[.uk] A Passage to India (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (ISBN 0878910395)

Amazon.com Review:
What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends? "It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel. "They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection. "He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton! "I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike." Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging. "Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar. "How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile. "He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps." Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed. Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber

There is beauty here.:
First of all, I should say that as I grow older I'm learning that everything I read more than five years should probably not be included in the list of books I've read. I first read A Passage to India in 1994. I know this because in my quasi obsession, through most of the nineties, to catch up on reading the important books years I had never read, I wrote the dates at which I started and finished each book on the inside cover. When I picked A Passage to India up again this summer, I was stunned to find that, except for a few hazy vaguenesses, I had forgotten the book completely. I certainly had no memory of its beauty. At the heart of A Passage to India are the issues of race, friendship, decency, and the clash of cultures in British India at the turn of the 20th century. Forster's story is polyphonic, which is to say it is told from a number of voices. His prose is beautiful enough to stop you, and the novel's larger questions are ones that continue to resonate with the world's denizens even at the turn of this century.

East and West Can Never Meet:
Almost a century after the book's publication the most crucial problems it discussed are as current as they were during Forster's life. The impossibility of communicating across the divide of culture, religion, and race, seems to be even more alive then when he saw it. The value of the novel lies not so much in representing it but in the fact that Forster offers a way out - personal contact. There is little chance people will suddenly like Muslims, Pakistanis, gays, lesbians, Moroccans, Turkish, Kurds etc etc - there is a chance (a very slim chance, Forster would be quick to add) that an American and a Muslim, a Turk and a Kurd, an Israeli and a Palestinian can be friends. The world may not want it, the people that surround them may not want it but the results depend on us alone. If we do not try we only have ourselves to blame.

Awesome book.:
This is avery insightful book that I would recommend to anyone. I downloading the book on my kindle a few days ago and i just finished reading it last night. I especially found the detailed reminder of the problems we have in our society today including racism and prejudice. This is a very good book to sit and read on the weekend.

A classic novel:
"A Passage to India" left me a little dissapointed. It starts so promissing, so unusual. It takes you to a different world and different time and you expect a fine journey. But somehow as the story progresse I was still waiting for some more excitment, more interesting characters, developing of deeper feeling. But unfortunately I never found it in this book. The language, the discriptions of India are beautiful. But I expected so much more from it! It's like those Marabar caves around which the plot revolves: you see them from far away, think about them, find them beautiful, but when you come to visit them they are just caves with nothing to make them special. There was nothing special for me in this book, except that everything in it happened in India. And I can understand why so many readers are struggling through it. The major plot is flat, the characters are plain and uninteresting, they look like cartoon caricatures sometimes. There are a lot of possibilities to make this story shine like a real gem stone. But Forster didn't use any of them. Though I appreciate his idea, his wonderful work over the details and mastering the dialoges.

A classic about cultures colliding:
A Passage to India is a complicated novel about British imperialism in India in the 1920s, and about the relationship between the natives and the British as those two cultures collide. The story revolves around several characters: Adela Quested, a young woman come to India to marry a government official; her potential future mother-in-law, Mrs. Moore; Dr. Aziz, a local doctor who becomes friends with these ladies, until something shocking happens one day on an outing that changes things forever; and Cecil Fielding, another member of the expatriate community. In some respects, A Passage to India hasn't aged all that well. I also found my attention wandering in some places. But still, it's a well-written novel about what happens when East meets West.