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josiee's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
cowardlyteaman's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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 was very positively surprised by this book.
I must say, that my hopes weren't too high after The Picture of Dorian Gray was so infamously known for it's early homosexual representation, which imprisoned Oscar Wilde. Although the uncensored version includes a tirade of a clearly homosexual confession, the remaining book was really just Dorian being corrupted by his own and others' obsession with his beauty. Which is gay, but not homosexual.
However, that was not the case here! Forster did not try to hide a clearly homosexual story behind something else — it's very explicitly about Maurice's journey to finding himself.
It's written well and it was surprisingly efficient for a classic. I often feel like classics have a lot of ... irrelevant tirades to show off the author's education and intellect. I was never bored or felt urgent to skip parts during this read.
As for the characters, they all clearly have issues. I do love that there are flawed characters here. Maurice is explicitly described as a dumbass every other chapter.
And on that note, I find the balance with humour especially pleasant. The dialogue is very realistic to me and I like how it reflects human nature.
It's not too long and it was a great read to get me out of a reading slump.
It's noteworthy that I'm a gay man myself and might find the book slightly more engaging than others, but anyone with an interest in classical romance dramas would enjoy this. It has the forbidden love, classism, the internal conflict, betrayal, and all that, only with two men rather than a woman and a man.
I must say, that my hopes weren't too high after The Picture of Dorian Gray was so infamously known for it's early homosexual representation, which imprisoned Oscar Wilde. Although the uncensored version includes a tirade of a clearly homosexual confession, the remaining book was really just Dorian being corrupted by his own and others' obsession with his beauty. Which is gay, but not homosexual.
However, that was not the case here! Forster did not try to hide a clearly homosexual story behind something else — it's very explicitly about Maurice's journey to finding himself.
It's written well and it was surprisingly efficient for a classic. I often feel like classics have a lot of ... irrelevant tirades to show off the author's education and intellect. I was never bored or felt urgent to skip parts during this read.
As for the characters, they all clearly have issues. I do love that there are flawed characters here. Maurice is explicitly described as a dumbass every other chapter.
And on that note, I find the balance with humour especially pleasant. The dialogue is very realistic to me and I like how it reflects human nature.
It's not too long and it was a great read to get me out of a reading slump.
It's noteworthy that I'm a gay man myself and might find the book slightly more engaging than others, but anyone with an interest in classical romance dramas would enjoy this. It has the forbidden love, classism, the internal conflict, betrayal, and all that, only with two men rather than a woman and a man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, and Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, and Death of parent
michelangelo1987's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Bullying, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Excrement, and Sexual harassment