A Passage to India

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Summary: A Passage to India -- A Student's Perspective
Review: A Passage to India explores the clashing of two different cultures during the British rule over India. It starts out with Mrs. Moore and Miss Adela Quested coming to India to visit Mrs. Moore's son and Miss Quested's future husband, Ronny. Both ladies are wide-eyed and want to see what the "real" India is like. They long to have conversations with real Indians and to experience the life of India without British influence. Eventually, they meet Dr. Aziz, a local Indian physician, who tells them that he will show them the "real" India. Part of Aziz's "real" India is the nearby Marabar caves. He takes them to visit the caves where something happens that changes the entire story. As a result, relationships between the British and Indians are tested.

The writing style of this novel is so eloquent in describing the world of British Raj in India in the early twentieth century, that it is also able to be applied to life today. Take this quote from page 272 of the novel, "Truth is no truth in that exacting land unless there go with it kindness and more kindness again, unless the Word that was with God also is God. And the girl's sacrifice - so creditable according to Western notions - was rightly rejected, because, though it came from her heart, it did no include her heart." This passage stuck in my mind because it reminded me that even though this story was written over eighty years ago, its core and main message could still be applied to life today.

E.M. Forester, the author of A Passage to India, writes in such a way that he pulls the reader back to India under British rule in 1924. Through his speech and way of describing the interactions between the English and Indians, I felt like I was actually in 1924 watching everything taking place. Forester is a perfect example of a "classic author." His style is so polished, yet unique that he was able to create a novel that draws the reader in and makes the reader question life and humanity in general. I was especially impressed with Forester's sarcasm and his ability to be cynical of British rule of India, even though he was British himself.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. Although, at times, I did feel that some parts just dragged on and on, I do think that I was then able to truly appreciate and learn from the lives of Aziz, his friends, and the British. In the past, I have always heard of the British Raj in India, but I never truly understood the impact of the British on India until I experienced A Passage to India.


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Summary: realistic and intriguing
Review: Beautifully woven and written story about the relationships between a small group of Indians and English and the larger issues preventing durable relationships among them. Offers an realistic and intriguing picture of British colonialism and colonists in India.

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Summary: Very confusing
Review: I had to read this book in 10th grade for my history class and it was one of the worst, most confusing books that I have ever read in my entire life. For one, it was very difficult to understand who was talking because Forster's narration was incorrectly phrased, in my opinion. Secondly, all types of foreign vocabulary was introduced to me, and lastly--Forsters whole way of writing was just too complex. Then to add to all this, the story was not interesting at all. Who (but boring people, of course) cares about those boring people anyway. Maybe I didn't like the book because it was so difficult and I was not grasping the deeper meaning behind it. All I know is that this book was certainly not my cup of tea.

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Summary: Thought-Provoking
Review: I have always been a fan of E.M. Forster. His ability to understand the way that society and humanity works has always managed to astonish me. This work is thought by many to be the greatest that he ever wrote. I tend to agree "Howards End", "A Room with a View", and "Where Angels Fear to Tread" were stepping stones to this novel. The story is simple. A man is accused of doing something his friends believe him to be innocent all others believe him to be guilty. Yet, the story is not at all simple. It explains how horribly off things in India were when Britain still maintained an empire there. That man accused is an Indian. The person accusing him is an English woman. In these two characters, Britain and India are made real. The reader sees how wrong the whole situation was . Be prepared to leave the book angry at the British for doing what they did in India. Read and learn this book!

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Summary: Dry Read, Full Aplication
Review: I knew I wanted to read A Passage to India when I heard about it. That's where it ended--as soon as I started to read it. The book was long, and tedious, begging for more action. As I trudged through the book and finished it, I realized that its significance lies not in entertainment, but in the thought provoking questions it raises. This is its one area that totally redeemed my painful experience.
The book focuses on the racial tension during the British occupation of India in the early 1900's. The story develops emotions and feeling within its characters based on their perceptions of others through distorted racial prejudice. It raises the question: Is it possible for the natives to befriend their English occupiers?
When two women, Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested come to India, they seek to see the "real" India. They soon befriend Dr. Aziz, who is Indian. As Aziz shows them the country, racial tension soon creeps in. Much attention surround the Marabar Caves, and from this the central crisis arises. The fleeting romance between Adela and Mrs. Moore's son Ronny, plays an integral role in the racial accusations brought against Aziz.
Relationships prove to be the focus of the novel, and shows what prejudice does to them. This theme is one still being fought in the Middle East as Western influences clash with Muslim Arab culture. Can we be friends?

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Summary: Forster's Masterpiece a Timeless Classic
Review: Sadly, "A Passage to India" will probably never seem dated, because the racial and religious problems that plagued India nearly a century ago continue to do so today. That's a testament, though, to just how compelling E.M. Forster's novel was and is.

Two English ladies, one young and strong willed and the other her elderly chaperone, visit India with the intent of fully immersing themselves in Indian culture--unlike their compatriots, who segregate themselves from the Indians and relegate them to little more than a slave class. However, during a cave exploration, something inexplicable happens to both of them and they find themselves unhinged from the experience. What follows is a sad story about the clash of two cultures that form immediate and unshakable assumptions about each other.

Forster has been criticized for being somewhat one-sided in his portrayal of the English-Indian conflict, painting the English as belligerent, pompous bullies and the Indians as lovable and continuously wronged. I suppose that criticism is valid to a reader looking for clinical fairness, but as Forster himself is recorded as saying, he was sick of fairness at the time he wrote this novel and composed his story instead from the heart. I can completely understand this sentiment. In any conflict, when one side is so decidedly dominant and thus has all the advantages, fairness seems like an almost irrelevant concept. What Forster has done here is fashioned a compelling story populated by perhaps some of the most psychologically complex characters ever put to the page.

Which is both good and bad. On the one hand, fully trying to understand the inner workings of these characters' minds makes for a very interactive reading session. On the other, Forster makes his characters almost TOO realistically complex, so that I feel that I can't fully understand any of them. Whether intentional on Forster's part or not, this pretty much works overall for the novel, since it is about people who can't fully understand one another. But I would be lying if I didn't say that it also makes the novel at times somewhat frustrating, and ever so slightly dry.

Don't let this criticism overshadow the praise I have for this novel, however. It's a towering achievement of 20th Century literature and deserves the esteem it has won from the literary community.

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Summary: Forster's best.
Review: This book is a book that is deeper than it first appears. It deals with the tension between the British and the native Indians of India, as well as with the tension between the Hindus and the Muslims. It also deals with the mystical in its portrayal of characters in search of the infinite and eternal. The book is divided into three sections which correspond with the seasons of the Indian year - the Cold Weather, the Hot Weather and the Rains. Each section of the book is dominated by each of the seasons. Each section also focuses on one of the three ethnic groups found in India during this time (1920's). They are Muslim, Anglo-Indian and Hindu. This is a very deep book, that has to be read at least a couple of times in order for the reader to pick up all the nuances.

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Summary: The most painfull classic ever written
Review: This book is what is known as a 'reading classic', not because of it's ability to entertain the reader to the point that the book can't be put down, but rather because of it's masterfull structure and poetic style. Unfortunately, Forster lacks so much imagination in creating the story it is unbelievable! Forster (...) fell in love with an Indian living in England prior to writing the book. This young man would tell Forster about India and it's culture fascinating him to the point he had to write a book about it. This is what A Passage to India is about and nothing more, the writers fascination with Indian culture during British rule. The story is painfull, I repeat, PAINFULL! absolutely nothing happens, there is no climax, nothing worth ever remembering. Unless you are an English professor forget it! Shooting oneself in the foot would be less painfull than reading this book.

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Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book never grabbed me the way I had hoped it would. None of the characters is particularly engaging, and indeed some are barely tolerable. This is a 360 page book that reads like a 600 page book. I'm not what you'd call a plot-junky, but this book was just too slow and too boring. There are only three or four memorable scenes in the whole book, and only one of them possesses any dramatic tension. I think Forster set out to make a statement about relations between colonial power and colonized people. Certainly he accomplished that, but then again he could have done it in a page or two. Instead he threw together a mediocre work of literature to demonstrate his point.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book never grabbed me the way I had hoped it would. None of the characters is particularly engaging, and indeed some are barely tolerable. This is a 360 page book that reads like a 600 page book. I'm not what you'd call a plot-junky, but this book was just too slow and too boring. There are only three or four memorable scenes in the whole book, and only one of them possesses any dramatic tension. I think Forster set out to make a statement about relations between colonial power and colonized people. Certainly he accomplished that, but then again he could have done it in a page or two. Instead he threw together a mediocre work of literature to demonstrate his point.