Scan barcode
A review by valealle23
Maurice by E.M. Forster
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-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
4.5
could not put this down - so enthralling and beautiful. i thought a room with a view was amazing but i think i enjoyed maurice more, perhaps because the relationship in a room seemed more idealized and Platonic in the philosophical sense of the word, whereas maurice seems real. that could just be bc forster is gay and can better explain the feelings behind his actions, but they’re also just very different novels and really show his range despite the gorgeously congruent writing style.
i loved the first half of the book, but i do think that it could’ve been longer or at the very least his relationship with alec could’ve been more drawn out, which is the only reason im not giving it 5 stars. i was so confused as to what happened with clive, but i think maurice was too which makes sense. i like the borderline stream of consciousness style without delving too deep into it. i went from loving clive to hating him, which im not sure how i feel about as the change in him seemed quite dramatic. i would’ve liked to see alec and maurice interact more, at least in small, less hostile ways before they say i love you within what a week? of finding each other.
anyways this book is amazing and really opened up my eyes to being gay in the early 1900s - if they can have a happy ending stories now should too. also bi representation in 1912?!? love to see it. the meditations on class too are masterful, as they aren’t exactly necessary but they develop the story perfectly. i now need to read all of forester’s works
some quotes to end with bc i could talk forever lol
“Something had to be said and settled. O for the night that was ending, for the sleep and the wakefulness, the toughness and tenderness mixed, the sweet temper, the safety in darkness. Would such a night ever return?”
“Masses of work awaited him. Nothing had changed in his life. Nothing remained in it. He was back with his loneliness as it had been before Clive, as it was after Clive, and would now be for ever. He had failed, and that wasn't the saddest: he had seen Alec fail. In a way they were one person. Love had failed. Love was an emotion through which you occasionally enjoyed yourself. It could not do things.”
“It was all so complicated. When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.”
i loved the first half of the book, but i do think that it could’ve been longer or at the very least his relationship with alec could’ve been more drawn out, which is the only reason im not giving it 5 stars. i was so confused as to what happened with clive, but i think maurice was too which makes sense. i like the borderline stream of consciousness style without delving too deep into it. i went from loving clive to hating him, which im not sure how i feel about as the change in him seemed quite dramatic. i would’ve liked to see alec and maurice interact more, at least in small, less hostile ways before they say i love you within what a week? of finding each other.
anyways this book is amazing and really opened up my eyes to being gay in the early 1900s - if they can have a happy ending stories now should too. also bi representation in 1912?!? love to see it. the meditations on class too are masterful, as they aren’t exactly necessary but they develop the story perfectly. i now need to read all of forester’s works
some quotes to end with bc i could talk forever lol
“Something had to be said and settled. O for the night that was ending, for the sleep and the wakefulness, the toughness and tenderness mixed, the sweet temper, the safety in darkness. Would such a night ever return?”
“Masses of work awaited him. Nothing had changed in his life. Nothing remained in it. He was back with his loneliness as it had been before Clive, as it was after Clive, and would now be for ever. He had failed, and that wasn't the saddest: he had seen Alec fail. In a way they were one person. Love had failed. Love was an emotion through which you occasionally enjoyed yourself. It could not do things.”
“It was all so complicated. When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.”