A Passage to India

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Summary: Great memorial to British India
Review: With all due respect to Rudyard Kipling, E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" seems likely to remain the definitive novel about British Imperialist India written by an Englishman. It does not merely see India as a picturesque land in which to set an exotic adventure, but examines the complicated relationships between the British and the Indians with penetrating wisdom, astuteness, and fairness. Forster is not shy about portraying the British attitude towards the Indians as one of bigotry and condescension, but he also notes the considerable cultural and religious conflicts between the Muslims and the Hindus.

Most of the action takes place in a city called Chandrapore and concerns the friendship between a British school principal named Cyril Fielding and a Muslim physician named Dr. Aziz. The novel's events are set in motion in an empty mosque, where a praying Aziz meets an elderly Englishwoman named Mrs. Moore. After some friendly conversation, they take a liking to each other, and Aziz learns that Mrs. Moore's son is a man he knows well -- Ronny Heaslop, the Magistrate of Chandrapore. Later, having tea at Fielding's house, Aziz meets Mrs. Moore again and her companion, a young lady named Adela Quested, who is vaguely affianced to Ronny. Eager to see the "real" India, Adela enthusiastically accepts Aziz's offer to go on a picnic to the Marabar caves, a nearby tourist attraction, and Mrs. Moore is convinced to accompany them.

Forster lavishly describes the journey to the caves -- by train and then elephant -- and the caves themselves, each of which apparently is shaped somewhat like a frying pan, with a short corridor ending in a circular chamber. The outing proves to be much more eventful than the three spelunkers expected. Mrs. Moore, haunted by the eerie echos the caves propagate, crosses the threshold of insanity. And upon their return to Chandrapore, Adela claims that she was sexually assaulted in one of the caves and accuses Aziz, who is consequently arrested and tried for the crime.

Of course, there are a few different explanations for what really happened to Adela in the caves, but the British are prejudicially biased against Aziz. This puts Fielding in a quandary, as his defense of his good friend Aziz infuriates his British compatriots and gets him kicked out of his club. When Adela later admits that she can't confirm Aziz's guilt, Ronny acknowledges that a retraction of the charges would embarrass the British; he even hustles his mother out of India because, as a witness, her increasing incoherence would damage the case for the prosecution.

Although the cave incident and the subsequent trial drive the plot, the novel is more about the clash of three headstrong societies (Muslim, Hindu, and Christian) forced to dwell together amidst political turmoil, and how certain members of these societies manage to reconcile themselves to each other's differences. The final scene between Fielding and Aziz, in which Aziz uncannily predicts an independent Indian nation resulting from British dissolution, is a poignant display of this theme; for all the trouble and conflict in the world, there is always room for friendship and understanding.

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Summary: Passage to India from the point of view of a high schooler
Review: I had to read this book as a recommendation by my tenth grade English teacher for an Independent Study project. I was excited about reading it; everyone says it's good and I think India is interesting. However, having read the book thoroughly, even the confusing first half, I am not sure what the focus was supposed to be. Other reviewers said it was a look at the culture of India, my English teacher said it was a portrayal of different kinds of people, some people say it's the mystery of the trial concerned with racism and prejudice... I am not sure what I am supposed to be left feeling at the end of the book.

This was not a "bad" book - I am glad I read it and I would recommend it to others. It doesn't have an exciting plot or particularly likeable characters, but Forster has good insight into society and what makes people make and break friendships. I was left feeling confused on almost every level from this book, but in some ways it was an eye-opener. It should not be read to learn about India, since Forster seems to mention customs and interesting places offhandly and as a matter of course; it should neither be read as an investigation into what makes people tick. If you want to save yourself confusion, don't read it at all.

However, I liked the book because it was puzzling. I had to really think to figure out why there were such problems between Aziz and his English friend Fielding. I finished this book last night, and it has helped me understand something, though I can't yet put my finger on what.

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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: The Best Book I've read in ages.
Review: I wasn't particularly looking forward to reading A Passage to India. Forster, in my mind, seemed to suggest implausible romance, pretty scenery, and Helena Bonham Carter, and I'd never actually bothered to read one of his books.
Now I can hardly wait to read another. I absolutely loved this book, without quite knowing why it was so magical. I do know that I found the first chapter absolutely perfect, as it allows the reader to go into a "descriptive section" daze, and then jerks are attention suddenly back to the Marabar caves. And with the exception of one or two patches that dragged a little but were soon over, I found the rest of the book equally magnetic.
I enjoyed Fortster's deftness in portraying all the characters, not so much as individuals, but in terms of how they felt about each other. In particular I loved the relationship between Fielding and Aziz, while understanding completely the dislike each had for aspects of the others character.
The ending is marvelous. So often books that hold your interest like this just peter out, but it's refreshing to find an author like Forster who understands that what makes for an ideal conclusion is to give the readers a taste of what they want, and then hold back the last little bit.

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Summary: A True Classic
Review: I read this book when I was thirteen and fell in love with it. It is my favorite classic that I have read yet. It is a story of racial tensions in the steaming, exotic land of Chandrapore, India, where the British have a Cantonment with clubs, and the natives have villages with muddy roads and mosquitoes, and are expected to submit to the will of their dominators. Yet in the early 1900's, at the time Gandhi was still in South Africa, after two centuries of British rule, the native people, Hindus and Muslims alike, are growing tired.

When Adela, a young woman engaged to a British magistrate, and Mrs. Moore, the magistrate's mother, come to India to plan for the wedding, they are hopelessly enthralled and terribly naive. When Dr. Aziz, a young Muslim physician, meets Mrs. Moore in a mosque, he is charmed by her reverence in that she took off her shoes upon entrance. From here, a great friendship is formed. Adela, too, desires to befriend the natives, yet her efforts are regarded with contempt by both British and Indians, as both sides know and agree that it is impossible to be friends with both natives and Europeans. Only one has suceeded in that account, and his name is professor Fielding, known as Cyril by his students. A single, eccentric college professor, Fielding teaches Hindu and Muslim university students, while still mingling with British socialites. When he meets Adela, he too, scorns her aspirations. Thus, he also warns his Muslim friend, Dr. Aziz, not to bring her to the Marabar Caves.

It was supposed to be a very simple excursion to one of the most beautiful sites in local India. Aziz had not really meant it about taking Adela and Mrs. Moore there--had thrown it out as a casual suggestion--but being British, Adela and Mrs. Moore take him at his word. The trip turns to disaster, though, when a mysterious figure tries to rape Adela in one of the caves. Since no one has seen the attacker and no one can account for Aziz's whereabouts, he is soon blamed. In a climax that is chilling yet realistic, A Passage To India shows us what the best and worst of human nature and human prejudice can lead us to.

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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.

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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: 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: disappointing
Review: This story is light, funny and adventurous. Unfortunatly it is written in a very heavy hard-to-read manner. Very uninviting - had to force myself to read it.

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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.