Scan barcode
A review by elerireads
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
4.0
Very rich and nuanced description of an Indian city full of so many different people seeming to coexist, though of course not perfectly and with many racial tensions in particular. The enthusiasm of some characters to build real friendships across divides, dismissed by others as naïve, even seems to be having some success. Then this mysterious incident in the caves and the ensuing trial that cracks wide open all the fault lines: Indian vs English, newly arrived English vs established Anglo-Indian, Moslem vs Hindu, man vs woman... The few characters who side with another group because they are in the right, rather than taking the side of their own 'tribe', are ultimately doomed for it because they end up ostracised by both. It seems to be saying that some differences between people are insurmountable and real connection is not possible? But then there are some temporary successes in the book, so maybe that it is possible but only as a kind of unstable equilibrium that an event like the one in the caves will destroy? Or maybe the fact that they come so close on several occasions is a cautiously optimistic way of saying that it is possible but we just haven't worked it out yet? Anyway, I suppose just like the cave mystery it's up to us to decide for ourselves what we think actually happened.
There was spirituality and mysticism running through the whole book, which actually didn't annoy me and I think worked really well. It sort of connected the thinking patterns of all the different people.
The dramatic misunderstanding towards the end seemed idiotic, as they invariably do to me (I loathe Romeo and Juliet and maintain that it should have been called Idiot 1 and Idiot 2). I've never been able to stand those kind of things because they are almost always utterly unrealistic, and it just feels like too much is being asked of me as a reader who's been led to respect the characters involved. In this case it was especially irritating because it was totally unnecessary to the story (imo).
One other tiny gripe; I really wish the outcome of the trial had not been in the blurb of my copy! The suspense would have been so much better
There was spirituality and mysticism running through the whole book, which actually didn't annoy me and I think worked really well. It sort of connected the thinking patterns of all the different people.
The dramatic misunderstanding towards the end seemed idiotic, as they invariably do to me (I loathe Romeo and Juliet and maintain that it should have been called Idiot 1 and Idiot 2). I've never been able to stand those kind of things because they are almost always utterly unrealistic, and it just feels like too much is being asked of me as a reader who's been led to respect the characters involved. In this case it was especially irritating because it was totally unnecessary to the story (imo).
One other tiny gripe; I really wish the outcome of the trial had not been in the blurb of my copy! The suspense would have been so much better