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A review by willowbiblio
Quicksand by Nella Larsen
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
“Someday you’ll learn that lies, injustice, and hypocrisy are a part of every ordinary community. Most people achieve a sort of protective immunity, a kind of callousness toward them. If they didn’t, they couldn’t endure.
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I expected to love this because of my experience with Passing. I didn’t expect how moving this would truly be.
Helga is constantly searching for belonging in a world that is at best apathetic and worst outright hostile to her. She is alternately a family’s shame and a family’s trophy, never just a relative. Larsen created such immediacy with each of the facets of complication, racism, and self exploration she uncovered. This is purportedly semi-autobiographical, which made it all the more meaningful to me.
Helga‘s dissatisfaction with nearly every outcome in her life is not her fault. She is unable to develop tolerance to a world that has no place for an educated independent black woman like her. Even the marriage proposal she rejects overseas was an attempt to own and showcase her, not born out of true connection or love.
The ending broke my heart. We saw a woman who always continued to try again give up the search and accept the wrong place in a broken world.
I really appreciated how Larsen brought back characters who had settled or stayed in lives Helga left behind as it provided contrast to her constant seeking, but there was no real closure in either choice.
This was an excellent book and quite thought provoking.
————————
I expected to love this because of my experience with Passing. I didn’t expect how moving this would truly be.
Helga is constantly searching for belonging in a world that is at best apathetic and worst outright hostile to her. She is alternately a family’s shame and a family’s trophy, never just a relative. Larsen created such immediacy with each of the facets of complication, racism, and self exploration she uncovered. This is purportedly semi-autobiographical, which made it all the more meaningful to me.
Helga‘s dissatisfaction with nearly every outcome in her life is not her fault. She is unable to develop tolerance to a world that has no place for an educated independent black woman like her. Even the marriage proposal she rejects overseas was an attempt to own and showcase her, not born out of true connection or love.
The ending broke my heart. We saw a woman who always continued to try again give up the search and accept the wrong place in a broken world.
I really appreciated how Larsen brought back characters who had settled or stayed in lives Helga left behind as it provided contrast to her constant seeking, but there was no real closure in either choice.
This was an excellent book and quite thought provoking.