Review of 'Passage to India'

Passage to India by E. M. Forster

An interesting story of the racial tensions between the Indians and the occupying English of the early 20th century. The charming and successful Dr. Aziz is accused of impropriety against a visiting young Englishwoman while visiting the Marabar Caves. The case causes the city of Chandrapore erupts with the tensions between the two groups coming to a head. The book is interesting in that neither side is portrayed in a particularly flattering light with both good and bad present on both sides (though, admitedly, it seems in the story that the English have more bad than good…). The writing is quite colourful and descriptive which I found made it harder to get into the story (never mind the fact that none of the main characters short of perhaps Fielding or Aziz I found to be terribly sympathetic to me). An interesting tale.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Genre: General Fiction