This book pleasantly surprised me.

I originally added Maurice to my TBR because of the interesting background story, that's what got my attention. Forster wrote this in 1914 but it wasn't released until 1971, the year after he died. This book is so explicitly gay that it couldn't safely be published in its time. 

Maurice is about a gay man in the early 1910s, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, and dealing with queer romance. The novel also explores themes of religion and class.

I won't spoil anything, but the specific detail that is apparently the main reason why it couldn't be published – it's just sad. And ironic.

it has a happy ending, or at least can be interpreted as happy. Apparently this would have been more acceptable if it had ended with suicide... how awful!

As I was putting together a loose TBR for autumn (it's only the end of August, I'm an early prepper), I took this book into consideration, reading the first few pages to help me decide. Well, I was instantly pulled in, only taking a few days to finish the whole book. Maurice is pretty fast paced for a classic. The writing style is sweet at times, but not too wordy. It also feels very... contemporary for its time, if that makes sense? Rather than having an almost universal "old timey" feel. It's kind of like how The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton absolutely screams 1960s, with certain terms and phrases that don't show up much in other eras, as far as I know.

In addition to the writing style being more fast paced and accessible than I had expected, Maurice is surprising because it's even more explicitly gay than I had imagined. If I were around in the 1970s and read this, I'd be gobsmacked! Can't even imagine what it would have been like if it were released in 1914. Of course, this is very tame compared to more recent pieces of queer media, thankfully we've come a long way since the early 1900s.

Now, let's get into what I didn't like. While I think the somewhat plain language is okay, I felt that the plot needed more room to breathe, maybe ~20 pages longer to flesh things out better? Particularly the last act, which was originally even shorter?! Not everyone will agree, but it uses a certain trope that is a huge turn off for me as a reader. The trope:

insta-love, aka love at first sight. Ack! It's just not believable, and makes it hard to identify with the characters, especially with a new character being introduced late on in the story. I'm a slow burn fan

Overall, I didn't connect deeply with this book, but it was entertaining to read, and I appreciate its uniqueness.

I would recommend Maurice if you like: queer history, academic settings, morally gray characters, ambiguous endings.