Reviews

Incisive skewering of the cruelty of Black high society during the 1920s. Light skinned Clare Kendry, with her "having" ways is determined to escape a humiliating existence as a poor "tar brushed" relation, making the most of her looks and charm and to "pass" into white society. However, when she attempts to re-enter her old South Side community in Chicago, the results are devastating.

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4.0

“She was caught between two allegiances, different, yet the same. Herself. Her race. Race! The thing that bound and suffocated her."

Above all I get the impression of clarity. There’s not an unnecessary word in Passing by Nella Larsen. In very little space Larsen manages to explore race, female friendship, the complexities of the characters’ psyche, and the existential conflict inherent in being caught between two worlds.

Passing is another book I am grateful for due to its subject matter informed by the lived experience of its author. Larsen was mixed race and wrote not just about mixed race characters, but the discomfiting uncertainties that arise from passing. This is the first time I’ve seen it addressed in fiction from an author who really knows what it’s like, so that’s something. When you’re racially ambiguous, passing isn’t something you decide; your racial identity is remade with each person--white or POC-- who looks at you and decides what you are and treats you accordingly.

“Uncomfortable” doesn’t even express half of what it is to know that every time you venture in the world, strangers are making that decision for you. Of course, there are ways to sway the interpretations of those around you, and Larsen goes beyond the disorientation of temporary judgements to follow the path of Clara, who has decided to pass permanently. In order to pass not just in isolated moments, but in all moments, she has to give up her old life and community. I can’t fathom the feeling of displacement it would entail to do that permanently, the alienation from identity and self. Not to mention the risk black people faced crossing the color line at that time— there are moments of acute anxiety in which a character doesn’t know what exactly the onlookers will decide, a fear well founded because the consequences were so likely to be terrible.

Out of the two women, Irene, although she is far from happy, made the sustainable choice: to stay in her community, and pass occasionally when it benefits. Because the loss that Clara feels from cutting herself off from her community is so tremendous that she puts herself in danger to come back—she seems unable to resist staying away.

Both characters are arguably terrible people. But, I want to note that although Clara is continually portrayed as the reckless, selfish one, Irene is perhaps more so. Despite their flaws, I felt for both Clara and Irene throughout the book.

Towards the end, Larsen does a masterful job portraying the crescendo of Irene's despair (“...the confusion in her mind was like the beating of wings” and "life went on precisely as before. It was only she that had changed. ”) though I don’t know if she ever discovered the truth, or was suffering from paranoia and jealousy.

My main dissatisfaction is that the ending happened so suddenly. I would have liked to read on. I’ll try to read Quicksand soon.