A Passage to India (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

After rereading this story for the first time in decades I see that I didn't begin to grasp it when I was young. We never do find out what really happenedMaybe that's the point. But the authors foresight about the future of Europe and the Raj is striking throughout. Somehow he saw what would happen when the British left India, and what is still happening there a hundred years after this book was written.

Wonderfully written, engaging ideas about race, religion, nihilism, fascinating historical period.

I tend to read well with the result that I’ve read almost every book on any 20-best novels list, with the exception, of course, of Ulysses and Proust (Why bother?). For the life of me, I can’t imagine why anyone would hold A Passage to India in high regard.

A book everyone interested in colonialism should read. Beautifully written. A classic.

I was an English major 50 years ago (how time flies!) and as I look back over all the books I've read in my life, I believe this is the greatest of them all.It is set in a time of racial/religious/colonial upheaval in India, but this is more a fascinating backdrop or vehicle than the meaning Forster is getting at. He always seems to edge into spiritual subjects, from the side, as if a secondary mention, and then it colors everything previously read.Here, the words "God si love" compel the reader to find spiritual significance in the momentous social and political events, realizing that a misunderstanding of words is meaningless compared to the inexpressible significance of the awakening. The end reminds me of something from 1 Corinthians 1, "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. . . . For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."I would suppose other religious or spiritual works might find the same theme at some point, if anyone knows them well enough to comment. I think the meaning of the book would be available to atheists (and certainly agnostics) as well, as long as one admits to a non-conscious and deeply affecting understanding that informs a group of people.

I found this difficult to read due to word choice and sad content. I prefer a more positive outcome.

This book fell apart, page after page, from page one.Cheapest, worst binding I’ve ever seen. Buy a different printing!!!

His prose does not flow. His choice of words and sentences is odd, cumbersome, and vague. Really not much happens is this novel. He even invented places and mountain ranges (there's a shortage of that in India it seems!) He actually spent only 1 year in India b/w 1912 & 1913. Still, every now and then he has some brilliant observation on the difference b/w West & East and I gave him 3 for that.

It was a gift.