last year, The Inheritance dominated the West End, garnering acclaim and boundless praise across the board. Matthew Lopez’s work was based on one of Forster’s best-loved novel Howard’s End with the author himself being a featured character. He saw a similar renaissance in the mid-eighties when his death gave way to several on-screen adaptations of his work, something he would never have allowed. The life and literature of the writer is the subject of E.M. Forster: His Longest Journey , with a keen focus on the writer’s favourite work.

The documentary opens with the writer meditating on his role as a novelist: “I’m quite sure I’m not a great novelist because I’ve only got down on paper really three types of people. The person I think I am, the people who irritate me and the people I’d like to be”. These three figures can be mapped out throughout his literary career in all six of his novels. We’re then given a whistle-stop early biography of the author, from early life to Cambridge, to his sexuality. Nicola Beauman, author of Morgan: A Biography of E.M. Forster , then introduces us to what she believed to be the author’s essential unhappiness of being “other”, and that he “would never have the conventional life of 9 to 5 work, and marriage, and children.”

This issue of being, or believing himself to be “other” is one particularly potent when thinking of queer history. Through his own favourite novel of his, The Longest Journey , Professors Wendy Moffat, Max Saunders and Santanu Das use the central character of Rickie to explore the inner life of Forster. Using the aforementioned notion that he is either the person who Forster believes himself to be or a person he’d like to be, it’s an interesting access point to the author’s feelings.

However enlightening the topic of discussion is, there are some seriously strange editing choices here, opting for slideshow-eque sequences that are distracting from what’s being discussed. There’s also no avoiding the hideous choice of font throughout, which might sound inconsequential but your attention can’t help but be drawn to it.

The documentary’s second half shifts focus to his later works, and later life, departing from his days at Cambridge and novel-writing to taking on the wider world in essays and short stories. The attention given to his romantic life is effective in exploring an aspect that has been neglected in the wider narrative around Forster’s life. This hour-long documentary is one that brings exciting approaches to the author’s work and life, presented simply and factually and is useful in gaining a more rounded understanding of the figure. It does good work of peeling back the layers of shame, secrecy and prejudice that history has enforced on his story. 

E.M. Forster: His Longest Journey by Odyssey Television is showing on Sky Arts this October 7th.

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The Longest Journey by E.M. Forster (Allegory Explained)

“The Longest Journey” by E.M. Forster is a novel that explores the themes of personal growth, love, and friendship. The story follows the life of Rickie Elliot, a young man who is struggling to find his place in the world. The novel is divided into two parts, with the first part focusing on Rickie’s life at Cambridge University and the second part following his journey to Italy.

Forster’s writing style is often praised for its depth and complexity, and “The Longest Journey” is no exception. The novel is filled with rich symbolism and allegory, which adds to its overall impact and meaning. Through Rickie’s journey, Forster explores the human condition and the challenges that we face as we navigate through life.

E.M. Forster’s Biography

E.M. Forster was a British novelist, essayist, and social and literary critic. He was born on January 1, 1879, in London, England, and died on June 7, 1970, in Coventry, Warwickshire. Forster’s father, an architect, died when he was a baby, and he was raised by his mother and aunts.

Forster attended King’s College, Cambridge, where he became friends with members of the Bloomsbury Group, a circle of writers, artists, and intellectuals. He published his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, in 1905, followed by The Longest Journey in 1907, A Room with a View in 1908, and Howards End in 1910.

Forster’s novels explore themes of class, gender, sexuality, and identity, and are known for their wit, irony, and social commentary. He was also a prolific essayist, writing on a wide range of topics including literature, politics, and culture. Forster’s most famous works include A Passage to India (1924) and Maurice (1971), which was published posthumously and deals with homosexuality.

Overview of ‘The Longest Journey’

“The Longest Journey” is a novel by E.M. Forster that tells the story of Rickie Elliot, a young man who struggles to find his place in the world. The novel is divided into two parts, with the first part focusing on Rickie’s life at Cambridge University and the second part following his journey to Italy .

Throughout the novel, Forster explores themes of self-discovery, identity, and the search for meaning in life. He uses allegory to convey these themes, with the title of the novel serving as a metaphor for Rickie’s journey of self-discovery.

The novel also delves into the complexities of human relationships, particularly those between family members and romantic partners. Forster’s writing is characterized by its introspective nature and its ability to capture the nuances of human emotion.

Main Themes in ‘The Longest Journey’

In “The Longest Journey,” E.M. Forster explores several themes that are relevant to the human experience. The novel deals with the struggle to find one’s place in the world and the search for identity . It also touches on the themes of love, loss, and the conflict between tradition and modernity.

One of the main themes of the novel is the search for identity. The protagonist, Rickie Elliot, is a young man who is struggling to find his place in the world. He is torn between his desire to conform to society’s expectations and his own desire for self-expression. Through Rickie’s journey, Forster explores the idea that identity is not something that can be easily defined or imposed on an individual.

Another important theme in the novel is the conflict between tradition and modernity. Forster portrays this conflict through the character of Agnes Pembroke, who represents the traditional values of English society, and her husband, Gerald, who is more progressive and modern in his thinking. The tension between these two characters highlights the struggle between tradition and modernity that was taking place in England during the early 20th century.

Love is also a significant theme in the novel. Rickie’s relationships with his friends, family, and lovers are all explored in depth. Forster portrays the complexity of human relationships and the different forms that love can take. He also highlights the pain and loss that can come with love, as seen in Rickie’s failed relationships.

Allegorical Elements in the Novel

The Search for Identity

Throughout the novel, the protagonist Rickie Elliot struggles to find his true identity. He is torn between his desire to conform to societal expectations and his longing for personal fulfillment. This struggle is reflected in the character of Agnes Pembroke, who also grapples with her own identity and the expectations placed upon her by society. By exploring the theme of identity, Forster highlights the importance of individuality and self-discovery.

The Meaning of ‘The Longest Journey’

The title of the novel is a metaphor for the journey of self-discovery that the characters undertake. The phrase “the longest journey” refers to the path towards personal fulfillment and the search for one’s true identity. Forster uses this metaphor to emphasize the importance of the journey itself, rather than the destination.

Symbolism of the Characters

Forster uses symbolism to convey deeper meaning in the novel. The character of Agnes represents the struggle for personal fulfillment, while Rickie represents the struggle to conform to societal expectations. The character of Stephen Wonham represents the dangers of conformity and the loss of individuality. By using these symbols, Forster highlights the importance of individuality and the dangers of conformity.

Rural vs. Urban Life

Forster explores the dichotomy between rural and urban life in the novel. The character of Agnes represents the rural lifestyle, while the character of Gerald represents the urban lifestyle. By contrasting these two lifestyles, Forster highlights the differences between conformity and individuality. The rural lifestyle represents individuality and personal fulfillment, while the urban lifestyle represents conformity and societal expectations.

Character Analysis

Rickie elliot.

Rickie Elliot is the protagonist of “The Longest Journey”. He is a young man who is passionate about literature and art. Rickie is sensitive and introspective, and he often struggles to find his place in the world. He is torn between his desire for a bohemian lifestyle and his sense of duty to his family and society. Rickie’s journey is one of self-discovery and growth, as he learns to reconcile his conflicting desires and find his own path in life.

Agnes Pembroke

Agnes Pembroke is a complex character in “The Longest Journey”. She is Rickie’s childhood friend and later becomes his wife. Agnes is conventional and practical, and she values stability and security above all else. She often clashes with Rickie, who is more idealistic and artistic. Agnes represents the forces of conventionality and conformity in the novel, and she plays a key role in Rickie’s journey of self-discovery.

Stewart Ansell

Stewart Ansell is a minor character in “The Longest Journey”, but he plays an important role in Rickie’s journey. Stewart is a free-spirited artist who inspires Rickie to pursue his artistic passions. He represents the bohemian lifestyle that Rickie is drawn to, and he serves as a contrast to the conventional world that Agnes represents. Stewart is a catalyst for Rickie’s growth and development, and he helps Rickie to find his own voice and identity.

Forster’s Writing Style and Techniques

E.M. Forster’s writing style in “The Longest Journey” is characterized by his use of symbolism and allegory to convey deeper meanings . He uses vivid imagery and metaphors to create a rich and complex narrative that explores the themes of identity, self-discovery, and the search for meaning in life.

Forster’s prose is elegant and precise, with a focus on character development and psychological depth. He employs a range of literary techniques, including foreshadowing, irony, and stream-of-consciousness narration, to create a sense of tension and suspense throughout the novel.

One of Forster’s key strengths is his ability to create compelling and nuanced characters. He imbues each character with a unique voice and perspective, allowing readers to empathize with their struggles and triumphs. He also uses dialogue and internal monologue to reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings, adding depth and complexity to their personalities.

Critical Reception of the Novel

The Longest Journey by E.M. Forster has received mixed reviews since its publication in 1907. Some critics have praised the novel for its vivid portrayal of characters and their inner conflicts, while others have criticized it for being too slow-paced and lacking in plot.

One of the main criticisms of the novel is its use of allegory, which some readers find heavy-handed. However, others argue that the allegory is effective in conveying the novel’s themes of personal growth and the search for meaning in life.

Despite its mixed reception, The Longest Journey remains a significant work in Forster’s oeuvre and in English literature as a whole. Its exploration of complex themes and its nuanced characterizations continue to attract readers and scholars alike.

Comparison to Other Forster Works

When compared to other works by E.M. Forster, “The Longest Journey” stands out as a departure from his usual themes of social class and the struggle for personal freedom. Instead, this novel delves into the complexities of human relationships and the search for meaning in life.

While Forster’s earlier works such as “Where Angels Fear to Tread” and “A Room with a View” focused on the clash between the British upper class and their European counterparts, “The Longest Journey” explores the internal struggles of its characters. The novel’s protagonist, Rickie Elliot, is a young man with literary aspirations who faces a series of personal and emotional challenges throughout the story.

Compared to Forster’s later works such as “A Passage to India” and “Howards End,” “The Longest Journey” is less overtly political. Instead, the novel offers a more introspective look at the human condition and the ways in which individuals navigate their relationships with others.

Influence of ‘The Longest Journey’ on Literature

E.M. Forster’s novel, ‘The Longest Journey,’ has had a significant impact on literature. The novel’s exploration of themes such as identity, sexuality, and the search for meaning in life has influenced many writers.

Forster’s use of symbolism in the novel has also been noted as a significant influence on literature. The novel’s complex character development has been praised for its ability to create relatable and realistic characters.

‘The Longest Journey’ has also been influential in its exploration of the concept of the allegory. The novel’s use of allegory to convey deeper meanings and themes has inspired many writers to use this technique in their own works.

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E. M. Forster: The Longest Journey

Forster’s second novel is probably the work of his that has caused the most varied criticism. Some have seen it as a story of idealism versus materialism, while others have seen it as staid convention versus the forces of the earth. Some have said it is one of his most successful works, others his least successful. As is often the case all these views contain a kernel of truth.

The story concerns Rickie Elliot. Rickie is a naïve, simple man, not unlike Dostoevsky’s Prince Myshkin in The Idiot . His parents were not happy together. His father was a bully while his mother loved her son but was not over-affectionate. The couple briefly split up and, while they did, Mrs. Elliot went off with an earthy son of the soil and had a brief affair, before the son of the soil showed that he was not a son of the sea and drowned, leaving Mrs. Elliot pregnant, though these latter details we do not learn till later. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot got back together, particularly after Mr. Elliot’s illness. When Mr. Elliot died, Mrs. Elliot planned to take Rickie out of the tough boarding school to which his father had sent him and where he was bullied and to the country, near to his half-brother (of whose existence he was completely unaware). Sadly she died eleven days after her husband. Rickie was left enough money to live on and drifted around various distant relatives, till he went to Cambridge, where this novel starts. The novel starts with the famous scene where three students are discussing the existence or non-existence of a cow if one cannot see it. They are interrupted by the arrival of Agnes and Herbert Pembroke, brother and sister and relatives of Rickie. Agnes is engaged to an athlete, Gerald, who soon dies while playing football. Two years later, Agnes returns to Cambridge and Rickie falls in love with her. In Forster’s view – and this is a key component of this novel – Rickie’s life is henceforth ruined. Instead of enjoying his life, his (male) friends and his varied interests, he is now under the sway of a woman. Because he is not rich enough to support a wife, he must endure a long engagement, while he makes his way as a writer.

Herbert Pembroke teaches at a minor public school. He is appointed a housemaster but only provisionally, as he has no wife. His proposal to a widow is firmly rejected. He then gets the idea that his sister can fill this role if Rickie comes to the school as a teacher, thereby enabling the couple to get married. This duly happens but Rickie’s career seems over and his life seems to be effectively ended. Things go from bad to worse when Agnes has a baby that dies soon after birth. Meanwhile, Rickie has found out that he has a half-brother, called Stephen Wonham, who lives with his aunt, though Stephen, an earthy, outspoken man like his father, does not know of this secret. The relationship between the two – the strong earthy man and the weak intellectual – is followed, till it all ends in tragedy. However, as Forster seems to make clear, Rickie has already been condemned to death long before his physical death and Forster leaves little doubt that it is the women to blame.

At times the novel rambles and seems to lose track. Loose ends drift. But Rickie and Stephen are interesting and, of course, opposite, with the various women behind them playing their own roles. Some of it depends on whether you believe the cow exists or not and some of it on whether you favour the strong son of the earth or the innocent intellectual.

Publishing history

First published 1907 by W. Blackwood

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