A review by ditten
Maurice by E.M. Forster

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

4.25

"You do care a little for me, I know... but nothing to speak of, and you don't love me. I was yours once till death if you'd cared to keep me, but I'm someone else's now... and he's mine in a way that shocks you, but why don't you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness.”

A queer book written more than 100 years ago with a happy ending feels revolutionary and beautiful. 

Maurice was a really interesting read. Most of the characters weren't likeable, including Maurice himself for much of the book, yet I got so overwhelmed and moved by Maurice's journey and development. Getting a look into society, and class differences within it, as well as attitudes to homosexuality at the time, and people who feel they don't belong in that society was fascinating and frustrating both. 

Part 4 really tied the book together for me. I haven't read a lot of classics but this surely ranks as one of my favourite. 

From E.M. Forster's notes at the end:

“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, [they] still roam the greenwood.”