Rating: 
Summary: Uncomfortable but wonderful inventive writing
Review: EM Forster wrote this book in 1913-14 but declined to allow it to be published till after his death. It tells of Maurice Hall (which immediately made me think of Radclyffe Hall's classic 'The Well of Loneliness) growing up with an awareness and horror of his homosexuality. As I struggled to develop a 'oneness' with characters who were so alien to my own natural preference an amazing thing happened in the story. One of the two main 'gay' (Forster does not use this word) characters suddenly decides he likes women. Does this happen, I wondered? Or was it an excuse used by one 'gay' (or bisexual) person to disengage from a partner they no longer enjoyed? For me, of course, it drove another knife between the remaining 'gay' character and myself. It seemed that homosexuals could be changed/change - they could all be like me! Was this a literary device of Forster that aims to modify the responses of readers - making the job harder for heterosexual readers to identify with Maurice, making homosexual readers even more keenly feel the alienation of society (especially when the book was written)?In an afterword Forster explains that his book had to have a happy ending (despite great trauma suicide is mentioned only once throughout the book). This made me think again of Radclyffe Hall's 'Well of Loneliness' with its remorseless and, for me, unsatisfyingly negative ending. Hall wrote her novel about lesbians in 1928 and it created a furore in its time. That Forster was sitting on his novel at the time is an intersting thing to me. Was he tempted to publish? Perhaps he felt he could not join the same storm. Perhaps he originally had the miserable ending Hall wrote, and changed to distinguish his novel. In the end, these can be little more than speculations. When I read Richard Fortey's book 'Trilobite' I complained in my review that I never really got to like trilobites as Mr Fortey obviosly does, despite enjoying the book immensely. The case is the same here. Forster's writing is inventive and rich, but I am left feeling just as alienated from homosexuals - I am simply not one of them. Am I more sympathetic? Perhaps. But the best that I can hope for is probably to be more tolerant.
Rating:
Summary: Uncomfortable but wonderful inventive writing
Review: EM Forster wrote this book in 1913-14 but declined to allow it to be published till after his death. It tells of Maurice Hall (which immediately made me think of Radclyffe Hall's classic 'The Well of Loneliness) growing up with an awareness and horror of his homosexuality. As I struggled to develop a 'oneness' with characters who were so alien to my own natural preference an amazing thing happened in the story. One of the two main 'gay' (Forster does not use this word) characters suddenly decides he likes women. Does this happen, I wondered? Or was it an excuse used by one 'gay' (or bisexual) person to disengage from a partner they no longer enjoyed? For me, of course, it drove another knife between the remaining 'gay' character and myself. It seemed that homosexuals could be changed/change - they could all be like me! Was this a literary device of Forster that aims to modify the responses of readers - making the job harder for heterosexual readers to identify with Maurice, making homosexual readers even more keenly feel the alienation of society (especially when the book was written)? In an afterword Forster explains that his book had to have a happy ending (despite great trauma suicide is mentioned only once throughout the book). This made me think again of Radclyffe Hall's 'Well of Loneliness' with its remorseless and, for me, unsatisfyingly negative ending. Hall wrote her novel about lesbians in 1928 and it created a furore in its time. That Forster was sitting on his novel at the time is an intersting thing to me. Was he tempted to publish? Perhaps he felt he could not join the same storm. Perhaps he originally had the miserable ending Hall wrote, and changed to distinguish his novel. In the end, these can be little more than speculations. When I read Richard Fortey's book 'Trilobite' I complained in my review that I never really got to like trilobites as Mr Fortey obviosly does, despite enjoying the book immensely. The case is the same here. Forster's writing is inventive and rich, but I am left feeling just as alienated from homosexuals - I am simply not one of them. Am I more sympathetic? Perhaps. But the best that I can hope for is probably to be more tolerant.
Rating: 
Summary: Finding love, life
Review: Forster's posthumously published novel of one man finding his own way, despite society's expectations, is one of my all-time favorite novels. Re-reading it now, after many years, was a joy. Following Maurice's failed relationship with Clive, which ends in Clive's marriage, to Maurice's encounter with Clive's groundskeeper Alec, we watch Maurice battle the will of society to fit in, marry, and produce heirs, and ultimately decide to follow his own heart and embark on a life with Alec. Even Clive admonishes Maurice's decision at the end, and yet we're left with a sense that Clive is envious. While it's about being true to one's self no matter what society expects, it's also a potent commentary on class and on what it means to be an outsider in the pre-World War 1 era. A classic novel, that is happily listed among the 100 Best Lesbian and Gay Novels.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: I have to confess, I watched the movie first (which I watched three times in a span of two days). I enjoyed the movie so much that after the third time, I ran out and bought the book. The book is absolutely beautiful. I remember sitting on the subway reading Maurice and forgetting where I was, ingnoring everyone around me, and letting the book whisk me away to a time and place obviously different, yet unfortunately similar in attitude towards same-sex relationships (I missed my stop). I couldn't believe Maurice was written over 80 years ago. The subject matter seems too contemporary to be written about during that time, and I suppose that's why E.M. Forster's novel is so great. He manages to capture effortlessly the relationship of Maurice and Clive, as well as to paint a picture of what life was like back then for gay folk. Readers can easily transpose many of the events and experiences in the novel to the present day, which makes empathizing with Maurice so much easier. This novel should no doubt be a required read. It shares many of the complexities as Forster's other work, yet perhaps it is glossed over more because of its subject matter--which, if true, is such a shame.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but not his best
Review: I rated this book five stars, and I like it a lot, but I have to admit that it doesn't quite have the depth and breadth that Howards End had. It is, however, much more readable than some of his other works (A Passage to India) and I think it has about the happiest ending out of any of his books. The maturation of the main character and his relationships (Clive is not my favorite character) is definitely well-written, well-plotted, et cetera, and it's the kind of book that you want to sit down and devour at once (less 'classics' display this tendency than popcorn genre works). It is the kind of book where you shouldn't care that the main character prefers men; it matters, that's what the book deals with, but it's not the sum total of the book.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING WORK
Review: I read Maurice after watching the film starring James Wilby and Hugh Grant.I thought the movie which was by the way really good has been touched by the hands of a screenplay writer from the nineties to make it look so convincing. I was skeptical about whether a "straight" author of the Edwardian age would be able to write convincingly about homosexual love so I bought the book to find out for myself .Well , it was money well spent .I read it all over one night (it is not that long anyway).The author's portrayal of human emotions is mesmerizing.His descripton of anger,frustration,despair and despondency experienced by a homosexual man at that time is outstanding.The escape routes utilized by the major characters in the novel(religion,psychiatry,hypnotism and marriage) are so authentic.I recommend it strongly to anyone who is serious about ridding themselves of the contempt our society feels toward homosexual people.It is a very well written book.
Rating:
Summary: favorite
Review: I think I'm setting myself up to be abused for an imperfect understanding of Forster's work, but I love Maurice, and I only like everything else he wrote. Forster's plots to me are so controlled that his novels become more like chess games than stories--his characters move entirely according to their classist/symbolic value; their minds are types, their types interact. Sometimes this interaction is delightful, as in Room with a View. Sometimes it is genuinely touching, as in Where Angels Fear to Tread. But it is always highly regimented. This criticism extends for me to his prose, which I find to be too rule-bound--he always leaves the same words out; his style is symbolic of delicate subtlety without necessarily being so. But in Maurice, Forster lets go some of this reserve. His prose, which I find formulaic in his later stuff, is here undeveloped enough to be idiosyncratic, un-stylized, and gorgeous. Maurice as a character is wonderfully, wonderfully real, and I appreciate the detailed development of the plot because Forster brings home with such ability the hazards of Maurice's struggle, the ever-present possibility of failure, the balance between lesser and more important goals, and the way in which Forster makes clear that these goals, as Maurice knows when he "listens beneath" words, are not the ends that he is really achieving as he achieves them. Maurice himself is drawn with Jane Austen-ian precision: Forster mixes the divine heroism--beauty and brutality--in Maurice's essential, private life with his utterly mundane non-essentials--politics, understanding, relationships with family, opinions, way of talking, appearance, job. This is a heroic book. It moves me to tears every time I read it.
Rating:
Summary: favorite
Review: I think I'm setting myself up to be abused for an imperfect understanding of Forster's work, but I love Maurice, and I only like everything else he wrote. Forster's plots to me are so controlled that his novels become more like chess games than stories--his characters move entirely according to their classist/symbolic value; their minds are types, their types interact. Sometimes this interaction is delightful, as in Room with a View. Sometimes it is genuinely touching, as in Where Angels Fear to Tread. But it is always highly regimented. This criticism extends for me to his prose, which I find to be too rule-bound--he always leaves the same words out; his style is symbolic of delicate subtlety without necessarily being so. But in Maurice, Forster lets go some of this reserve. His prose, which I find formulaic in his later stuff, is here undeveloped enough to be idiosyncratic, un-stylized, and gorgeous. Maurice as a character is wonderfully, wonderfully real, and I appreciate the detailed development of the plot because Forster brings home with such ability the hazards of Maurice's struggle, the ever-present possibility of failure, the balance between lesser and more important goals, and the way in which Forster makes clear that these goals, as Maurice knows when he "listens beneath" words, are not the ends that he is really achieving as he achieves them. Maurice himself is drawn with Jane Austen-ian precision: Forster mixes the divine heroism--beauty and brutality--in Maurice's essential, private life with his utterly mundane non-essentials--politics, understanding, relationships with family, opinions, way of talking, appearance, job. This is a heroic book. It moves me to tears every time I read it.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Homosexual Novel!
Review: If you are looking for THE homosexual novel, then this is it. Its theme and characters are so well developed that it is strikingly real. It deals with the disappointments in the life of a young, confused, homosexual man. It also scrutinizes British society of earlier this century in such a way that it reveals so much of the hatred and class prejudices that existed then. Amidst all that is a wonderful love story. What more do we want?
Rating:
Summary: Great Help in coming out
Review: i`ve seen the movie first, which was a great help for me to come out. as i saw the movie, i`v made the step to come out NOW!! it was an experience, that made my live changing, and helped me feelin good with my homosexuality, which is a great thing t me now..thank you, e.m. David
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