EM Forster is the well-known author of novels like "Howard's End", "Room with a View" (both made into movies), "The Longest Journey", and "Where Angels Fear to Tread". This book contains 12 stories from his two books of short stories. He writes in a very traditionally English way, almost as if he were sitting in front of you and actually telling the story to you himself. In his novels, he has free rein to ramble on and on about things, gradually bringing the story to a conclusion, but although he is restricted here by the nature of the short story he can still maintain his conversational manner while bringing the message across quite effectively.
A lot of the stories have spiritual undertones to it so it was intriguing to read and reflect. For example, "The Celestial Omnibus" is not about a book on the heavens, but an actual bus between Earth and a kind of heaven which a boy discovers and rides on. "The Other Side of the Hedge" tells of a man who is intent on the narrow path before him bounded by hedges on either side, heading towards his unseen goal, until he finds his way through the hedge and discovers the truth about the road he's on.
Others bring up questions about technological advances. "The Machine Stops" tells of a future Earth where everyone shuns the surface and lives underground, their survival depending on a machine.
His ideas are sometimes whimsical as well. There's a story, "The Point of It", which I can't get the point of at all! A well-told story nonetheless. What's good about this particular collection is the introduction, which explains some of his methods of writing, and the backgrounds of some of the stories. I might have found it harder to understand several stories if not for the author's preface. This collection of short stories is not for a lazy afternoon of relaxing reading; perhaps it's more for a good read for a change in subject matter. All in all, a good read to get the brain juices flowing.
Rating: ***out of 5
