A Passage to India
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A Passage to India
by Authors:
E.M. Forster
Released: 17 March, 1965
ISBN: 0156711427
Paperback
Sales Rank: 11,473
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List price:
$13.00
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$9.75
(You save: $3.25)
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| Book > A Passage to India > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
A Passage to India >
Customer Review #1:
 Serendipity Indeed
Forster writes late in the book,"...composed in English to indicate His universality." But does using English really make one belong? In the book, all the primary characters communicate with one another in English but miscomprehension abounds; there is a disconnect. The disconnect is both vertical and horizontal: a disconnect between the English and the Indians but also one among the English and among the Indians. And, here, there, moments of reaching out to the other interrupt the prevailing tension.This is the first Forster book that Ive read completely. I have seen all the movie adaptations of his books (except A Pssage To India) and have enjoyed them thoroughly. But an attempt at reading A Room With A View wasnt at all successful (stopped twice at chapter 3) and I gave up (perhaps a little too hastily) reading any of the books themselves. Recently however, I have become intrigued with Indian authors and books about India and suddenly, A Passage to India popped into my mind and I picked up a copy. Forsters prose reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgeralds in its
nuanced simplicity although the former can at times become somewhat abstract. Forster conveys the complexity of colonial India but the read was spectacularly easy, aided by many humorous points. Halfway through the book, I was so impressed by the book and wondered if it had made it onto the Modern Librarys best 100 works of fiction in the 20th century. And it did.
A Passage to India >
Customer Review #2:
One of the better books Ive read in my life...
Foresters A Passage to India is a masterful novel. True, to the unknowledgable reader it may seem to be a lacking indictment of the Raj. When this book is read with adaquete background knowledge of India though, it becomes something exquisite. The imagery and writing paint such beautiful pictures of a vibrant yet torn India. Forester follows in the third person narrative but is able to slip, unawares, into the minds of the characters at will. This provides the reader with amazing insight into all the characters involved. Aside from the writing, the story itself serves as a wonderful metaphor for India and the Raj. Through Mrs. Quested,Esmiss Esmore, Dr. Aziz, Mr. Fielding and the rest of the British, a painful picture of seperation is crafted. Seperation of love in the case of Ronnie and Adela, and Ronnie and his mother, and seperation of friendship as seen with Dr. Aziz and Fielding. These personal "anecdotes" broaden ones view of the bigger picture: India and Britains inability to be "friends." A definite must read!
A Passage to India >
Customer Review #3:
 Disappointing
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. Im not what youd 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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A Passage to India >
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