Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Maurice

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Maurice by E.M. Forster

13 reviews

affectionatelyrs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Such a beautiful, tragic story. Makes me ache for my queer family members in spirit who still have to live the way Maurice and Clive did in the 1900s. Alec is my beloved.

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james1star's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. This book was truly an amazing read and one I’d totally recommend. Despite being written nearly 110 years ago there is a strange element of modernity to it - the writing and references aren’t but more the tone and my overall relationship with the book. For a quick plot summary it follows the protagonist Maurice Hall over roughly ten years (14-24) where he comes of age and into himself, encountering two love affairs with his Cambridge equal Clive Durham and later the gamekeeper Alec Scudder. Evidently things happen but I believe to get the best experience out of ‘Muarice’ you should go into it knowing little of the plot - all I knew of it was that it’s a gay classic. Something I love about this book was the way Forester writes the characters as very real with good qualities but their flaws too, this was just amazing and I could totally see them in the flesh. Additionally, the ending with its ambiguity was great, I guess I did want more and this can be said for most of the book in all honestly, it was one I could easily have read a 500 page version, not just 230 - that being said, the impact and conciseness of the book would likely have been impacted. I don’t think there’s anything I didn’t like really, it’s a very accessible classic, flows great with a clear structure, great characters and wholly an enjoyable experience. I also listened to the audiobook narrated by Ben Whishaw which I absolutely loved, his voice totally suites an Edwardian-era gay man and again I’d so recommend ‘reading’ it this way too (I got it via BorrowBox with my local library)

Now to hear my ultimate favourite part of this book I have to put a SPOILER WARNING on it first. Being written when homosexuality was still criminalised and a little over 50 years since it was punishable by death in the UK, in the context of many (well little did) books demonising queer people or having endings where they die (naturally, by suicide or are killed), the fact the ending of ‘Maurice’ is a happy one is truly delightful. It’s amazing and one I didn’t really expect so… yay. If it had been published when written in 1913-14, it would likely have changed many of other queer literature to follow but we’d never know. The author’s terminal note and David Leavitt’s introduction in my ‘Penguins Classics’ edition (that I read after completing the novel) are also fascinating reads and one’s I’d really recommend. In the former Forester makes the remark ‘A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and this sense Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.’ I find this amazing and in some essence changed the way I viewed the ending with both men escaping the confines of Clive’s estate but also the British society at the time that was unwilling to accept a happy ending for a gay couple. Additionally, the reader is kept in the dark regarding their future, maybe I wished for that epilogue at first but now I see that letting our imagine run wild is a far better consequence.

I do want to give this book a reread and possibly annotate it but for now I’ve a few quotes to share.

‘The storm had been working up not for three days as he supposed, but for six years. It had brewed in the obscurities of being where no eye pierces, his surroundings had thickened it. It had burst and he had not died. The brilliancy of day was around him, he sood upon the mountain range that overshadows youth, he saw.’ - exploring his personal awakening to what and who he is, quite relatable

‘“I should have gone through life half awake if you'd had the decency to leave me alone. Awake intellectually, yes, and emotionally in a way; but here -“ He pointed with his pipe stem to his heart; and both smiled, “Perhaps we woke up one another. I like to think that anyway.”

“When did you first care about me?”

“Don't ask me,” echoed Clive.

“Oh, be a bit serious - well - what was it in me you first cared?”

“Like really to know?” asked Clive, who was in the mood Maurice adored - half mischierous, half passionate; a mood of supreme affection.

“Yes.”

“Well, it was your beauty.”

“My what?”

“Beauty... I used to admire that man over the bookcase most.”

"I can give points to a picture, I dare say,” said Maurice, having glanced at the Michelangelo. “Clive, you're a silly little fool, and since you've brought it up I think you're beautiful, the only beautiful person I've ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room

you are sitting in. I adore you.”’ - so sweet

‘“Maurice - I'm a fool.”

“Be a fool,” said Maurice…’ - sometimes us best to be one, no?

‘“Will the law ever be that in England?”

“I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.”

Maurice understood. He was an Englishman himself, and only his troubles had kept him awake. He smiled sadly. “It comes to this then: there always have been people like me and always will be, and generally they have been persecuted.”

“That is so, Mr Hall; or, as psychiatry prefers to put it, there has been, is and always will be every conceivable type of person. And you must remember that your type was once put to death in England.”

Was it really? On the other hand, they could get away. England wasn't all built over and policed. Men of my sort could take to the greenwood…”’ - I love the notion (expanded on in Leavitt’s introduction) how Forester makes the rural the place for queer escapism and freedom and not the urban centre like other books did and still do often do, rather refreshing and an interesting take

‘After all, is not a real Hell better than a manufactured Heaven?’ - is it? Maybe?

‘Love had failed. Love was an emotion through which you occasionally enjoyed yourself. It could not do things.’

Content Warnings

issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

‘I’ve not been straight with you’ ‘indeed Mr Hall’ Happy pride! 4🏏

Content Warnings

ferrot_lectorapromedio's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

juliarose11's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this! The aesthetics and romance were tangible - as someone who studied at Cambridge, the descriptions of old-time Cambridge dark academia and the socialisation within it were engrossing and vivid. We experienced Maurice’s life and love as he did, a whirlwind of emotion and politics that felt both troubling and endearing.

It is a slow burn for sure, simmering with intensity but not boring at any point. Clive and Maurice’s blossoming romance was tense but ultimately beautiful - and the following events between them and Alec were at first devastating but finally satisfying.

A pleasure to read as one of the trailblazers of lgbtq+ literature - written in 1914 and only published in 1971 posthumously, following the legalisation of homosexuality in England.

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cheuksin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

‘I’m an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.’
Possibly of my favourite classics. It’s nice to read an LGBTQIA classic that doesn’t involve people dying, or meeting some other incredibly tragic end. I would definitely read it a second time. I would recommend.

Content Warnings

srm's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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rieviolet's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've been meaning to read this book for so long and, for one reason or another, I kept postponing it but what a mistake, I really really loved it! It was not an easy read emotionally, the characters go through a lot and are not always likeable but it is a very engaging narrative and it makes you feel deeply. Also, the final payoff is so worth the very bumpy road to get there, bless you E.M. Forster.
Maurice's final speech to Clive was just *chief's kiss*, so so satisfying, I was in the background cheering him on and screaming "You tell him, you tell him!".

The prose was so rich and impactful, I've just finished reading it and I can't wait
to immerse myself in it again in the future.

His journey was nearly over. He was bound for his new home. He had brought out the man in Alec, and now it was Alec’s turn to bring out the hero in him. He knew what the call was, and what his answer must be. They must live outside class, without relations or money; they must work and stick to each other till death. But England belonged to them. That, besides companionship, was their reward. Her air and sky were theirs, not the timorous millions' who own stuffy little boxes, but never their own souls.

The novel had already been a roller coaster of emotions and then came the author's terminal word and I have to say he finished me off for good, but what a lovely way to go, what a lovely way! I hope we will come to an even kinder year.

A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood. I dedicated it ‘To a Happier Year’ and not altogether vainly.

And in my experience though loyalty cannot be counted on it can always be hoped for and be worked towards and may flourish in the most unlikely soil.

Content Warnings

michelangelo1987's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book is sooo beautifully written. every emotion the mc has is accurately conveyed through the writing. since english is not my first language, i’ve always had the fear of not understanding books that were written so long ago but this wasn’t as snobby as i expected it to be. tbh it wasn’t complicated nor simple it was just cleverly written in an in-between. as for the actual story, as devastating as it was, i’m glad it developed the way it did. the messy process of heartbreak and self-doubt and shame was so hard to read and definitely heart-wrenching and it’s exacerbated once you realize that this was the 1910s meaning that if you were queer, finding someone like you and who you liked must have been excruciatingly difficult and a heartbreak must have felt 10 times worse. it also meant having to deal with the shame, disgust, and sense of wrongdoing inflicted upon you by society. and none of this was easy. and more so if you take into account there was almost no source of information you could get to realize you weren’t actually wrong. you weren’t damned. also there was no representation out there for you to see yourself reflected on and know that there were people out there like you and there was nothing wrong with it. which meant that believing whatever bullshit you were being fed by people was easy. on the other hand, i really loved how the effects of religion on queer people are addressed. i’m generally a sucker for that kind of conversation around religion and queerness and this book served to the point where it made me reconsider a few things. as for clive, i never quite understood him. i want to think that maybe he was ace but i honestly can’t tell.

the fact that he suddenly stopped liking men was weird to say the least. i mean it served for a heartbreaking plot twist but was it realistic? at first i tried to think that maybe he wasn’t really attracted to men to begin with but thought he was because of his misogyny but by the way he described his feelings for maurice and for other men in his past he was genuinely attracted to men at least in a romantic way. so he definitely did like men at some point. then i thought maybe he’s bi and just stopped loving maurice and started loving a woman and that’s why he feels like he doesn’t like men in general anymore but he said that he’s no longer interested in men and actually thinking about men disgusts him. when it comes to sexualities i tend to accept them as they come but this didn’t make much sense to me. and after he stopped liking men he became a completely different person from who he was just close to a year earlier going from happily wanting to spend his whole life with a man to being a homophobe who slut shames his ex lover and gaslights him into believing he has a disease he can be cured of. he went from being free from conventions to enforcing them. and i don’t say this as a complaint for the writing because i could see this happening as a result of his newly found socially accepted heterosexuality but it still feels weird that he found it in the first place.

now for the negative side. the only reason i’m not giving 5 stars is because of the main characters’ classism, elitism, and misogyny. their takes on poverty and class were outrageous and privileged af and i’m glad that other characters noticed them because that means that the author is aware that they weren’t okay and made sure there was someone calling them out. aside from that, it is explicitly said that they were misogynists because they saw women as incapable of doing anything that wasn’t trivial and whatever they did seemed silly to them. despite the mcs having intellectual debates about things, they failed to maybe take into consideration the fact that sexism and misogyny might be at fault for women not being able to participate in their intellectual exchanges since their opinions were always disregarded.

in conclusion, despite it having some questionable decisions and some problematic things going on, this story paints an excellent picture of the struggles of queer people in a heteronormative society of the twentieth century and is one of the most touching and heartbreaking stories i’ve ever read and one i will definitely remember for a lifetime.

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