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sophia_sol) wrote2013-04-02 08:54 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2013-04-02 08:54 pm
Maurice, by E.M. Forster
I picked this book up because I heard it belongs to the regrettably-rare BOOKS WRITTEN IN THE PAST ABOUT QUEER PEOPLE WHO GET HAPPY ENDINGS!!!!! category. Which is a pretty excellent category which I am ALWAYS happy to learn of further books to add to!
...I'm not quite sure what to think of this book, though. I mean, it does more or less deliver on what was promised! It is written in 1913/1914 and set in that era, it features a queer dude as the main character, and that queer dude leaves the last page of the book in the happy company of the man he loves at the time. But I somehow couldn't quite get into it.
I think my biggest problem was that I never quite got convinced of anyone's feelings towards each other, or in fact what they might see in each other. Clive and Maurice both more or less feel like real people, albeit people I wouldn't like, but I am utterly baffled as to why they like(d) each other and the text doesn't put much effort into convincing the reader of it. And then Alec is even MORE of a mystery...! And gosh the Maurice/Alec relationship just feels very much out of nowhere and very likely to fizzle out quickly. I was just full of lots of wtfs because sure it might be a happy ending to the book but it is NOT A HAPPY ENDING I AM AT ALL CONVINCED OF so it wasn't nearly as satisfying to me as I wanted it to be. I would not object to being convinced of Maurice and Alec's love at all! I wanted to be sold on it! But the book did not succeed in that regard. Sigh.
It's a very good book though -- at least, I think it is? idk. It's very convincing as a picture of an average british guy of his era trying to figure out how to live his life when he doesn't fit the mould of "normal". The book is very, mmm, subdued in tone, which isn't what I'm used to but which worked for the book -- it really succeeded in getting at the stifling mindset Maurice had grown up in.
But overall I didn't enjoy the process of reading this book much at all.
Oh well, I'm glad to have read it, since it is one of those important texts that is always being referred to!
(when we first get introduced to Alec's name my reaction was "WAIT WHAT THIS IS THAT BOOK????" Because I was vaaaaaguely familiar with there being a book in existence with a romance between two dudes, one of whom was named Alec, and the boathouse being important, and them running off to the woods together at the end. But I didn't realize that that book was "Maurice"! NOW I KNOW.)
...I'm not quite sure what to think of this book, though. I mean, it does more or less deliver on what was promised! It is written in 1913/1914 and set in that era, it features a queer dude as the main character, and that queer dude leaves the last page of the book in the happy company of the man he loves at the time. But I somehow couldn't quite get into it.
I think my biggest problem was that I never quite got convinced of anyone's feelings towards each other, or in fact what they might see in each other. Clive and Maurice both more or less feel like real people, albeit people I wouldn't like, but I am utterly baffled as to why they like(d) each other and the text doesn't put much effort into convincing the reader of it. And then Alec is even MORE of a mystery...! And gosh the Maurice/Alec relationship just feels very much out of nowhere and very likely to fizzle out quickly. I was just full of lots of wtfs because sure it might be a happy ending to the book but it is NOT A HAPPY ENDING I AM AT ALL CONVINCED OF so it wasn't nearly as satisfying to me as I wanted it to be. I would not object to being convinced of Maurice and Alec's love at all! I wanted to be sold on it! But the book did not succeed in that regard. Sigh.
It's a very good book though -- at least, I think it is? idk. It's very convincing as a picture of an average british guy of his era trying to figure out how to live his life when he doesn't fit the mould of "normal". The book is very, mmm, subdued in tone, which isn't what I'm used to but which worked for the book -- it really succeeded in getting at the stifling mindset Maurice had grown up in.
But overall I didn't enjoy the process of reading this book much at all.
Oh well, I'm glad to have read it, since it is one of those important texts that is always being referred to!
(when we first get introduced to Alec's name my reaction was "WAIT WHAT THIS IS THAT BOOK????" Because I was vaaaaaguely familiar with there being a book in existence with a romance between two dudes, one of whom was named Alec, and the boathouse being important, and them running off to the woods together at the end. But I didn't realize that that book was "Maurice"! NOW I KNOW.)
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I haven't read Maurice! But you're not the first person I've talked to who has had a sort of meh reaction to EM Forster, so I am thinking that is a thing!
I still kind of want to read it, though. Although I think I want to read Well of Loneliness first -- even though I actually don't even know if that has a happy ending (I'm thinking, probably not!).
Hey, so, for a while I was almost following along in the brick!club. But then I... stopped? And now I'm like SEVERAL CHAPTERS behind and I can't decide if I should try to catch up, urrrgh. I procrastinated for a while trying to find an annotated edition, but such a thing doesn't exist?! But I want footnotes :( I feel like I'm missing stuff.
jumping in
I also love the quietness and reserve of E. M. Forster's style -- I guess reactions will vary!
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Aw, I'm sad to hear Well of Loneliness ends unhappily, but not exactly surprised :oP You make it sound delicious I have to say *g* I think that old-school butch/femme divide is really interesting (I recced a fem!lock AU to that tune a few months ago). It's definitely still high on my list of stuff to get to!
I'm glad to know someone liked EM Forster (well, I know Stepen Fry loves him, so), and I'm definitely still curious enough to want to check it out.
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It is SO delicious, and is the only book that ever managed to make me cry about a horse.
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Re: jumping in
And oh dear, I think I do not want to read Well of Loneliness, but I am glad you enjoyed it!
Re: jumping in
I see someone's recced the Maurice movie below -- I don't remember it as well as the book, but it was enjoyable!
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I think you should still read Maurice, yeah, because it is a worthwhile book! Most of my "meh" is around not liking any of the characters, which is something not everybody has trouble with when reading, so maybe you'll like it more than I did!
AUGH I AM MANY CHAPTERS BEHIND IN BRICK!CLUB TOOOOO, this is what happens when I go on vacation apparently AUGH. I need to catch up! I recommend you do too, because Les Mis is AWESOME and brick!club almost makes up for the lack of footnotes? (because OH MY GOD I HEAR YOU on the annotations, it wants SO MANY. Apparently a thoroughly-annotated edition exists IN FRENCH, so if you speak French and also have a lotttt of money kicking around you could go for that? ALAS. But I think the problem is that the brick is SO DENSE and SO LONG and contains SO MANY ALLUSIONS that the annotations would probably be just as long as the book itself, which would make it a HELLA LOT OF WORK to annotate and EXTREMELY INCONVENIENT to publish. Sighhhhhhhh)
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IDK, I usually like it best when I can feel sympathy for the characters?! But just, the setting and the basic plot makes me feel like I should at least try either way.
I finally got to Valjean's first chapter, which did help my motivation quite a bit! It's not that I didn't like Bienvenu, but it did get a bit same-y by the end. I have to admit, and please don't hate me for this, but I... was a bit unimpressed by the general blather in the brick!club /o\ Maybe I'm not investing enough time in going through the entries, but most of the entries I've seen haven't been very... analytical or, dare I say it, smart. I OBVIOUSLY SHOULDN'T THROW STONES, *I* COULD NOT MAKE A SMART/ANALYTICAL POST ABOUT THE BRICK! But I haven't been back for a little while because I lost interest in the discussions I saw there... Anyway, yes, you're probably right that annotating Les Mis would be impossible to publish, although I feel like surely ebooks would make it doable AND affordable!
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But I think there's value even in the observations that aren't super smart/analytical, because the slow pace and laser-like focus means that details get NOTICED that wouldn't be otherwise and you have the time to go google them up yourself. like in 1.1.7 when I read the french wiki article on the bandit Cravatte was associated with, and discovered it added extra depth to the chapter!
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I need to be up to date for it to work best, clearly. Argh!
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(The Charioteer was also written in the past and has a happyish ending! JUST SO YOU KNOW.)
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YES THE CHARIOTEER, that is another book that is on my to-read list for exactly that reason! (wait, better double-check that it is ACTUALLy on my to-read list and not just my mental to-read list.......)
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GOOD BECAUSE IT IS LOVELY.
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/tl;dr Maurice feels
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