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challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Really impactful.
The older language was at times hard for me to understand, so there were certain things I didn't quite pick up on until I sought out clarification outside the text. Maurice isn't exactly a sympathetic character (misogynist, incredibly snobby about class), and yet I really felt for him in regards to his sexuality and his later struggles with (and acceptance of) it.
For a book like this to have been written in 1912 I found really groundbreaking (I'm sure others have said this as well, but I didn't expect it to be as groundbreaking as it was). For a gay character to have been written at that time who ends up fully accepting himself was really touching to read. I mean, that happy ending...! It was like something that could be commonplace in the modern day. I think we often talk of historical queers as having not had the same understanding of things as we do now, but this book shows that's not always the case. Maurice's realization that it's him who is free, and the others who are caged by society's rules... well, my generations version of that was the All The Things She Said music video. The world truly does belong to us.
This review is all over the place, but I found myself affected by this book much more than I expected to. The ending left me unbearably happy, is all I can say.
The older language was at times hard for me to understand, so there were certain things I didn't quite pick up on until I sought out clarification outside the text. Maurice isn't exactly a sympathetic character (misogynist, incredibly snobby about class), and yet I really felt for him in regards to his sexuality and his later struggles with (and acceptance of) it.
For a book like this to have been written in 1912 I found really groundbreaking (I'm sure others have said this as well, but I didn't expect it to be as groundbreaking as it was). For a gay character to have been written at that time who ends up fully accepting himself was really touching to read. I mean, that happy ending...! It was like something that could be commonplace in the modern day. I think we often talk of historical queers as having not had the same understanding of things as we do now, but this book shows that's not always the case. Maurice's realization that it's him who is free, and the others who are caged by society's rules... well, my generations version of that was the All The Things She Said music video. The world truly does belong to us.
This review is all over the place, but I found myself affected by this book much more than I expected to. The ending left me unbearably happy, is all I can say.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Classism