Maurice in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Oct 18, 2024 Karlita rated it liked it

Shelves: classic-challenge

This was my read for banned book week. Although written in the early 1900s, and published after Forster's death in the mid, this book remains quite relevant and was ahead of its time.

Pros: I appreciate the representation of a loving gay couple during a turbulent time for homosexuals. How Forster shows the internal struggle Maurice endures about being gay. Living in despair with his "perversion" which doesn't even have a word to identify it. He feels he's not normal and in constant shame. He yea This was my read for banned book week. Although written in the early 1900s, and published after Forster's death in the mid, this book remains quite relevant and was ahead of its time.

Pros: I appreciate the representation of a loving gay couple during a turbulent time for homosexuals. How Forster shows the internal struggle Maurice endures about being gay. Living in despair with his "perversion" which doesn't even have a word to identify it. He feels he's not normal and in constant shame. He yearns for connections but finds few. He sees good days when he can act on his feelings with someone he loves and then goes through super dark times after it ends. He does get a happy ending that not only offers him the connection he searches, but also contradicts his previous takes on social class. There's also a hint of the social pressure and expectation to marry - for both men and women for very different reasons.

Cons: Maurice is a jerk. Just snobby and rude. There's a lot of misogyny (I get it, it was rampant then). He connects with Clive on the hatred they have for the women in their lives and how they mistreat them. Yes, he was living in confusion and shame, unable to define or act on his feelings, but did he have to be such a dick to everyone? I mean zero redeeming qualities. It was hard to root for him and Clive. Alec, I didn't have a problem with. He actually calls Maurice on his crap.

Biggest pro: Forster's writing is emotional, poetic and heartbreaking. Even with his awful personality, Forster makes me feel for Maurice and his struggle to be "cured" and find his happiness, romance, and acceptance.

Overall, the book is about many human sides and struggles, social expectations and conventions, not belonging completely to one world and feeling like pariahs and eventually, self-acceptance. I'm glad Maurice found his happy ending and in a way, it changed him. Made him softer, more confident, and braver. Forster shows what empathy and acceptance can do to a person. He also shows how maybe we haven't come as far as we should have by now. ...more

Like · see review