Here's a painting of E.M.Forster. Note that his head is pointy at the back. This is believed to be source of his literary powers.

I was in a cafe and someone there recommended Forster, so I got Where Angels Fear To Tread from the library. It was his first novel, written when he was 26. I think this shows, in that he is careful to demonstrate his cleverness. He also deliberately uses terse, modern language, wanting to be fresh and free of pomposity. The economy of expression is a sign that he is afraid of losing the reader's attention. More experienced writers are less constrained and are a bit more expansive. For instance, in The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky uses seemingly redundant verbiage with abandon, yet his genius is that this has meaning in itself, and so is not wasted.

Thank you Forster, this is a very thoughtful book.