Passing

This is a great, short novel with lots to think about. Passing is obviously central, but the most interesting engagement with passing is Irene’s (i.e., the narrator’s) troubled and doubled relationship to passing: she is critical of Clare’s active passing while being uncritical of her own passive passing.

As I read it, Larsen seems to using passing as a way of being known while being unknown. Although Clare and Irene grew up friends, when Clare passes as white, it is like Irene no longer knows Clare as she once did. 12 years have passed but it is more than that. Clare, the friend from her youth, is the known who has become unknown, hidden behind an “ivory mask” that then becomes the surface on which Irene builds a new, faulty show more understanding of Clare that is influenced by her “white” presence, especially when reflected in her brutish husband’s actions. In so far as I can see Clare clearly through Irene’s eyes, her motives seem like innocent desires to reconnect, but passing seems to have deleted so much of Clare’s presence for Irene that the latter is no longer able to know what she knew of Clare. show less

Written in 1929 during the Harlem Renaissance, Passing by Nella Larsen tells the story of two biracial and light-skinned black women who can pass as white. One, Clare, has married a racist white man who is completely unaware of her past and her identity. Irene, the other, has married a black physician and has no real wish to pass. However when she is tired after a shopping trip, she stops for tea at a whites only tea room where the two women encounter each other. They had grown up in the same neighbourhood but haven’t seen each other since childhood until this meeting. The encounter will lead to unexpected and eventually tragic consequences for both women.

Passing is a very short book that packs a huge wallop. It is an intriguing, show more surprisingly suspenseful, and very insightful book about racial identity and attitudes that still resonates today. There is also an exploration of the tensions that develop between women, between the sexes, and between classes. Irene acts as narrator albeit an untrustworthy one adding a layer of ambiguity to the story and this ambiguity is nowhere more evident than at the end, one that was completely unexpected at least by me. This is not an easy or even a comfortable read but it is an important one and I recommend it highly.

Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Restless Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

“It’s funny about ‘passing.’ We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect it.”

This slim, beautifully written novel is about two women living in New York City in the 1920s. They were childhood friends together. One, Irene Redfield, is a black woman living an affluent life with her husband and children. The second is Clare Kendry, also a black woman but “passing” as a white woman. To complicate matters, her white husband is a stone-cold racist. This book was written in 1929 but I had never heard of it until recently. I am glad it landed on my radar. A little gem, that speaks volumes.

This novel is a remarkable story of two early twentieth century African American women who had grown up together but whose lives diverged as they grew up. When a chance encounter brings them together again after a number of years, we learn that one married a black man and became active in the Harlem Renaissance; the other -- who was light-skinned enough to "pass" -- married a white man (a racist one, at that), leaving her heritage and previous identity behind. Can one truly reinvent oneself? How succesfully can one construct a self out of nothing? The ending was a shocker.

This slender novel reveals a deep, rich, emotional story as well as a snapshot of life in 1929 Harlem. Through the awkward reunion of Irene and Clare, we're also offered a glimpse into the complicated world of identity and colorism and the soul-crushing pain of being othered.

Undoubtedly a timely read no matter when, this book felt especially important to me in this time of Black Lives Matter and the importance of skin tone in film casting. (And speaking of casting, the upcoming film version of this book has been cast and I'm so excited!)

There's nothing oblique or obfuscated in this story (other than Clare's behavior, of course). Irene and Clare are young black women, married with children. But Irene is proud of her identity and her show more family and to her surprise, gorgeous Clare has passed herself as white, and is married to a very racist white man. The bulk of the story is about how Irene and Clare navigate this terrible secret -- when Clare seems so close to flaunting it -- and it's obvious Clare is intrigued, perhaps even jealous, of Irene and her life. The vibe of the story reminded of Kate Chopin and A Doll's House with its undercurrent of frustrated stagnation forced on women by society.

This edition includes an extremely brainy Critical Forward by Mae Henderson that sadly went over my head; her notes on the text, however, were fascinating and appreciated and gave me deeper understanding to the clues Larsen peppered in the narrative.

I read Justina Ireland's Dread Nation immediately after this one, and while the two books couldn't be more different, they're thematic cousins. One grounded in fantasy, the other reality, but centered both on the struggle women of color experience in trying to survive -- never mind survive happily. show less

I've gotten to the point in my reading life where I can frequently predict what's going to happen in a book. Whether it's a result of reading so voraciously for so many years or from my knowledge of story structure, themes or being able to interpret subtext and recognize foreshadowing, I'm not sure. Of course, I'm not always right, but my batting average is pretty darn good. That's why books that surprise me in some what always end up as favorites. The ending of Passing surprised me, though it probably shouldn't have.

Larsen pulls off a neat trick by making the reader believe this book is about blacks passing as whites and the pull black culture retains over those who "pass." It is a thematic red herring. What this book is really about show more is one woman's determination to preserve her way of life, social standing and family. Irene is a wonderfully complex character who was alternately sympathetic and a little scary in her single-minded pursuit of her own will.

Great book. Recommended. show less

I remember reading and liking Quicksand in college, so I was interested enough in Passing to pluck it off my wife's bookshelf. This was also very good, a tale of a black woman who sometimes "passes" in public (to, say, go to a nice restaurant) interacting with another one who spends all her time passing-- even with her white, racist husband! The latter wants to be friends, the former begins to build up a resentment. "Enjoy" seems like the wrong word for a book like this, but I really liked it; Larsen uses the techniques of modernist prose to her advantage, and the book builds up some interesting complexities and sharply observed moments before a highly effective ending.