A review by jarvvis
Maurice by E.M. Forster

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s a surprise to me that I’m giving this book five stars, as for most of it I bumbled through it, enjoying the writing and the silly 20th century Englishness and the fact it reminded me of Brideshead Revisted, but not totally mad about it either.  Honestly I found Maurice and Clive’s relationship to be somewhat uncompelling, not wholly so, I liked their sweet touches and quiet companionship, but I certainly feel like it lacked something (sex, or a proper future). And then (spoilers from here on out)

Clive goes to Greece of all places and decides he’s straight after all and Maurice is plunged into darkness once more.

The man who awoke him to his own identity and desires has now abandoned him to walk the road alone, and Maurice cannot sink back into ignorance. And then he meets Alec. Oh Alec Scudder my dear. Alec and Maurice seem to get each other on an intuitive and intimate level: there is no more Plato, or complex metaphors and constant fear: Maurice calls and Alec comes. The end is what saved this book for me, a happy ending in an unexpected quarter. Maurice no longer has to trudge along in a relationship doomed to be suppressed by society with a man not brave enough to really accept who he is and what he wants: he gets the guy who missed the boat to Argentina for someone whom he’s slept with twice and knows he loves. 

To be queer is to be ruined, it is also to want. To read something that ends so well reeks of desire and hope and rings true more than anything else. To a happier year indeed.