It matters so little to the majority of living beings what the minority, that calls itself human, desires or decides.
Rating: 1/5
Trigger Warnings: Racism, Implications of Sexual Assault (though no descriptions)
Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read the book, this review will contain spoilers so it’s up to you if you continue…
When I first opened this book I was so excited. I was promised an exploration of India, a commentary on colonialism, a show of ignorance - but from a post-colonial view. Forster was supposed to be showing me the faults of the British Empire.
And he did. I guess. My problem is that he did it in the most boring, hypocritical way. Considering this book was sold to me as a post-colonial view of India, intended to be set in the Empire so that it could highlight the many hypocrisies and faults of colonialism/imperialism, it contained so much racism that I felt it wasn’t just a little too close to colonial writing to be post-colonial. Maybe it’s just my dislike of the book colouring that but I didn’t enjoy it. On the very first page, the people of Chandrapore are referred to as being made of ‘mud moving’. And yes, most of the examples of racist comments are intended to be read as such (i.e. the reader is meant to see the wrongness of the racism), but if it’s not a character talking, if the narrator is making comments that come across as ignorant? Just doesn’t make for an enjoyable read in my mind.
Fielding, our ‘moral compass’ in Chandrapore, is just a little too obvious in his position as the character we are ‘meant’ to agree with. He is the only one of the English people (other than newcomers to Chandrapore Mrs Moore and Miss Quested) who is willing to integrate with the Indian population, and is the only one willing to voice his opposition to the British hegemony.
I just can’t figure out why this book is considered such a triumph. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. I understand the overall message of the book - though I don’t pretend to belittle Forster’s novel and say there is only one message to be taken from it - but it felt heavy handed and somewhat dull. The plot should be exciting, but it becomes a little predictable (not helped by my Uni Tutor spoiling the book for me in class). Adela’s ‘episode’ in the Marabar Caves I did not see coming, but the outcome of the trial (i.e. her having to own her mistake, Fielding siding with Aziz, Aziz coming to detest the English he had previously admired) wasn’t anything exciting. After Mrs Moore left India and Aziz was let off, I didn’t really care what happened. In fact, the main action of the storyline happens in such a short portion of the book itself, that I struggled to want to finish it. So much of what comes after is weighty descriptions of India - weighty descriptions which were just wordy and over-wrought. It felt like Forster was trying to make some great metaphor of his descriptions, as if each sentence had a deeper meaning, when really I didn’t understand any of it, I was just less inclined to keep reading.
My problem then, is with the style of the novel, not the plot line. I quite enjoy the subject matter, but man is this book dense.
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