Reviews

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

sunflowerboy's review against another edition

Will pick it up later

ashleybenbow's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

tommcdonough55's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

alexprzy's review against another edition

3.0

First book I'd read by E.M. Forster. Made me think he creates the whole plot and writes all the characters and everything in just so that he can get to bits where he describes the setting & landscape: so poetic and vivid. Dazzling writer of setting.

txmap's review against another edition

2.0

It started off fairly interesting, but seemed like it went on much too long. I didn't really feel compelled to finish it based on the storyline, but it was part of the curriculum in a class I was teaching. The author had a poetic style that I appreciated, and I think he gave a faithful depiction of colonial India.

nojamms's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Oh my god Fielding and Aziz were so gay. if I had known, I would've finished this book four months ago.

hadeanstars's review against another edition

5.0

Not just exquisitely written, but ahead of its time, dealing so deftly with issues of racism that it becomes at times deeply uncomfortable. There's an entire subset of contemporary British society that is identical to the British Raj, the old-timers of Forster's story, except they are considerably less educated, less polite, and well, less most things. But they share that repellent claim to a completely unearned and undeserved superiority. Forster's great gift is that he shows, rather than telling, and the result is a masterpiece.

mgew's review

3.0

Read for class. My thoughts are mixed. I hate how Forester talks about women so deeply, but I also found some of his prose rather beautiful. It's just all in all a book I wouldn't recommend but I didn't completely hate it

kevlanb's review against another edition

Boring. 

forgottensecret's review against another edition

5.0

'Fielding sat down by the bed, flattered at the trust reposed in him, yet rather sad. He felt old. He wished that he too could be carried away on waves of emotion. The next time they met, Aziz might be cautious and standoffish. He realized this, and it made him sad that he should realize it.'


Colonial India is the background of E.M. Forster's excellent A Passage to India. Unacquainted with Forster before this book, he is a welcome change in grammar and punctuation of 19th century authors like Charles Dickens and Anne Bronte that I have read recently. They favoured protracted sentences, churning with semicolons. Forster adopts a more modern style.

The book follows Aziz, an Indian doctor, who becomes besmirched by scandal. Accused of sexual assault by Adela, the wife-to-be of an important government official, racial tensions rise. Alliances shift, of both Britons and Indians. As a reader, we hope that Aziz and the educator Fielding's friendship does not also enflame. They are the heart of this story, written with masterful characterisation.

This was a classic which deserved the assignation. I'm looking forward to reading more of Forster's work.