Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Maurice by E.M. Forster

4 reviews

fanboyriot's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

5.0

♡ Gay Classic

♡ Good Humor

♡ Angst with a Happy Ending 

I genuinely didn’t think I would like this book as much as I did.  I’m not a big classics reader, but this book was so lovely and truly iconic for its time.  Also the fact a gay book written in 1913 has a happy ending leaves no excuses for the gay books here in 2024 being so sad.

The author really brought the characters to life so well, setting up the perfect atmosphere, and writing a compelling queer love story before it was accepted to do so.  It’s a shame the author didn’t get to see how well loved his book would be.

Spice Level: 🌶️ (1/5)

Angst Level: 💧💧💧 (3/5)

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 1972

Rep: Gay (Main Character), Queer (Side Characters)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Grief, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Death, and Sexism

themoostconfused's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

issyd23's review against another edition

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🏏

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Classism, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

leepc's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

A heartbreakingly accurate depiction of the inherent loneliness that comes with queer identity. Forster elegantly describes what I thought was indescribable with beautiful, yet straightforward language. Some days I burst into tears from the thought of this book. There is a happy ending, but the author’s notes are absolutely heart wrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Outing

The book deals with queer identity in a time period when it was criminalized, and the author did not have an optimistic outlook on the future of LGBT rights. The main triggers come from

a toxic relationship in which two university students navigate their same-gender attraction together, ending in one of them having a mental health crisis and isolating and neglecting the other

Some readers also may be triggered by relatively tense mentions of blackmail and what could be perceived as stalking.